Visiting Professionals
JUDGE LARRY M. BOYLE
Judge Larry M. Boyle received his undergraduate degree in economics from Brigham Young University and his law degree from the University of Idaho. Following law school, he clerked at the Supreme Court of Idaho. While in private practice, he appeared in many courts outside of Idaho, and he served as president of the Seventh District Bar Association. Upon commencing his judicial service, he has served as an Idaho state district judge, a Justice of the Supreme Court of Idaho, and as a magistrate judge for the District of Idaho. Judge Boyle has been a visiting lecturer at numerous universities. He is also a frequent contributor to various legal journals and publications.
JUDGE Guy Burningham
Judge Guy R. Burningham served as a Utah State District Court trial judge from 1992 until his retirementin 2004. Prior to his service as a district court judge, he served as the Chief Deputy County Attorney for Utah County. Prior to that, he was a privately practicing attorney. A graduate of the University of Utah College of Law in 1973, Judge Burningham has been extremely active in community organizations, professional associations, and committees. His service includes being a member of the Grand Jury Panel of Judges, the Court Technology Committee, and the Task Force on Collection of Victim Restitution and Court Ordered Debt. In addition to serving TLI, Guy and his wife, Pam, have served in China.
TRISH CASSELL
Trish Cassell is a Deputy District Attorney in the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office. Trish graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1990. Following her graduation, she clerked for the Honorable Terrence W. Boyle, United States District Judge for the District of North Carolina, and Judge Dee V. Benson, United States District Judge for the District of Utah. Following her clerkship,Trish started her career in the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office. In addition to prosecuting in the District Attorney Office, Trish also was a prosecutor in the Sandy City Attorney’s Office. Trish has prosecuted many cases from misdemeanor DUIs and assaults to homicide cases. Trish is currently the supervisor of the Juvenile Division of the District Attorney’s Office. She is also assigned as the prosecutor in the 3rd District Court’s Mental Health Courts.
THOMAS CHRISTENSEN
Thomas Christensen was born in San Antonio, Texas. He was married in 1978 to Kathryn Stewart. They have seven children. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a B.S. in Mathematics in 1979, and with a J.D. 1981 from the J. Reuben Clark School of Law at BYU. He was admitted to the State Bar of Nevada in 1981. Thomas is admitted
to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. District Court, District of Nevada; and U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
Thomas has obtained a Martindale-Hubbell “A-V Rating”. He has also been named a Nevada Super Lawyer by Super
Lawyers.com.
JUDGE DONALD J. EYRE
Judge Donald J. Eyre, Jr., was appointed to the Fourth District Court in November 1994. He served Juab,
Millard, Utah, and Wasatch counties. He received a law degree from the University of Utah in 1976 and worked
in private practice from then until his appointment to the bench. Judge Eyre was appointed Nephi City attorney in
1978 and also served as Juab County attorney. He served on the Jury Education Committee, the Justice Court Standards Committee, and the Children and Family Law Standing Committee. He currently serves on the Utah Judicial Council.
JUDGE DANIEL GIBBONS
Judge Daniel Gibbons served as a Justice Court Judge in Utah’s Third District starting in 2001. He presided over a combined full-time court serving the cities of Holladay and Cottonwood Heights. Judge Gibbons graduated with honors
2010-11 Visiting American Professionals 16 TLI UPDATE 2011/2012 from the University of Utah in 1983, and in 1986 received a J.D. from the Willamette University College of Law. Following graduation, he joined the Salt Lake City firm of Kirton &McConkie, where he worked for nine years. In 1995 Judge Gibbons went into solo law practice, where he focused upon civil trial work. On thebench, Judge Gibbons created both a drug court and a domestic violence court. He has traveled multiple times to Ukraine for TLI. Judge Gibbons is currentlyserving as an LDS mission president in Novosibirsk, Russia.
