Shelton View Elementary kids were in the courtroom recently on Law Day, and Bothell judge Michelle Gehlsen could relate to their wide-eyed curiosity about the legal system.

“I did a mock trial in early grade school and I thought, ‘I really enjoy this,’ and then I did one in junior high and then we did I think a couple in high school,” Gehlsen said. “I just always had a feeling from a very early age that I wanted to be an attorney and really just to help people.”

Gehlsen learned her law from Southern Methodist University in Texas, and began her career in the King County prosecuting attorney’s office as a contract attorney. After seven years as a Snohomish County prosecutor — and two years as a pro-tem judge in Marysville Municipal Court — she was appointed Bothell’s judge in January 2010.

The Bothell resident, wife and mom hears approximately 500 cases per month. Cases include traffic infractions and criminal charges, which range from minor in possession of marijuana to driving under the influence to theft.

“It’s nice that we’re in a court that isn’t so fast paced,” said the part-time judge in Bothell’s part-time court. “It’s a difficult time in people’s lives when they’re in a courtroom, but being able to explain the process, I think it’s very important to explain your ruling. They might not get the result that they want, but I think that if they’re told in a respectful fashion and the reason why, they usually understand it.”

She’s had to switch gears from being a prosecutor to a judge, said Gehlsen, who worked in the criminal divison for four years and the civil division for three years.

As a prosecutor in a jury trial, adrenaline would kick in, but she also likened the experience to a chess game: thinking ahead about how she wanted the evidence to play out.

“As a judge, it’s completely different. You’re obviously trying to make sure that both parties get a fair trial — not only be impartial but to look impartial,” she said.

Some people who get ticketed often come up with wild excuses as to why they shouldn’t have to pay a fine. Judge Gehlsen’s court is not immune to such scenarios. One excuse that stands out was when a man was driving with his friend in the passenger seat and his 4-year-old daughter in tow: the girl had to use the restroom, so the driver parked in a handicapped spot and was issued his ticket.

Gehlsen, who doesn’t take illegal parking in handicapped spaces lightly, said she mitigated the driver’s fine to a lower amount because his story seemed credible. “Four-year-olds don’t tend to tell you they have to go to the bathroom, until you have to go to the bathroom,” she said. “Plus it was his friend’s little girl, so she might have been uncomfortable (speaking up).”

Things were always interesting in her prosecutor’s role, as well.

Every day was challenging — and often mysterious — during her seven years there: “You never know what’s going to happen. You might think you know what’s going to happen, or your witness is going to say xyz, but they never usually do say that. So you’re constantly thinking on your feet of what you need to do.”