| Helen Whitener | |
| Office: | Justice of the Washington Supreme Court |
| Appointer: | Jay Inslee |
| Term Start: | April 13, 2020 |
| Predecessor: | Charles K. Wiggins |
| Birth Name: | Grace Helen Whitener |
| Birth Place: | Trinidad and Tobago |
| Spouse: | Lynn Rainey |
| Education: | Baruch College (BBA) Seattle University (JD) |
Grace Helen Whitener (born 1964 or 1965), known professionally as G. Helen Whitener, is a Trinidadian-American attorney serving as an associate justice of the Washington Supreme Court. Whitener was nominated by Governor Jay Inslee on April 13, 2020, to fill the seat of retiring justice Charles K. Wiggins.[1]
Whitener was born and raised in Trinidad. She moved to the United States when she was 16 to receive medical care. She earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in international marketing and trade from Baruch College, followed by a Juris Doctor from the Seattle University School of Law.[2]
After graduating from law school, Whitener worked as a public defender, prosecutor, and private defense attorney.[3]
She served as a judge on the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals for two years and then on the Pierce County Superior Court from 2015 to 2020, having been appointed by Governor Inslee and elected unopposed in 2015 and 2016.[4] [5]
On April 13, 2020, she was appointed to the Washington Supreme Court by Governor Jay Inslee.[6] She successfully ran for election in 2020 for the remaining two years of Wiggins's term,[7] winning 66% of the vote.[8]
She is the first African-American, LGBTQ judge in Washington and second African-American member of the Washington Supreme Court after Charles Z. Smith. She is disabled.[9] [10] Whitener is co-chair of the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission.
Whitner is married to Lynn Rainey, a fellow graduate of the Seattle University School of Law and an LGBTQ activist.[11]