Trinidadian born Judge  Helen Whitener has been appointed to the Washington State Supreme Court.  Supreme Court Justices are elected by voters to six-year terms. Whitener who left Trinidad when she was 16 years old, to attend college in the US, was a criminal litigator  in the US for 14 years, as both a prosecutor and defence attorney before she became a judge.

She earned her bachelor’s degree from Baruch College in New York and her law degree from Seattle University School of Law. She also serves as co-chair of the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission and as a member of the Civil Legal Aid Oversight Committee.

Last year, Whitener was awarded the Washington State Bar Association’s C.Z. Smith Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award, the King County Washington Women Lawyers President Award, the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association’s Diversity Award and the Seattle University School of Law’s Woman of the Year Award. 

Judge  Whitener visited Trinidad in June 2015 as part of the U.S. Embassy’s celebration of June as  National Caribbean American Heritage and   Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender  Pride (LGBT) months. She is openly gay, according to the US Embassy in Port of Spain.