Christine M. Durham - Judicial Career and Community Service

Judicial Career and Community Service

In 1978, Durham became a trial judge in the 3rd Judicial District Court for the state of Utah. She served for four years, one of them as the presiding judge. She was appointed as a Justice of the Utah Supreme Court by Governor Scott M. Matheson in 1982 and became the Chief Justice in April 2002. She resigned as Chief Justice in March 2012. As Chief Justice, she became the first female Chief Justice to swear into office a female governor when Olene Walker became Utah’s 15th governor. She has served on the Governor’s Task Force that recommended legislation to implement the 1985 amendments to the Judicial Article of the Utah Constitution. She served on the Utah Constitutional Revision Commission for 12 years. As Chief Justice, she chaired the Utah Judicial Council, which is the administrative governing body of the state court system. She served as the first chair of the Utah Judicial Council’s Education Committee. She was the Founder of the Leadership Institute in Judicial Education. She was part of the Commission on Justice in the 21st Century and the Co-chair of the Committee on Improving Jury Service. She was the first Chair of the Utah State Court’s Public Outreach Committee. From 1986 to 1997 she was the President of the National Association of Women Judges, which organization she founded. She is a former member of the Federal Judicial Conference, where she was on the Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure. She is the immediate past President of the Conference of Chief Justices, and is the first Utahn to be elected to this position. She is the leader of the Coalition for Civic, Character, and Service Learning - a partnership between civic organizations, public education, the judicial branch, and the legal profession to improve education about the justice system in Utah public schools.