Durrant elected to second term as Utah Supreme Court chief justice

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Utah Supreme Court Justice Matthew Durrant has been elected to serve a second term as chief justice by a unanimous vote of his fellow justices.

Durrant was appointed to the Utah Supreme Court in January 2000 by Gov. Michael Leavitt. He was selected as chief justice in 2012 when then-Chief Justice Christine Durham stepped down from that role, but chose to stay on the Utah Supreme Court.

Once elected by a vote of the justices, the chief justice serves a four-year term. The chief justice presides over the Utah Supreme Court, as well as the Utah Judicial Council, which oversees the administrative operations of Utah State Courts.

"I feel privileged to work with four colleagues who are not only exemplary jurists, but remarkable human beings. I am deeply honored by the trust they have placed in me," Durrant said in a statement.

Before his appointment to the Utah Supreme Court, Durrant served as a trial judge in the 3rd Judicial District. He was the founding chair of the Supreme Court's Professionalism Committee and has chaired the Judicial Council's Technology Committee.

In addition, Durrant chaired the Supreme Court Committee charged with the revision of the Code of Judicial Conduct.

He received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1984, and has taught as an adjunct professor at Brigham Young University's J. Reuben Clark Law School.