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Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox has appointed Eric Gentry to the Fifth District Court, replacing retiring Judge Michael Westfall. Gentry’s nomination requires confirmation by the Utah Senate.
“I appreciate Eric’s willingness to serve our great state in this new capacity,” Gov. Cox said. “His years of experience will be a tremendous asset as he takes on the responsibilities of this role, and I’m confident he will apply the law fairly.”
Gentry is a longtime prosecutor and currently serves as a Deputy County Attorney in Washington County where he’s been since 2007. Currently, he is assigned to the Special Victims Prosecution team, where he manages a caseload that consists exclusively of homicide, child and adult sexual offenses, serious physical abuse, and other high-profile cases. Prior to this role, he served as a prosecutor for the city of Santa Clara, the city of Enterprise and was an assistant city attorney for the city of St. George. Gentry was also an associate at Snow, Jensen & Reese and an associate at Christopherson, Farris, White & Utley, both in St. George..
“I am humbled and honored to be appointed by Gov. Cox to the Fifth District Court,” Gentry said.
Bar officers for the 2023-24 Bar Year were sworn in by Justice Paige Petersen of the Utah Supreme Court at a ceremony at the Utah Law and Justice Center last week.
Erik Christiansen was sworn in as Utah State Bar President, replacing Kristin Woods, with Cara Tangaro as president-elect.
Kim Cordova and John H. Rees were sworn in as Third Division Commissioners.
Applications are being accepted for a justice court judge position that will serve three-quarter time Utah County. The position will replace Judge Stevan Ridge who resigned last year.
To be considered for a justice court judgeship in Utah County, candidates must be at least 25 years of age, a citizen of the United States, a Utah resident for at least three years, and have a degree from a law school that would make one eligible to apply for admission to a bar in any state in the United States. In addition, applicants must be a resident of the county, an adjacent county, or the judicial district in which the justice court is located either upon appointment or within a reasonable time following appointment.
Information on judicial retention and performance evaluation is posted on the Utah State Court’s website at www.utcourts.gov under employment opportunities. An application for judicial office form must be completed and is available on the court’s website (www.utcourts.gov/admin/jobs). The salary range for the position is $106,943 to $162,960 per year and includes benefits. For additional information, contact Ralf Barnes, Utah County Human Resources Director, at (801) 851-8161.
The deadline for applications is Monday, July 10, 2023 at 5 p.m. and should be sent to the attention of Jim Peters, Administrative Office of the Courts, P.O. Box 140241, Salt Lake City, UT, 84114-0241. For an application or information, email jamesp@utcourts.gov.
Utah law requires the Judicial Nominating Commission to submit three to five nominees to the Utah County Commission within 45 days of its first meeting. The Utah County Commission will then have 30 days in which to make a selection. The selection must then be certified by the Utah Judicial Council.
As ChatGPT takes the world by storm, lawyers have started to experiment with using it (and other artificial intelligence) in their practices. Read about some of the ethics concerns in this piece by Bar Ethics Counsel Beth Kennedy.
https://www.utahbar.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/ChatGPT-article.pdf
Applications are now being accepted for a district court position in the Third District Court. (Counties include Salt Lake, Summit and Tooele counties).
This position results from the retirement of Judge Randall N. Skanchy, December 29, 2023. Applications must be submitted online at judicialvacancy.utah.gov by Thursday, July 27, 2023. More details can be found here: Official Judicial Vacancy Announcement on 06-22-2023
Utah attorneys can now receive up to two elective CLE credits each licensing year for pro bono service . Use this link to submit and certify hours: https://airtable.com/shr4ytUhz8EpRU1gT.
You must provide 5 hours of pro bono service for each 1 CLE credit hour earned through an approved sponsoring entity. You must certify any hours you’d like counted by the end of this licensing period. Rule 14-419 can be found HERE.
Visit https://app.joinpaladin.com/utahprobono/ to find opportunities to serve your community.
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