Judge Ronald E. Cox (Ret.) provides arbitration, mediation, and appellate analysis services from the Seattle office of JAMS.

Prior to joining JAMS, he served as a judge on the Washington State Court of Appeals for over 23 years.  During his tenure on the court, he served as the presiding chief judge of the entire court.  He also served a separate term as chief judge of Division One of the court.  He retired from the court in 2018.

Prior to his election to an open seat on the court of appeals, Judge Cox was a partner in the law firm now known as K&L Gates LLP.  During that time, he served on the Board of Trustees of the King County Bar Association.  He also is a former president of the King County Bar Foundation, which raises funds for legal services to the poor and scholarships for minority law students.  Throughout his career as a lawyer, he worked on bar association committees dealing with delay reduction in trial courts, judicial evaluations, and communications to voters concerning qualifications of judicial candidates.

Judge Cox was a part-time lecturer teaching appellate advocacy at the University of Washington School of Law for a number of years.  He was also a long-time mentor to first year students at that law school.

Judge Cox is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Law and the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.  He is also a graduate of Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawai'i.

Upon graduation from West Point, he served for over four years as an officer in the U.S. Army.  This included service as a platoon leader, battalion maintenance officer, and tank company commander in Germany. In Vietnam, he served as a mechanized infantry company commander near the Cambodian border of Vietnam.  On return to the U.S., he was an instructor at the Tank Warfare School before resigning his commission to attend law school. 

He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Ranger School and the U.S. Army Airborne School. His awards include the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Bronze Star with “V” device and two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Commendation Medal, and other awards and decorations. 

The University of Washington School of Law awarded Judge Cox its Henry M. Jackson Distinguished Alumnus Award and Honorary Membership in the Order of the Coif.  King County Washington Women Lawyers awarded him its Judge of the Year Award.  The King County Bar Association awarded him its Outstanding Judge of the Year Award.  The University of Washington Alumni Association awarded him its Distinguished Alumni Veteran Award.