ALYSE GRAHAM
Alyse Graham has most recently been a visiting and adjunct professor of law at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia. Prior to that, she was a federal prosecutor, first in the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and then in the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Alyse graduated from Yale University and received a law degree from
Stanford Law School. She was a law clerk to the Honorable Gilbert Merritt of the United States Court of Appeals for the
Sixth Circuit. Following her clerkship, Alyse was an associate with the law firm of Davis, Polk & Wardwell in New York
where she practiced primarily white-collar criminal defense. She is married to Colin Stretch, also an attorney, and has
three children. The family recently relocated to the West Coast and now resides in San Mateo, CA.
ROBERT G. KEMPTON
Robert Kempton was born in Solomonville, Arizona. He received his undergraduate education at Arizona State University and
served an LDS Mission in Virginia, North Carolina & West Virginia. He graduated with a J.D. from ASU in 1969. After graduating, he was a law clerk for the Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court. He then worked in private practice, dealing mainly with probate, tax and estate planning, and commercial transactions. He went on to work as International Legal Counsel to a major multinational corporation in Africa. He is currently working as International Legal Counsel in Kyiv.
Lori Lewis
Lori Lewis, originally from Southern California, now lives and works in Salt Lake City, Utah. Since February 2003, Lori has served as a staff attorney and career law clerk for United States Magistrate Judge David Nuffer. Prior to this, she was one of three staff attorneys for the Utah Court of Appeals. Since graduating from the University of Utah College of Law, Lori has also worked as a judicial law clerk for Judge Russell W. Bench at the Utah Court of Appeals, and gained trial experience as a prosecutor in the Utah Attorney General’s Office. Lori has participated in teaching through the Leavitt Institute in L’viv and Chernivtsi in 2009 and in Simferopil in 2010.
JOSEPH W. LONG
Joseph Long graduated from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University in 1991. He worked briefly in insurance defense for a law firm in Las Vegas, and in 1993 he opened a private law practice there. He focused primarily on Family, Probate, and Immigration Law. In 1999, Joe accepted a position with the Office of the Nevada Attorney General. He and his wife moved their family to the small mining town of Ely, Nevada, to represent the Attorney General as a criminal prosecutor for three rural counties. Joe retired from the Attorney General’s office in October 2009. In 2010, he established a private law practice in Ely and continues to practice law.
SARA LUCAS
Sara Lucas is an attorney at Petro & Nielsen in Provo, Utah. Her specialties include contracts, probate & estate planning, business law, real property, planning & zoning, water law, adoptions, and miscellaneous civil work. Prior to joining the law firm, Ms. Lucas worked as a law clerk at Utah’s Fourth District Court. She graduated with a J.D. from the J. Reuben Clark School of Law at Brigham Young University.
SANDRA McLEAN
Sandra McLean is a Judge in the Butte County Superior Court in California. She was appointed to that position in 2005. Prior to her appointment to the bench, she worked in private practice in California, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. She graduated with a B.S. from the Cornell University-New York Hospital School of Nursing, and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. Ms. McLean has been active in the community and also served in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps.
JUDGE SAM McVEY
Judge Samuel D. McVey was appointed to Utah’s Fourth District Court in 2004. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1977 and the Naval War College in 2006. He received a J.D. from the J. Reuben Clark School of Law at Brigham Young University. Judge McVey is a retired Marine Colonel. He was a partner in the law firm of Kirton & McConkie from 1989 to 2003. During part of that time he volunteered as a judge pro tem. Judge McVey has served on various Utah State Bar and American Bar Association committees.
JAMES W. McCONKIE, II
James W. McConkie, II received his undergraduate degree with honors from Brigham Young University. He later received his J.D. from the University of Utah. Mr. McConkie served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, prosecuting
federal felony cases. In 1978, he was nominated and ran as the Democratic candidate for the office of Utah Attorney General. He has served on the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Rules of Evidence and on the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Improving the Jury System. Mr. McConkie has also been an adjunct professor at Westminster College. He now works as a partner in his own law firm.
JUDGE Steven Montgomery
Judge Steven C. Montgomery was appointed as a District Court Judge in the Sixth Judicial District for the State of Kansas in 2006. He presides over civil, criminal, domestic relations, juvenile offender and child in need of care actions. He has served as a presenter to attorneys’ legal education classes, law enforcement constitutional law courses, and student constitution/
law day seminars. Judge Montgomery graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1976 and from the Washburn University School of Law in 1979. He worked in private practice until his appointment to the bench. He also served as County Counselor for Jefferson County, Kansas, and Special Assistant Kansas Attorney General.
