MICHELE MLADEJOVSKY CHRISTIANSEN portrait
  • Adjunct Professor, College Of Law - Dean
  • Adjunct Professor, College Of Law

Biography

Judge Michele M. Christiansen was appointed to the Utah Court of Appeals in June 2010 by Governor Gary R. Herbert. Prior to her appointment to the appellate court, Judge Christiansen served as a district court judge in Utah's Third District Court for three years. As a district court judge, Judge Christiansen handled civil and criminal cases in both the Matheson Courthouse and the West Jordan Courthouse and presided over one of the Third District Court's mental health courts.

Judge Christiansen received her law degree from the University of Utah College of Law in 1995. She then served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Tena Campbell, United States District Court Judge for the District of Utah, following which she joined the Salt Lake law firm of Parsons Behle & Latimer. In March 1998, Judge Christiansen joined the United States Attorney's Office, District of Utah, as an Assistant United States Attorney.

In January 2005, she was appointed executive director of the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice and in July 2006, Judge Christiansen became general counsel to Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. During her tenure in the Governor's Office, Judge Christiansen co-chaired the Utah Methamphetamine Joint Task Force and the Utah Sexual Violence Council. She served as a member of the Guardian Ad Litem Oversight Panel, the Utah Sentencing Commission Executive Committee, the Utah Substance Abuse and Anti-Violence Coordinating Council, and the Governor's Violence Against Women and Families Cabinet Council.

Currently, Judge Christiansen serves on the Utah Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Utah Judicial Council's Standing Committee on Education, the Utah Judicial Council's Ethics Advisory Committee, the Social Media Subcommittee of the Judicial Outreach Committee, the Salt Lake County Bar Association Executive Committee, and the Board of Directors for the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. Judge Christiansen also currently serves as chair of the Utah Judicial Council's Commissioner Conduct Committee, co-chair of the National Association of Women Judges' Domestic Violence Committee, and was recently asked to co-chair the Utah State Bar's Pro Bono Commission.