Judge Noel S. Hyde was appointed to the Second District Court in July 2010 by Gov. Gary R. Herbert. He serves primarily Morgan and Weber counties. Judge Hyde received a law degree from Brigham Young University. Prior to his judicial appointment, Judge Hyde worked as a sole practitioner for nine years in South Ogden, emphasizing business bankruptcy and complex commercial litigation. He also handled domestic cases and business reorganization matters for 19 years with the firm of Nielsen & Senior in Salt Lake City and Ogden. Judge Hyde is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Commercial Law League of America, and was a charter member and past president of the Utah Bankruptcy Lawyers Forum. He serves on the Board of District Court Judge and presides over the Weber County Mental Health Court. 12/13 

Judge Ronald G. Russell was appointed to Utah's Second District Court by Governor Gary R. Herbert in January 2021. He serves Davis, Morgan and Weber counties. Judge Russell received his Juris Doctor in 1983 from the University of Utah, Order of the Coif, where he was Managing Editor of the Utah Law Review, and his B.A in 1980 from Weber State University, cum laude. Judge Russell clerked for the Honorable David K. Winder in the United States District Court for the District of Utah in 1984 and was in private law practice for over 35 years before taking the bench. During his years in private practice, Judge Russell represented clients in a wide variety of litigation matters in both small and complex cases. He served as a member of the Utah Judicial Conduct Commission by appointment of the Utah Supreme Court from 2004 to 2012 and was Chair of the Commission from 2009 to 2012. Judge Russell served on the Centerville City Council and as the Mayor of Centerville. He has also served the community on several boards including the Wasatch Front Regional Council, Envision Utah's Steering Committee, the South Davis Metro Fire Agency, the Davis County Council of Governments, the Family Support Center and as a member and chair of the Board of Trustees of CenterPoint Legacy Theatre. 9/22 

Judge Joseph M. Bean was appointed to the Second District Court in March 2014 by Gov. Gary R. Herbert. He serves Davis, Morgan, and Weber counties. Prior to his appointment, Judge Bean served as a Justice Court judge for Syracuse City. He was also president and managing partner of Bean & Micken, P.C. Judge Bean received a Juris Doctor from the University of Utah College of Law in 1989. 11/14 

Judge David M. Connors was appointed to Utah's Second District Court by Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. and took office in January 2008. He serves Davis, Morgan, and Weber counties. Judge Connors earned a law degree from Brigham Young University's J. Reuben Clark Law School where he was a member of the Law Review and graduated magna cum laude. He received his bachelor's degree from Yale University. Immediately after law school, Judge Connors served as a law clerk with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in New York. After his clerkship, Judge Connors was in private practice for nearly 30 years, most of which with the Utah office of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, L.L.P., where he served as head of the Utah litigation group. Judge Connors is a past chairman of the Business Law Section of the Utah State Bar and has served as a board member of the Wasatch Front Regional Council, the Davis County Council of Governments, the Economic Development Corporation of Utah, and several charitable foundations, including the Davis Education Foundation. He also served as Mayor of Farmington City from 2002 to 2006, after previously serving eight years on Farmingtons city council. He served as presiding judge of the Second District from 2018-2020, and also serves as an officer of the ABA Judicial Divisions National Conference of State Trial Judges.11/18 

Judge Rita M. Cornish was appointed to the Second District Court in November 2020 by Governor Gary R. Herbert. She took the bench in January 2021 and serves Davis, Morgan, and Weber Counties. Judge Cornish received a bachelor's degree and Ph.D in Chemistry from the University of Utah. She graduated from the University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law with highest honors, Order of the Coif in 2006, where she served on the staff of the Utah Law Review and was an editor for the Journal of Law and Family Studies. Following her graduation from law school, Judge Cornish clerked for the Hon. Carolyn B. McHugh on the Utah Court of Appeals. Judge Cornish joined the law firm of Parr Brown Gee & Loveless in 2007, where she maintained a complex-civil litigation practice, including ADR, trial, and appellate work, until her appointment to the bench. Judge Cornish's practice focused on construction litigation and control disputes, and breaches of fiduciary duties by officers, directors, or managers in closely-held business entities. Prior to her appointment, Judge Cornish served as the President of the S.J. Quinney College of Law Young Alumni Association, a member of the S.J. Quinney College of Law Board of Trustees, Treasurer and Secretary of the Salt Lake County Bar Association, and a member of Closer to Cure Foundation Board of Directors. Judge Cornish received the Young Alumna of the Year award from the S.J. Quinney College of Law in 2009. 1/21 

