Biography
Judge Robart, a native of Washington state, is a graduate of Whitman College (B.A. 1969) and Georgetown University Law Center (J.D. 1973). Judge Robart became a United States District Court Judge for the Western District of Washington in June 2004. He took senior status in June 2016. Prior to becoming a federal judge, he was an attorney in private practice with the Lane Powell law firm in Seattle for 32 years. Judge Robart held various positions while at Lane Powell, including Chair of the Litigation Department and Managing Partner.
Judge Robart has presided over many notable cases. He has written decisions upholding a street magician’s First Amendment challenge to Seattle Center’s busking rules; ruling that Seattle’s moratorium on approving strip club license applications was an unconstitutional prior restraint on protected speech; and involving Canadian drug dealers smuggling drugs and guns into and out of British Columbia. Judge Robart has also decided high-profile patent cases, consumer class-actions, and environmental cases. His criminal trials have included a case involving a twenty-year-old murder on the Lummi Indian Reservation. He is the judge in United States v. City of Seattle, overseeing a consent decree involving an overhaul of Seattle Police Department practices and procedures. He also authored Microsoft Corp. v. Motorola, Inc., which is the first court opinion in the United States setting reasonable and nondiscriminatory (“RAND”) rates for standard essential patents.
Judge Robart has served on the Organizing Committee and the Board of Governors for the Federal Circuit Bar Association, is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and served on the Ninth Circuit Information Technology Committee. He is a frequent speaker at legal education seminars related to class actions, complex civil litigation, and patent litigation. Judge Robart has served as Chair of the Whitman College Board of Trustees and has served in leadership positions as a Trustee for the Seattle Children’s Home and the Children’s Home Society of Washington.
