Judge Scott Collier (Ret.) joins McKinley Irvin as a mediator and arbitrator after a distinguished career on the Clark County Superior Court bench. During more than 23 years of service to the court as a commissioner and a judge, Judge Collier tried countless cases and cultivated broad expertise in many areas of the law.
Respected by his colleagues on the bench and in the bar for his professionalism and thorough preparation, Judge Collier is also known for his humor, compassion, and sense of duty. He asserts that helping people resolve their problems in their time of crisis was the most rewarding aspect of being on the bench. He is proud that he has helped families throughout his entire career.
"I never forgot that my decisions, no matter how routine, had a dramatic impact on people’s lives and their families’ lives. I treated every matter with the utmost importance."
Bringing such broad judicial experience, Judge Collier is highly sought after as a mediator in family law negotiations. He applies his strong knowledge of the law to the facts at hand to help families resolve conflicts in a just and practical manner.
Prior to his career in public service, he worked as a general litigator with an emphasis on family law. He started on the bench in 1995 as a part-time court commissioner, later became a full-time commissioner, and was appointed as a judge in 2008. He served as Presiding Judge of Clark County Superior Court for several years toward the end of his tenure and retired from the bench in June 2022.
Judge Collier has served on various community boards, as well as the Vancouver City Council. He is passionate about teaching and frequently instructs other judges at the National and State Judicial Colleges. He has been an adjunct professor at Clark College and at WSU Vancouver, a campus in the Washington State University system that he was also involved in founding.
A life-long resident of Washington, Judge Collier attended WSU and Gonzaga University School of Law. He is a soccer referee and a medical first responder for Mt. Hood Ski Patrol. When he is not serving as a mediator, he plans to have an active retirement of travel adventure with his wife, beginning with the 500-mile Camino de Santiago hike in Spain.
