Judge James T. Blanch was appointed to the Third District Court in August 2012 by Governor Gary Herbert. He serves Salt Lake, Summit, and Tooele counties. Judge Blanch received a bachelor's degree with high distinction from the University of Virginia in 1990, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He graduated cum laude with a juris doctorate degree from Harvard Law School in 1993. From 1993 until his appointment to the bench, Judge Blanch practiced law at the Salt Lake City firm of Parsons Behle & Latimer, maintaining a broad civil litigation practice, including both trial and appellate work. He has worked as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law and is a past president of both the Salt Lake County Bar Association and the David K. Watkiss-Sutherland II American Inn of Court. Judge Blanch has been a member of the Utah Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure since 1999 and is one of the initial members of the Utah Pro Bono Commission. 8/12