Christine M. Durham

Women in Public Service » Law

Chief Justice of the Utah Supreme Court. Born in Southern California, Chief Justice Durham attended Duke Law School and practiced law in North Carolina before moving to Utah in 1973, where she taught at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU. Chief Justice Durham became a trial judge in 1978 and served for four years, one of them as the presiding judge, before being appointed to the Utah Supreme Court by Governor Michael Leavitt in 1982. She became Chief Justice in 2002. Throughout her career, Chief Justice Durham has been an outspoken advocate of female role models in public life and the safety and security of children. She is also the recipient of the William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence, one of the most prestigious judicial honors in the country. To date, Chief Justice Durham is the only Utahn to have received the award.
©Image used with permission of Utah State Courts.