Judge Michael D. DiReda was appointed to the Second District Court by Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., in December 2008. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology in 1990 and a Juris Doctor degree in 1993 from Pepperdine University. He served as a judicial law clerk in the Second District Court from 1994-1995 before joining the Davis County Attorney's Office.From 1995-2008, Judge DiReda worked as a Deputy Davis County Attorney, where he served as the Litigation Section Chief in the criminal and juvenile divisions. He was a Special Assistant United States Attorney from 2001-2007 and a prosecutor for the cities of Centerville and Clinton. Currently, Judge DiReda is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Utah where he teaches trial advocacy. He is a member of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, an editorial board member of the Utah Journal of Criminal Law, and a past member of the Standing Committee for Self-Represented Parties.2/19 

Judge Michael S. Edwards was appointed to the Second District Court in September of 2018 by Gov. Gary R. Herbert. He serves Davis, Morgan, and Weber counties. Judge Edwards received his law degree from Brigham Young University's J. Reuben Clark Law School in 1999. Prior to attending law school, Judge Edwards received a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from Brigham Young University. Judge Edwards' practice before being appointed to the bench included a judicial clerkship, criminal prosecution, military law (with service in the United States Army Reserve and the Utah Army National Guard), family law, personal injury law, and criminal defense. Judge Edwards received both an AV rating and a Client Champion award from Martindale-Hubbell. 7/19 

Judge Craig Hall was appointed to the Second District Court in July 2021 and took the bench in November 2021. He serves Davis, Morgan and Weber counties. Judge Hall received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Utah State University, with a minor in Spanish in 1997. He earned his Juris Doctorate degree from Baylor Law School in 1999.Immediately after law school, Judge Hall worked as a law clerk for Judge Joe Fisher at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Throughout his legal career he focused on civil litigation matters while being employed with various law firms in Texas and Utah, and at a city attorney's office. Immediately before taking the bench, he worked as Senior Legal Counsel for Intermountain Healthcare. Judge Hall served as a member of the Utah House of Representatives from 2013 - 2021 representing District 33 (West Valley). He also was a member of the Utah Judicial Conduct Commission between 2017 - 2021, serving as the chair of the Commission from 2020 - 2021. (11/21) 

Judge Camille L. Neider was appointed to the Second District Court in November 2017 by Governor Gary R. Herbert and began serving in January 2018. Judge Neider serves Weber, Davis and Morgan Counties. Judge Neider graduated from J. Rueben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University in 1995 and also received a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from BYU in 1992. At the time of her appointment, Judge Neider had been in private practice since 2007 at Hutchison Neider, P.C. where she specialized in criminal defense throughout Northern Utah. While in private practice, Judge Neider was appointed and had served on the Utah Sentencing Commission and the Bail Bond Oversight Committee. Judge Neider was a deputy prosecuting attorney in Weber County from 1998-2007 and a staff attorney with the Utah County Public Defender's Association from 1996-1998. Judge Neider also completed legal internships at the Fourth District Court, the Utah County Attorney's Office and in London, England. Judge Neider has been a member of the Utah Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, the Utah Prosecution Council, the Women Lawyers of Utah, the Weber County Bar Assoc. and the Utah County Bar Assoc. 11/18  

