Staff Attorney
Attorney
Sonja Hardenbrook joined SCPDA in 2004. Sonja earned her B.A. at Pacific Lutheran University, her M.A. at New Mexico State University, and her J.D. at the University of Washington School of Law. During law school, Sonja worked as a legal intern at SCPDA and The Defender Association.
Sonja currently serves on the board of Disability Rights Washington. She also previously served as a member of the Mental Health Advisory Counsel for Disability Rights Washington.
I became a public defender to live out the below credo:
I am a Public Defender, I am the guardian of the presumption of innocence, due process and fair trial. To me is entrusted the preservation of those sacred principles. I will promulgate them with courtesy and respect but not with obsequiousness and not with fear, for I am partisan; I am counsel for the defense. Let none who oppose me forget that with every fiber of my being I will fight for my clients. My clients are the indigent accused. They are the lonely, the friendless. My voice will be raised in their defense. I will resolve all doubt in their favor. . . I will seek acclaim and approval only from my own conscience. And upon my death, if there are a few lonely people who have benefited my efforts will not have been in vain.
— Jim Doherty, Public Defender, Chicago, Illinois