Juvenile Appellate Update

Samuel A Thumma Related Seminars and Products

Judge

Arizona Court of Appeals - Division One

Judge, Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, Phoenix, Arizona, since 2012, and Chief Judge 2017-2019. Sam is a member of the National Judicial College Board of Trustees; is a Uniform Law Commissioner, where he serves as Secretary and on the Executive Committee and is an ABA Presidential appointee to the Advisory Council of the ABA Task Force on Law and Artificial Intelligence and the Standing Committee on Lawyer Referral and Information Services. He is a member of the Joint Technology Committee, appointed by the National Center for State Courts, and is an Advisor to the American Law Institute’s RESTATEMENT OF LAW (THIRD) OF TORTS: REMEDIES project. Sam chairs Arizona’s Commission on Access to Justice, having previously chaired various Committees, Commissions and Task Forces for the Arizona Supreme Court and the State Bar of Arizona. In 2023, he received the James A. Walsh Outstanding Jurist Award from the State Bar of Arizona and, in 2021, he was named the Judge of the Year by the Arizona Supreme Court. Sam co-teaches evidence at ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. He has presented at more than 500 law-related programs in more than 20 states and published 18 law review articles, six book chapters and nearly 70 other law-related articles. Sam served as a Judge on the Maricopa County Superior Court for five years; a partner at Perkins Coie Brown & Bain, P.A., Phoenix, and an associate at Arnold & Porter, Washington, D.C. He clerked for Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Stanley G. Feldman and Federal Judge David R. Hansen, Northern District of Iowa. Sam received a Master of Laws, Duke University School of Law (2020); J.D., Order of the Coif, University of Iowa College of Law (1988), and B.S., Iowa State University (1984), where he was a Truman Scholar.

David B Gass Related Seminars and Products

Judge

CHIEF JUDGE DAVID BRUCE GASS grew up in central Pennsylvania but spent a year taking classes in Chihuahua,
Mexico. He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ruth V. McGregor before joining the Phoenix law
firm of Lewis and Roca, LLP. He spent seven sessions working as Counsel at the Arizona House of
Representatives, before going to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
In 2009, Judge Gass was appointed to the Superior Court in Maricopa County. He served on all four
major assignments. He sat on the Arizona Bar Association’s Civil Jury Instruction Committee and
served as President of the Arizona Judges’ Association. He and Judge Pamela Svoboda established the
STRENGTH Court in Maricopa County. STRENGTH Court works with victims of sex trafficking who
are in the juvenile justice system.
In 2019, Judge Gass was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One. He began serving as
the Vice Chief Judge in June 2021. He is a member of the Arizona Supreme Court Commission on
Diversity, Equality, and Justice. He chaired the 2022 Child Support Guidelines Review Subcommittee.
Judge Gass was awarded the 2005 Arizona State University College of Law Alumni Association
recognition for outstanding service, the 2014 Michael D. Ryan Award for Judicial Excellence from the
State Bar of Arizona Public Lawyers Section, the 2018 Pete Dunn Above and Beyond Award as
outstanding ambassador of the Judges in Arizona, and the 2018 Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law
Judicial Officer of the Year. The State Bar of Arizona awarded him its 2020 Diversity and Inclusion
Leadership Award. In 2021, the Arizona Supreme Court’s Committee on Judicial Education and 6
Training awarded him the Excellence in Education Award.
Judge Gass is on the Arizona Town Hall Training Committee and has worked with Arizona Anytown
Youth Leadership.
Judge Gass is a member of the LGBTQ+ community. He focuses and speaks on diversity and inclusion
issues. He has been active in many related projects. Several are listed here. He developed a training
module to unpack and demystify the judicial application process to encourage diversity in Arizona’s
courts. He also developed an undergraduate internship program at the Arizona Court of Appeals,
Division One to give diverse undergraduate students experience working in the courts and to encourage
them to go to law school.
Most notable, Judge Gass felt strongly that Arizona should officially recognize the Fred Korematsu Day
of Civil Liberties and the Constitution so that we never forget the wrongs done to persons of Japanese
descent and their families. He spent five years making it a reality so we always remember our
constitution and our civil liberties are fragile and require our constant attention.
And he saves stray dogs on the side.

Christopher Staring Related Seminars and Products

Judge

Arizona Court of Appeals, Div. 2

Chief Judge Christopher Staring attended the University of California at Davis, receiving his B.A. in 1983. He received his J.D. from Tulane University Law School in 1986, graduating cum laude, and Order of the Coif. Judge Staring was in private civil practice for more than 23 years before being appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Arizona for Pima County in 2010. He was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division Two in 2015.

Judge Staring serves as Chair of the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct. He also serves as Chair of the Arizona Supreme Court’s Ethics Advisory Committee and was a member of the Task Force on Ethics Rules Governing the State Attorney General, County Attorneys, and Other Public Lawyers. Additionally, Judge Staring serves on the Arizona Supreme Court Committee on Juvenile Courts and the Arizona Judicial Council Steering Committee on Mental Health and the Justice System.

Judge Staring previously served on the Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance Review and the Arizona Supreme Court Committee on Mental Health and the Justice System. He is a frequent speaker on judicial ethics, mental health law, and other mental health related topics.

Patrick Lacroix Related Seminars and Products

Attorney

Arizona Court of Appeals - Division One

Lauren Christine Rosen Related Seminars and Products

Lauren Rosen became a staff attorney at Division Two in December 2023. Before that, she spent a combined five years as a law clerk to Judge Espinosa and Chief Judge Vásquez. She graduated summa cum laude and with honors in 2015 from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Studies. In 2018, she earned her law degree from the University of Arizona, summa cum laude and as a member of the Order of the Coif. She also served as the Senior Managing Editor of the Arizona Law Review. When not attending Wildcats sporting events, Lauren enjoys refereeing youth basketball and watching her three-year-old daughter chase the dogs around the backyard.