CLE Seminar Speaker

Jeanette M. Petersen

Jeanette M. Petersen joined the Institute for Justice Washington Chapter (IJ-WA) as staff attorney in January 2003. IJ-WA engages in constitutional litigation to secure economic liberty, school choice, private property rights, freedom of speech and other vital individual liberties in Washington State.

Jeanette is lead attorney on a variety of IJ-WA cases, including its challenge to the State of Washington's cosmetology regulation for African hairbraiders and the City of Lynnwood's ban on portable signs for commercial businesses while it allows them for politicians and real estate companies.

She is the author of Entrepreneurship in the 'Emerald City: How Regulations Cloud the Sparkle of Small Businesses', a 2004 report that examines the entrepreneurial atmosphere in Washington State and, specifically, the greater Seattle area, exposing the many invisible obstacles to free enterprise.

Prior to joining IJ, Jeanette clerked for Judge David Armstrong of the Washington State Court of Appeals, Division II, Justice Richard Sanders of the Washington State Supreme Court, and Judge Ronald Gould of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Following her clerkships, Jeanette practiced with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C. in Kirkland, Washington.

Jeanette received her law degree from the University of Washington School of Law in 1998, graduating with honors and Order of the Coif. She received her bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Washington in 1994, graduating cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Jeanette is a member of the Washington State Bar Association and is president of the Puget Sound Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society.