For the first time since the early 2000s, the city of Bellevue has welcomed a new city attorney to the staff. Kathy Gerla joined the city of Bellevue this January as the new city attorney.

Gerla came to the city from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s office, where she worked for seven years as a senior deputy prosecuting attorney. She worked on civil cases, advising clients on topics such as environmental, transportation and contracting issues.

“In my career I’ve been practicing law for over 30 years,” Gerla said. “The vast majority of my career I have devoted to public service, government at state on local levels, a variety of policy issues… This is a wonderful opportunity for me to continue to do that.”

Gerla is a native Washingtonian, and went to school at Eastern Washington University and Gonzaga. She started her legal career as a judicial clerk and worked for 17 years with the State Attorney General’s office in Olympia.

“I saw law as an opportunity to actually be able to use my education and skills to do public service and to work to try to make the communities in which I live a better place,” she said.

Gerla comes to the city after the previous city attorney, Lori Riordan, retired from the position in October 2018 after working in the role since 2004.