Pamela S Gates

Maricopa County Superior Court

is the Associate Presiding Judge for the Arizona Superior Court in Maricopa County. Prior to her appointment as the Associate Presiding Judge, Pam served as the Presiding Civil Judge, the Associate Criminal Presiding Judge, and the Associate Presiding Judge (Downtown) for Family Court. She chairs Arizona's Task Force on Jury Data Collection, Policies, and Procedures and the Statewide Jury Selection Workgroup. She also co-chaired the Maricopa County Superior Court's committee tasked with improving access to justice and reforming the Court's resource center. Her committee work also includes the Advisory Committee on the Rules of Evidence, the Steering Committee on Arizona Case Processing Standards, the Task Force on the Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Committee on Superior Courts, the Committee on Time Periods for Electronic Display of Superior Court Case Records, Data Quality Standards Committee, Our Courts Arizona, Arizona Task Force to Supplement Keeping of the Record by Electronic Means, National State Court Remote Jury Pilot Group, the Superior Court Records Retention Schedule Revision Committee, and the Civil Practice and Procedure Committee. Pam also serves on the Maricopa County Superior Court Jury Committee and chairs the Court's Data Integrity Committee. She was awarded the Chief Justice Outstanding Contributions to Arizona Courts Award in 2022, Judge of the Year by Phoenix Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (2021), Judge of the Year from the Maricopa County Bar Association (2018), and the Mark Santana Award for exceptional contributions in law-related education (2008). Prior to becoming a judge, Pam worked as a partner at Bryan Cave LLP.