Getting Involved: How Government Attorneys Can Provide Pro Bono Service -

-Deno Himonas, Associate Presiding Judge, 3rd District Court, Salt Lake          County, Co-Chair of the 3rd District Court Pro Bono Committee

-Justice Christine M. Durham of the Utah Supreme Court

-Charles Stormont, Assistant Attorney General, Member, 3rd District Pro Bono Committee

-Paul Amann, Assistant Attorney General, Coordinator, Tuesday Night Bar       -Katharina Christensen, Assistant Attorney General, AG Office Coordinator, Statewide CLE Opportunities Committee

-Michelle Harvey, Access to Justice Coordinator, Utah State Bar

 

 

Judge Deno Himonas

Judge Constandinos “Deno” Himonas was appointed to the Third District Court in June 2004 by Gov. Olene Walker. He serves Salt Lake, Summit, and Tooele counties. Judge Himonas graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Utah in 1986 and received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1989. Upon graduating from law school, Judge Himonas returned to Utah and spent 15 years working as a litigator for the law firm of Jones, Waldo, Holbrook, and McDonough, where he focused on complex civil litigation. Judge Himonas is a past chairperson of the Litigation Section of the Utah State Bar. He currently serves as the Associate Presiding Judge for the Third District Court, as the co-chair of the Third District’s Pro Bono Committee, and as a member of the Judicial Conduct Commission.

 

Justice Christine M. Durham

Justice Christine Durham has been on the Utah Supreme Court since 1982, and served as Chief Justice from 2002 to 2012. She received her A.B. from Wellesley College and a J.D. from Duke  University, where she is an emeritus member of the Board of Trustees. She is the Past-President of the Conference of Chief Justices of the United States, and also the past-chair of the American Bar Association’s Council on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, the entity that accredits American law schools. Justice Durham has been active in judicial education, and was a founder of the Leadership Institute in Judicial Education. She helped create and lead the Utah Coalition for Civic Character and Service Education and served on the Utah Commission on Civic Education. She has been recognized nationally for her work in judicial education and efforts to improve the administration of justice. In 2007 she received the William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence; in 2008 she received the “Transparent Courthouse” Award for contributions to judicial accountability and administration from the Institute for the Advancement of the Legal System. In September 2012, Justice Durham received the Eight Annual Dwight D. Opperman Award for Judicial Excellence from the American Judicature Society. Justice Durham recently served on the ABA’s Task Force on the Future of Legal Education, and is currently serving as a member of the Advisory Board for the Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers Project of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, and of the Board of Directors for University of the People, an accredited tuition-free online global university.

 

Charles Stormont

Charles Stormont is a member of the Highways and Utilities Division of the AG’s Office, where he has worked for the last six years. Prior to that, Charles worked for Howrey LLP and Vinson & Elkins LLP, handling complex antitrust and intellectual property litigation. He’s the proud father of two outstanding kids, and a member of the Third District Pro Bono Committee. As a member of that Committee, Charles has led the creation of the Debt Collection Volunteer Attorney Program, which has served more than 252 clients since it started in July of 2013.

 

Paul Amann

Paul Amann joined the Utah Attorney General’s Office in August 1998. When Paul started at the AG’s Office he was in the Child Protection Division and in 2003 began working with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, where he is currently. Paul also worked to draft and lobby for legislation which strengthened Utah’s laws regarding sex offenses. In 2013 he transferred to the Commercial Enforcement Division where he now represents the Securities Division of the Department of Commerce.

 

In 2007 Paul received the Attorney of the Year Award for the Utah Attorney General’s Office. In 2011 the U.S. Department of Justice honored Paul’s unit with the Outstanding Local Prosecutor’s Office Award. In April of 2013, Paul was named the Child Advocate of the Year by Prevent Child Abuse Utah.

 

Paul has been the office coordinator for the AG’s office of the Tuesday Night Bar for nearly five years. He also volunteers time with the Debt Collection Calendar and as a Bar Examiner.

 

Katharina Christensen

Katharina Christensen is a member of the Child Protection Division. She joined the AG’s office as a Child Protection Attorney, Northern Region, in June of 2008. She worked as Guardian ad Litem the eight years prior and enjoyed serving on the Weber- Morgan Children’s Justice Center Advisory Board. In July of 2010, she became one of six child welfare attorneys in the AG’s office to be certified as a NACC, Child Welfare Law Specialist. She has been a member of the Second District Pro Bono Committee since 2012 and welcomes opportunities to address pro bono needs of her community. Her previous volunteer experience involves planning fantastic Fairy Tale Friday School Activities for her four busy children.

 

Michelle Harvey

Michelle Harvey joined the Utah State Bar in 2010. She runs the Utah State Bar Access to Justice Department, where she has been since 2011. Her department supports the activities of the Pro Bono Commission and the Modest Means Lawyer Referral Program, along with many other programs of the bar. She also sits on the Young Lawyers Division Board, as the co-chair of the Career Development Committee trying to find ways to help young lawyers find their place in the legal community, and on the executive board for Camp Hobè, a camp for kids with cancer and their siblings.