Victoria King, a judicial staff attorney at the Oakland County Circuit Court, is running for an open seat on the 6th Circuit bench in the Nov. 3 general election.

She faces Lisa Marie Neilson in the nonpartisan race, which covers Oakland County, including Farmington and Farmington Hills.

King said she is running because the timing is right and because she already does the work. In a questionnaire response to Surround Sound News, she said she has spent 15 years advising Oakland County Circuit Court judges by drafting opinions, advising on motions and authoring court procedures. She said 21 of the 23 current, retired and visiting Oakland County Circuit Court judges who have endorsed in the race backed her candidacy.

Candidate information

Office sought: Circuit Court Judge, 6th Circuit (Non-Incumbent)

Residence: Troy, Michigan (28-plus years). King has been an Oakland County resident for more than 40 years.

Family: Married to husband David for 25 years. Three sons: two in college, one a high school freshman.

Education: Rochester Adams High School, 1990 (with honors); Bachelor of Arts in history and classics, Hillsdale College, 1994 (with honors); Master of Science in software engineering administration, Central Michigan University, 2001 (summa cum laude); Juris Doctor, Thomas M. Cooley Law School, 2010 (cum laude, Leadership Achievement Award). Admitted to the State Bar of Michigan in October 2010.

Selected endorsements and ratings listed by King's campaign: Oakland County Democratic Party; Chief Judge Jeffery S. Matis, Oakland County Circuit Court; retired Chief Justice Robert P. Young Jr., Michigan Supreme Court; Judge Colleen A. O'Brien, Michigan Court of Appeals; retired Judge Amy Ronayne Krause, Michigan Court of Appeals; Women Lawyers Association of Michigan (Outstanding Rating); National Association of Social Workers, Michigan Chapter; Detroit Pipefitters Local 636; Sheet Metal Workers' Local 80 Political Action Committee.

Experience and public service

King worked for more than a decade as a quality assurance engineer in information technology before entering law. She said that career gave her "an analytic discipline that still informs how I read statutes and assess records."

After interning at Collins Einhorn during law school, King worked as a judicial staff attorney for Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Leo Bowman for nearly 11 years. She then worked as senior counsel at Gordon, Rees, Scully, Mansukhani from 2021 to 2023, focusing on advanced motions and appellate briefs. She returned to the Oakland County Circuit Court as a judicial staff attorney in 2023.

In bar association leadership, King has served on the Oakland County Bar Association board since 2017 and is currently vice president and director. She is also a trustee and past president of the Oakland County Bar Foundation. She was a 6th Circuit representative in the State Bar of Michigan Representative Assembly from 2016 to 2019, where she chaired the Drafting Committee. She also previously served as an advisory member of the State Bar's Character & Fitness Committee and has been treasurer of the Smith Middle School PTO.

On the issues

Courtroom preparedness: King said family division dockets move people through some of the hardest moments of their lives. Litigants deserve a judge who has read every motion, brief and relevant authority before a hearing begins, she said. She called that standard "the work I do now and that I would bring to the bench."

Access to justice: King identified the cost of pursuing or defending a lawsuit as the greatest obstacle to justice. She said legal aid programs exist for low-income residents but few offer sliding-scale coverage for people who fall in the gap. She said she would continue working with the Oakland County Bar Association and Bar Foundation to develop programs addressing that gap.

Court efficiency: King said the court system should simplify procedures, modernize technology, improve case management and address resource shortages. Individual judges should expand opportunities for alternative dispute resolution while protecting procedural fairness, she said.

Clear court orders: Clarity matters, King said. An order parties cannot understand is an order they cannot follow. She called for plain-English orders with legal reasoning shown, saying that approach serves both the parties and the rule of law.

King's campaign website states she will focus on Family Court matters including divorces, custody, juvenile cases and other cases affecting children and families.