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Judges' Biographies
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PRESIDING JUDGE CAROLYN B. MCHUGH |  | Judge Carolyn B. McHugh was appointed to the Utah Court of Appeals by Gov. Jon M. Huntsman in August 2005. She received her law degree in 1982 from the University of Utah College of Law, where she was an editor of the Utah Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. Upon graduation, Judge McHugh served as a law clerk to Judge Bruce S. Jenkins of the United States District Court for the District of Utah. She was a shareholder in the Salt Lake City law firm of Parr Waddoups Brown Gee & Loveless until her appointment to the bench. Judge McHugh currently serves as a member of the Judicial Conduct Commission, a member of the Commission on Character and Civic Education, presiding judge of the Court of Appeals, chairperson of the Standing Committee on Court Technology, judicial liaison to the Appellate Section of the Utah State Bar, and chairperson of the Standing Committee on Judicial Outreach. Judge McHugh is a past president of Women Lawyers of Utah, a past co-chair of the American Bar Association Conference of Environmental Law, and a past chair of the Utah State Bar Needs of Children Committee. She has been honored with the Christine M. Durham Utah Woman Lawyer of the Year Award, the Dorathy Merrill Brothers Award for the Advancement of Women in the Profession, the University of Utah Young Alumna of the Year Award, and as the chairperson of the Utah State Bar Distinguished Committee. In 2009, Judge McHugh was named a fellow in the Advance Science & Technology Adjudication Resource Center. 1/12 |
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ASSOCIATE PRESIDING JUDGE J. FREDERIC VOROS JR. |  | Judge J. Frederic Voros Jr. was appointed to the Utah Court of Appeals by Gov. Gary R. Herbert in September 2009. Judge Voros earned a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University in 1975 and a law degree from its J. Reuben Clark Law School in 1978. He clerked for Justice Dallin H. Oaks on the Utah Supreme Court. Judge Voros served as general counsel to Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, and practiced with Prince, Yeates & Geldzahler and Poole & Associates before joining the Utah Attorney General's Office in 1991, where he served as chief of the Criminal Appeals Division from 1999 to 2009. Judge Voros has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at the S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah, since 2001, and has sat on the Utah Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Rules of Appellate Practice since 1995. 12/09
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JUDGE MICHELE M. CHRISTIANSEN |  | Judge Michele M. Christiansen was appointed to the Utah Court of Appeals in June 2010 by Gov. Gary Herbert. Prior to her appointment, Judge Christiansen had been serving as a Third District Court Judge since May 2007. Judge Christiansen received her law degree from the University of Utah College of Law in 1995. She then served as a judicial law clerk for one year with the Honorable Tena Campbell, United States District Court Judge for the District of Utah, following which she joined the Salt Lake law firm of Parsons Behle & Latimer. In March 1998, Judge Christiansen joined the United State Attorney's Office, District of Utah, as an Assistant United States Attorney. In January 2005, she was appointed executive director of the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice and in July of 2006, Judge Christiansen became general counsel to Gov. Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. During her tenure in the Governor's Office, Judge Christiansen co-chaired the Utah Methamphetamine Joint Task Force and chaired the Utah Sexual Violence Council. She served as a member of the Guardian Ad Litem Oversight Panel, the Utah Sentencing Commission Executive Committee, the Utah Substance Abuse and Anti-Violence Coordinating Council, the Governor's Violence Against Women and Families Cabinet Council, the Initiative on Utah Children in Foster Care, the Salt Lake County Bar Association Executive Committee, and the Access to Justice Council. Judge Christiansen currently serves on the Utah Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Utah Judicial Council's Standing Committee on Education, the Judicial Council's Ethnics Advisory Committee, and is chair of the Judicial Council's Commissioner Conduct Committee. 9/11
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JUDGE JAMES Z. DAVIS |  | Judge James Z. Davis was appointed to the Utah Court of Appeals by Gov. Michael O. Leavitt in November 1993. He received a law degree from the University of Utah College of Law in 1968. He served in military intelligence in the U.S. Army until 1970. Judge Davis was in private practice from 1971 to 1977, Deputy Weber County Attorney and Weber County Police Legal Advisor from 1973 to 1982, a partner in Thatcher, Glasmann & Davis from 1977 to 1982, and a shareholder and director at Ray, Quinney & Nebeker from 1982 until his appointment to the bench. Judge Davis was president of the Utah State Bar from 1991 to 1992. He completed a two-year term as presiding judge in January 1999. 10/05 |
