Image of Chief Administrative Law Judge Lorraine Lee.

 

Interim Chief Administrative Law Judge
Edward Pesik

Edward Pesik has served as Interim Chief Administrative Law Judge of the Washington State Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) since January 2024, when former Chief Administrative Law Judge Lorraine Lee retired from OAH.  His public service career includes varied positions in state government over the past 30 years.

  
From 1994-2010, Judge Pesik worked at the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), first as a Child Support Enforcement attorney for the Division of Child Support (DCS) representing the State in child support administrative hearings, then as a Review Judge with the DSHS Board of Appeals in Olympia reviewing initial decisions from OAH and issuing final agency orders pursuant to the Washington Administrative Procedure Act.  


In early 2010, Judge Pesik accepted employment with OAH as Senior Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) for the social and health services caseload in the Seattle OAH, conducting hundreds of DCS hearings as well as supervising line ALJs.  He was then promoted to Assistant Chief ALJ for the Seattle OAH in May 2014, managing the ALJs and legal support staff.  In late 2014, he was first appointed as the Interim Deputy Chief ALJ in Olympia OAH and later became a permanent Deputy, assisting the Chief ALJ in managing state-wide OAH operations.   Judge Pesik retired from OAH in September 2017, and then was appointed as a Pro Tem ALJ in March 2019 in the Seattle OAH.


Ed also serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Washington State Bar Association Administrative Law Section and is presently the Chair of that Section.  He received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law, a BA in Accounting from the University of Washington, and an LL.M. in Military Criminal and Administrative Law from the Army Judge Advocate General’s School at the University of Virginia.