CHIEF ALJ ROOSEVELT CURRIE

Roosevelt Currie is Chief Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) of the Washington State Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH). He was appointed as Chief ALJ by Governor Christine Gregoire in April 2006. Prior to his appointment, Chief Judge Currie served as a Senior ALJ in the Seattle OAH office from 2002 to 2006, overseeing the largest unemployment insurance caseload in OAH. He also served as an ALJ in the Seattle and Olympia OAH offices from 1999 to 2002. Prior to his employment with OAH, Chief Judge Currie also held the position of Assistant Attorney General with the Washington State Attorney General’s Office representing a variety of state agency clients from 1991 to 1998. He has also provided pro tem services for the Pierce County No. One District Court, was a Special Deputy Prosecutor for the Cowlitz County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, and has held private practice in Tacoma, Washington.

Chief Judge Currie received a Bachelor of Arts Summa Cum Laude degree from the Washington State University and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Missouri. Chief Judge Currie is a recipient of the 2003 Governor’s Distinguished Management Leadership Award. He is a member of the Washington State Loren Miller Bar Association. He is also a former board member and volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and the Tacoma and Pierce County Legal Aid Clinic.

Welcome to the OAH Website from the Chief Administrative Law Judge

Welcome to the new web site for the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH). The Washington State justice system is founded on the basic principle that the justice system is accessible to all persons. (See WA State Access to Justice Board. The purpose of the OAH website is to provide easy access to useful information about the administrative hearing process for all persons with appeals pending before OAH. You will find easy access to current laws, rules, and self-help materials regarding the administrative hearings process.

In the upper right-hand corner of all pages (on the blue bar), you will find a “Printable Version” link. This link will help you to print our educational materials and information in an easy-to-print format.

You will find six basic sections listed across the top of our website page including Home, About OAH, Hearings, OAH Offices, Legal Research and Disclaimer. In addition, there is a Quick Links listing on the right to guide you to additional information on specific hearings such as Unemployment, DSHS, and Public Instruction. The site also has quicklinks to our Legal Glossary, News, Privacy, Site Map, Equal Access and Media Contacts pages.

OAH’s Vision is to make the Washington State OAH the premier central panel agency in the nation; and a model for other states to emulate. The mission of OAH is to hold fair and independent hearings for the public and for government agencies; and to issue sound and timely decisions. OAH goals include: to conduct high quality hearings and to issue sound decisions; to provide timely hearings and timely decisions; and to enhance OAH’s organizational capacity, efficiency, diversity and competency.

We hope that you will find our website meets your informational and educational needs, whether you are a party, representative or attorney in a case pending before an OAH administrative law judge; an internal or external customer or stakeholder; or a member of the public. In addition, we will constantly improve and update the substantive content; as well as the usability of and the ease of access to the OAH website. We welcome your comments and suggestions about our website which may be directed to: feedback@oah.wa.gov.