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Judge Denise M. Porter was appointed to the Fourth District Court in December 2020 by Governor Gary R. Hebert. She serves Juab, Millard, Utah, and Wasatch counties. Prior to her judicial appointment, Judge Porter served as a member of the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole for five years. Judge Porter received two bachelor degrees, magna cum laude, from the University of Utah in 1995, in Political Science and Psychology. She obtained her law degree from the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law in 1998. Judge Porter began her legal career clerking for Judge Tyrone Medley and Judge William Thorne in Utah's Third Judicial District. After her clerkship, Judge Porter spent the next 17 years at Salt Lake Legal Defender Association where she worked as a felony trial attorney. She was part of the Legal Defender capital representation team specializing in mitigation. Judge Porter currently serves on the Utah Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure and is a board member for Women Lawyers of Utah. 9/21