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JUDGE GREGORY K. ORME |  | Judge Gregory K. Orme was appointed to the Utah Court of Appeals by Gov. Norman H. Bangerter in January 1987. He graduated from the University of Utah in 1975. Three years later he received a law degree, with high honors, from George Washington University, in Washington D.C. Judge Orme served as a law clerk to Judge Monroe G. McKay, Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, and was a partner in the law firm of VanCott, Bagley, Cornwall & McCarthy. Judge Orme has served a two-year term as presiding judge, two prior terms on the Judicial Council, six years as chair of the Ethics Advisory Committee, and ten years on the Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee. Judge Orme currently serves on the Judicial Council, the Utah Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on the Rules of Appellate Procedure, the Advisory Committee on Professionalism, and the Utah Sentencing Commission. Judge Orme is also the judicial advisor to the Utah Bar Journal and a member of the executive committee of the Utah State Bar's Appellate Practice Section. Judge Orme is the recipient of the Utah State Bar's annual awards for Young Lawyer of the Year (1986) and Judge of the Year (2007). He is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. 12/12
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JUDGE STEPHEN ROTH |  | Judge Stephen L. Roth was appointed to the Utah Court of Appeals in March 2010 by Governor Gary R. Herbert. Judge Roth served as a trial judge in the Third District Court from his appointment in January 2002 by Governor Michael O. Leavitt until his appointment to the Court of Appeals by Governor Herbert. Judge Roth received his law degree from Brigham Young University in 1977, where he was a note and comment editor of the Brigham Young University Law Review and graduated cum laude. Judge Roth served in the United States Marine Corps from 1970 to 1974. He worked as an associate at the Seattle firm of Bogle & Gates from 1977 to 1978. He was an associate and then member of Snow, Christensen & Martineau in Salt Lake City from 1978 through 1991, doing primarily commercial litigation, at which time he became an Assistant United States Attorney, working as a trial lawyer in the civil division of the United States Attorney�s office until appointed to the bench. He served as an adjunct professor in the trial advocacy program at the University of Utah College of Law from 2002 through 2007, on the Utah Supreme Court's Advisory Committee for Rules of Professional Conduct from 2003 to 2011, and as a member of the executive committee of the Safe at Home Coalition (now the Family Justice Center) from 2006 to 2010. Judge Roth is a member of the Judicial Council's Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, the Utah State Bar Litigation Section Executive Committee, and the Aldon J. Anderson American Inn of Court. He serves as chair of the Judicial Council's Study Committee on Representation of Indigent Criminal Defendants and is past chair of the Commissioner Conduct Committee. 9/11
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JUDGE WILLIAM A. THORNE, JR. |  | Judge William A. Thorne, Jr., was appointed to the Utah Court of Appeals in May 2000 by Gov. Michael O. Leavitt. He was a judge in the Third Circuit Court for eight years, having been appointed by Governor Norman Bangerter in 1986, and served in the Third District Court for six years, having been appointed by Governor Leavitt in 1994. Judge Thorne received a B.A. from the University of Santa Clara in 1974 and a J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1977. Judge Thorne has served as a tribal court judge in Utah, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Michigan. He is the former president of the National Indian Justice Center (a nonprofit that trains tribal court personnel around the country), and a member of the Board of Directors for National CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates, a nonprofit group that provides volunteer representation for abused and neglected children in court). He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute (a nonprofit seeking to improve the level of research and practice related to adoptions), and a member of the ABA Steering Committee on the Unmet Legal Needs of Children. He is a former member of the Utah Judicial Council, the Board of Circuit Court Judges, and the Board of Directors for the National Indian Court Judge's Association. He is also a former chair of the Utah Juvenile Justice Task Force of the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, former vice-chair of the Utah Board of Youth Corrections, former co-chair of the Judicial Council's Committee on Improving jury Service, former chair of the Judicial Council's Bail Bonding Committee, former member of the Court Technology Committee, former member of the Salt Lake County Domestic Violence Advisory Committee, and a former member of the steering committee for the Judicial Council's Task Force on Racial and Ethnic Fairness. 10/05
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