Darrel J. Gardner

CJA Supervising Attorney at U.S. Courts, Eastern District of Washington

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Mr. Gardner was born in the Territory of Alaska shortly before statehood. He received his bachelor’s degree from Santa Clara University, and his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, in San Francisco. In early 2020, he became the first Criminal Justice Act Supervising Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington. He now resides in Spokane. For approximately three decades before that, he was a criminal defense lawyer in Anchorage, Alaska. He has worked in private practice, including his own law office, as well as serving as a state and federal criminal defense lawyer, most recently as a Federal Public Defender from 2012-2020. In 2009, he helped to found the Alaska Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and he has served as president of that organization. He was a three-year member of the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference Executive Committee and, in 2017-2018, he was Chair of the Ninth Circuit Lawyer Representatives Coordinating Committee. Mr. Gardner was a six-year member of the Board of Governors of the Alaska Bar Association, and he served as president of the Alaska Bar in 2017-2018. He served as president of the Alaska Chapter of the Federal Bar Association in 2012-2014. He served as Ninth Circuit Vice President of the FBA from 2017-2023, and as Chair of the Circuit Vice Presidents for FY22. In 2021, he received the FBA’s Outstanding Leader Award. He was a member of the FBA’s Membership Committee, and he served on the FBA’s National Elections Committee in 2017-2018. Mr. Gardner is a Life Fellow of both the American Bar Foundation and the Federal Bar Foundation.