Jamie Pedersen grew up in Puyallup, graduated from Puyallup High School and worked at McDonald’s to help put himself through Yale College, where he studied Russian and history, and graduated summa cum laude.

After spending a year living in Russia and collecting oral histories of Soviet Afghan war veterans, Jamie attended Yale Law School. He clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and then returned to Seattle – and Capitol Hill – in 1995 to practice law at Preston Gates & Ellis (now K&L Gates). Jamie represents a variety of private and public sector clients as their outside general counsel, helping with financing and mergers and acquisitions.

Jamie is actively involved in many community and nonprofit organizations. He is the past President and current Treasurer of Central Lutheran Church on Capitol Hill, where he helped to establish a nonprofit to run a community lunch program that feeds hundreds of people each week.

Jamie chaired the board of the national civil rights organization Lambda Legal, and served as Lambda's lead volunteer lawyer on the state's marriage equality case. He also provides free legal services to a variety of nonprofits, such as Pride Foundation, Social Venture Partners, the Puyallup River Watershed Council, Pups for Peace, and Lambert House.

Jamie served for six years as the lower second tenor section leader in the Seattle Men's Chorus, where he has sung since 1996.  He helped to craft the vision of the Chorus: to create a world that values and accepts its gay and lesbian citizens.

His partner, Eric Cochran Pedersen, teaches English at Newport High School in Bellevue and shares Jamie’s commitment to public service.