Judge Cristina P. Ortega was appointed to the Second District Court in February of 2021 by Governor Spencer J. Cox. She took the bench in March 2021 and serves Davis, Morgan, and Weber Counties. Judge Ortega graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice with an emphasis in Law Enforcement and a dual minor in Latin American Studies and Legal Studies from Weber State University. She earned a Juris Doctorate degree in 2002 from the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah. After graduation, Judge Ortega served as a Deputy District Attorney at the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office from 2002 to 2010 in the Criminal Division where she prosecuted narcotic offenses, general felony offenses, and special victim offenses, including homicides. Judge Ortega then served as a Deputy County Attorney at the Davis County Attorney's Office from 2010 to 2018 where she continued in the specialized prosecution of special victim cases involving sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse investigations. Prior to being appointed to the bench, Judge Ortega served as an Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Utah from 2018 to 2021. During her time at the U.S. Attorney's Office, Judge Ortega served as the Project Safe Childhood Coordinator focused on the federal prosecution of child exploitation offenses. She also served a one-year detail as Counsel to the United States Attorney for the District of Utah. Judge Ortega has also been active in her community with a focus on higher education. She was appointed by Governor Gary R. Herbert to serve on the Board of Trustees for the University of Utah and as a Regent for the Utah System of Higher Education. 2/22 

Judge Reuben J. Renstrom was appointed to the Second District Court in March 2019 by Gov. Gary R. Herbert. He serves Davis, Morgan, and Weber counties. After receiving a bachelor's degree from Weber State University, he earned a law degree from the University of Kansas. Prior to becoming a judge he maintained a general litigation and mediation practice with the law firm Helgesen, Waterfall, and Jones, while concurrently teaching constitutional law as an adjunct professor in the Criminal Justice Department at Weber State University. Preceding his appointment to the district court, he served as a Justice Court Judge for the cities of Harrisville, Riverdale, South Ogden, South Weber, and Woods Cross. Judge Renstrom formerly sat on the Utah Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure, the Technology Committee, and as education director for the Justice Courts in the Second Judicial District. In 2011, he was elected to the Board of Justice Court Judges, and later chaired the Board for four consecutive terms. 7/19 

Judge Jennifer L. Valencia was appointed to the Second District Court in May 2017 by Governor Gary R. Herbert. She took the bench in August 2017 and serves Weber, Davis and Morgan Counties. Judge Valencia attended Weber State University on a Presidential Scholarship, graduating magna cum laude with Departmental Honors in Political Science in 1994. She was awarded her Juris Doctorate in 1997 from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. After graduation, she served as an Assistant Utah Attorney General in the Northern Region of the Child and Family Support Division for 10 years and then as a Salt Lake County Deputy District Attorney in the Criminal Division beginning in 2008. She was appointed the Director of the Utah Sentencing Commission in 2013. Prior to her appointment to the bench, she served as a member of the University of Utah Criminal Justice Center Board; the Utah Judicial Council's Pre-Trial Practices Committee; and the Executive Committee of the National Association of Sentencing Commissions. She also received the Governor's Award of Excellence for Outstanding Public Service in 2016 and the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice's Award for her contributions to the Justice Reinvestment Initiative in 2017. 12/17 

Judge David J. Williams was appointed to the Second District Court in October 2018 by Governor Gary Herbert. He serves Davis, Morgan, and Weber counties. Judge Williams received a Bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Brigham Young University in 1998 and graduated magna cum laude with a Juris Doctor degree from the J. Reuben Clark Law School in 2001. Prior to his judicial appointment, Judge Williams worked briefly for the Salt Lake City law firm of Kirton & McConkie and later as a law clerk to Chief Judge Dee V. Benson at the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. After clerking, Judge Williams joined the law firm of Stoel Rives LLP, where he practiced in the litigation section until his appointment. In addition to his litigation work there, Judge Williams served as Stoel Rives' firm-wide Pro Bono Coordinator, as a member of the Third District's Pro Bono Committee, and as a board member and vice-president of the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center. After appointment, Judge Williams continued to co-chair the Utah State Bar Modest Means Committee for a time. He currently presides over the Davis County Mental Health Court as part of his judicial responsibilities and is a board member of the Utah Board of District Court Judges. 8/22