Pioneers in the Utah Judiciary
by Associate Presiding Judge Pamela T. Greenwood
There were seven of us. We included two district court judges, one juvenile court judge, two civil law practitioners, one corporate counsel, and one Utah Supreme Court staff attorney. We included five men and two women, our ages spanned about twenty years, and our heights ranged from about 5’2” to 6’6” (guess who). None of us knew all of the others who would be our colleagues. We began by having dinner together at Le Parisien, in downtown SLC, to get an initial read of each other. It was a good start.
Each of us had experience in several but not all of the areas of the law that we would encounter as court of appeals judges. Our first clerk of court, Tim Shea, helped us put together a curriculum of tutorials to help close the gap in our experience. Before we started hearing any cases, we spent several days listening to and asking questions of experts in such fields as juvenile law, workers’ compensation, criminal law, and others.
Because we were starting a brand new court with no real detailed guidance about how to run it or how to interact together, we had a several-day session with Dr. Isaiah Zimmerman, a small group psychologist. Dr. “Z” was a godsend. He helped us learn how to effectively communicate with each other and to establish “norms” about how we would operate. For example, we decided as a group that we would prioritize attendance at our monthly judges’ meetings, we would treat each other with respect at all times, and we would remain flexible and open to new ways of doing our work. I think that early work has guided us all the years since.
It was an exciting and challenging time. The work was daunting but manageable because of the wonderful people, judges, and staff I’ve had the privilege of knowing and working with. Being a pioneer is part of Utah history and it was wonderful to be in the same position with respect to the court of appeals.