Utah Bar Journal

This quote aptly describes the heroic efforts of Christina Micken and Kelly Latimer, who were recognized as the 2011 Young Lawyers of the Year for their exemplary service to the Utah legal community throughout the last decade. Kelly and Christina have worked tirelessly and spent a considerable amount of time away from their families and already busy legal careers to help others through community service, increasing availability of legal services to the underserved population in the Salt Lake area, and increasing opportunities for young lawyers to gain relevant legal experience.

Their long history of service began in 2003, when Kelly joined the Young Lawyers Division’s (YLD) Executive Council as the chair of its Community Service Committee. A year later, Christina joined Kelly as co-chair of the Community Service Committee. The dynamic duo has been leading the YLD’s service and pro bono efforts ever since. During their reign as co-chairs of the Community Service Committee, Kelly and Christina initiated many new programs that are now a regular part of YLD’s community service events. They spearheaded the first annual Professional Clothing Drive to gather lightly-used professional clothing for the benefit of low-income men and women who are trying to re-enter the workforce. They also organized the first ever YWCA Game Night, during which attorneys and their families spend the evening playing games with the women and children living at the YWCA domestic violence shelter. In addition to a number of other events benefiting the Road Home, the Utah Food Bank, and the Children’s Justice Center, Kelly and Christina were the driving force behind establishing a living wills clinic at the Utah AIDS Foundation.

Christina and Kelly were such powerful leaders of the Community Service Committee, in 2006, they were asked to co-chair one of the YLD’s most time-consuming committees: the Tuesday Night Bar Committee. Tuesday Night Bar is a weekly collaboration between YLD and the Utah State Bar to provide pro bono legal counseling and information to low-income residents of Utah. Kelly and Christina willingly accepted the challenge and, during their four-year leadership, the program received national recognition from the American Bar Association for being a Best Service-to-the-Public Project, described as a “model for execution of a successful pro bono project that engages both the public and the bar.”1 Their dedication to the program included not only regularly volunteering at the weekly pro bono clinic – they have been volunteers since 2001 – but also recruiting and training attorney volunteers and team leaders, organizing continuing legal education events, and assisting other local bar associations to establish similar programs outside of Salt Lake. Christina and Kelly continue to serve as Tuesday Night Bar team leaders today.

In 2010, Kelly and Christina were again asked to step into a new leadership role as co-chairs of the newly-formed Recession Response Committee. They took on this challenge with as much enthusiasm as their past projects, and organized a series of free CLE’s aimed at helping attorneys impacted by the economic downturn develop new legal skills or explore alternate career paths. As part of this role, they are currently working with the Utah Chapter of the Federal Bar Association to implement a program that would give under-employed attorneys an opportunity to gain valuable legal experience by volunteering as attorneys on a limited basis and under the supervision of mentors for participants in the U.S. Federal District Court, District of Utah’s mental- and drug-court re-entry program, Reentry Independence through Sustainable Efforts (R.I.S.E). This program, titled Help R.I.S.E., will not only prepare attorneys for practice, but also provide valuable services to vulnerable members of the community.

As the result of Kelly and Christina’s efforts, thousands of Utahns have been helped. They are true examples of not only what can be done, but what we, as attorneys, should strive to be doing.

1. Phillip Long, Utah YLD’s Formula for Pro Bono Success, The Affiliate, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Nov./Dec. 2009).

Kelly J. Latimer is currently an Attorney-Advisor for the United States Department of the InteriorÕs Office of Hearings and Appeals, which serves as the DepartmentÕs administrative trial court for cases involving the use and disposition of public lands and resources. Prior to joining the Hearings Division, Kelly served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Dale A. Kimball of the United States District Court, District of Utah. She graduated from the University of Utah College of Law in 2001, where she was a William H. Leary Scholar and the managing editor of the Journal of Land, Resources & Environmental Law.

Christina L. Micken is currently a partner with the law firm of Bean & Micken, where she has practiced law since 2002. The primary focus of her practice is family law, including adoptions, child custody disputes, divorces, and paternity actions. For the past four years, she has been the attorney coach for the Kaysville Junior High Mock Trial team who participate in the Utah Law Related Education Project Mock Trial Competition. She also volunteers at two monthly legal clinics and at Protective Order and Stalking Injunction hearings.