JAMES W. McCONKIE, III
James W. McConkie III is a shareholder and director with Utah based law firm of Prince Yeates. He graduated with a J.D. from the George Washington University National Law Center in 1999. Upon graduation, Mr. McConkie worked as a visiting associate with an international law firm in Prague, Czech Republic. He also studied at the Center for International Legal Studies in Salzburg, Austria. Mr. McConkie is a founder and board member of the Wallace Toronto Foundation, a non-profit engaged in humanitarian and educational projects in the Czech and Slovak Republics. He is also an adjunct instructor at the University of Utah.
TODD MOULTON
Todd Moulton was born and raised on a ranch in Teton Valley, Idaho, at the base of the Grand Teton range. Todd Moulton has served in the financial industry the last 24 years. He was a senior vice-president and financial advisor for Merrill Lynch from 1987 to 1996 before becoming an independent investment advisor the last 15 years. He is a former member of the board of directors for DHL Airways and was also a member of Raymond James Institute of investment management consulting. Todd lives in Provo, Utah with his wife, Jill. They are the parents of seven children and have two grandchildren. Todd enjoys raising cattle, golfing traveling and studying world history.
MIKE PETERSON
Mike Peterson graduated from the University of Utah Law School in 1987. After graduation, he worked as a corporate law and medical malpractice litigator at Richards, Brandt, Miller & Nelson in Salt Lake City, Utah. For the last 20 years,
Mike Peterson has been a felony trial attorney at the Salt Lake Legal Defender Association. Mike Peterson is a certified Capital (Death Penalty) attorney and one of the felony supervisors in his firm. He has tried many felony cases to verdict before juries.
Kirby Riffel
Kirby Riffel is a prominent criminal defense lawyer from Arkansas. He is the recipient of the Arkansas State Bar Criminal Defense Attorney of the Year award. He has practiced law in Arkansas for over 35 years and has tried cases of all types along the criminal defense spectrum. He has taught for TLI multiple times and is well-liked among the students he has
taught in Ukraine.
Joann Shields
Joann Shields is a Salt Lake City, Utah lawyer who specializes in commercial, class action, False Claims Act, and failed bank litigation. After graduating from J. Reuben Clark Law School, Ms. Shields lerked for The Honorable David Sam in the United States District Court for the District of Utah. She then joined the litigation boutique of Campbell, Maack & Sessions. Ms. Shields has served as in-house and outside counsel for numerous business entities. She is a Master Barrister in the American Inn of Court. Ms. Shields has served as president of the Utah State Bar Corporate Counsel Section, and she has overseen a program to help battered women protect their rights. She speaks French, is trying to learn Russian, and enjoys skiing, the fine arts, and foreign travel.
JUDGE G. MICHAEL WESTFALL
Judge G. Michael Westfall was appointed to the Fifth District Court in 2003. He serves Beaver, Iron, and Washington counties. He graduated from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University in 1981. Judge Westfall was a partner in the law firm of Gallian, Westfall, Wilcox and Welker, and worked as a law clerk with the Utah County
attorney’s office. Judge Westfall is a member of the Utah State Bar Association, the Federal District Court for Utah, the
United States Supreme Court, and the Southern Utah Bar Association. He has also served as a small claims judge pro
tempore in Washington County. He currently serves on the Judicial Council.
BILL RYAN
Bill Ryan received his BA with honors from Brigham Young University and his J.D. from the University of Utah. He also received a certificate from the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Mr. Ryan has worked as Assistant U.S. attorney in
Utah for 25 years. He has litigated civil cases involving personal injury, land disputes, environmental hazards, trespass, civil rights, medical malpractice, tax enforcement, and claims against federal officials. Mr. Ryan has also prosecuted major felony criminal cases. He has trained prosecutors and magistrates in Haiti and has taught litigation at the U.S. Department of Justice Advocacy Center. Mr. Ryan speaks French and enjoys creative writing, tennis, and classical literature.
