The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit have selected Corey Endo as the next Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Washington, according to the Circuit's press release. She succeeds Rene Valladares, Federal Defender for the District of Nevada, who served as interim defender after former Defender Colin Fieman entered private practice in January 2026.
Endo began her four-year term on June 17, 2026.
Endo joined the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Washington in 2005 and has served as a research and writing attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender, and, most recently, first assistant FPD. In these roles, she has handled direct appeals, federal habeas litigation and complex federal criminal cases, including challenges to the Bureau of Prisons’ implementation of the First Step Act and prolonged immigration detention.
Before joining the Western Washington FPDO, Endo worked as a staff attorney at the Washington Appellate Project, a contract attorney with Reprieve UK on a Tennessee capital case, and a law clerk to the Honorable Martha Craig Daughtrey of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
The Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Washington is headquartered in Seattle and maintains a branch office in Tacoma.
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