Appointed to the Utah Court of Appeals in 2010, Judge Michele Christiansen Forster’s scores are consistent with her appellate court peers on all scored minimum performance standards. Ninety percent of survey respondents recommend her for retention. Respondents describe this judge as excellent. Survey ratings of judicial attributes characterize Judge Christiansen Forster as notably patient. This judge meets discipline standards set by statute and has been certified by the Judicial Council as meeting all time standards, education requirements, and mental and physical competence standards.
Associate Presiding Judge Michele M. Christiansen Forster was appointed to the Utah Court of Appeals in June 2010, after serving for three years as a district court judge in Salt Lake County’s Third District Court. After graduating from the University of Utah College of Law, she clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Tena Campbell. She then worked in private practice at Parsons Behle & Latimer, as a federal prosecutor at the United States Attorney’s Office, and as general counsel for Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. Judge Christiansen Forster currently serves as co-chair of the Utah State Bar’s Pro Bono Commission, on the executive committees of Women Lawyers of Utah and the Salt Lake County Bar Association, as president of the David K. Watkiss-Sutherland II American Inn of Court, and as an adjunct professor at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law.