SALT LAKE CITY (May 22, 2026) – Few judges leave a mark on a state’s legal system the way Chief Justice Matthew B. Durrant has. Over the course of his tenure on the Utah Supreme Court, and particularly in his years as Chief Justice, he brought to the bench something that cannot be taught in law school: genuine wisdom, paired with the kind of quiet integrity that earns lasting respect.

Under his leadership, Utah’s courts pursued practical reforms that expanded access to justice without sacrificing rigor or public trust. He understood that the courthouse must be a place where ordinary people feel the law is working for them, not just a forum for those who can afford to navigate it. That conviction shaped his approach to administration, to technology, and to the culture of the court itself.

The Utah State Bar and the broader legal profession are better for his involvement. He mentored attorneys and judges with patience and seriousness of purpose, holding the profession to high standards not by lecture but by example. Practitioners who appeared before him, whether they prevailed or not, left with a sense that they had been heard fairly. That is no small feat, and it reflects a deep and abiding respect for what the law is supposed to do.

Those who worked alongside Chief Justice Durrant will tell you that his title never seemed to matter much to him; what mattered was the work. He carried himself with the same steadiness on his most visible days as on his most ordinary ones. There was no gap between the person and the position. That kind of consistency, over a career as long and demanding as his, is rarer than it ought to be.

As Chief Justice Durrant steps away from the Court, the legal community he served so faithfully wishes him and his family every comfort. What he built here, in the culture of the courts, in the careers he shaped, in the decisions that now anchor our jurisprudence, will not fade. Utah was fortunate to have him.

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