Utah Attorney General

What is the Attorney General Utah?
The Utah Attorney General is a legal and administrative position undertaken by the appointed individual serving as the primary attorney – or Utah lawyers – on behalf of the State of Utah. In present-day, the Attorney General of Utah is elected through a statewide election. The Utah Attorney General may seek re-election, every four years, to serve multi-consecutive terms.

What does the Attorney General of Utah do?

The Utah Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the state. Often referred to as the “People’s Lawyer”, the attorney general of Utah advocates on behalf of the state’s citizens. Furthermore, the Utah Attorney General will work with members of the general assembly to push for the creation of new laws. To ensure that the state’s court system is formally respecting the already established laws, the Attorney General of Utah will travel throughout the state to affirm that the courts are adhering to such policies and laws.

The Attorney General Utah is the chief legal and law enforcement officer in the state. The individual is responsible for the prosecution of offenses to the state’s constitution and prescribed in Utah’s various statutes.

The Attorney General Utah:

Mark Shurtleff is the current Utah Attorney General. Shurteff is the 19th individual to hold this office; he is 53 years of age and a former graduate of Brigham Young University. Following graduation, Shurtleff received his J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law.

Shurteff began his legal career by serving four years in the United States Navy Judge Advocate General Corps. Shurtleff then served as a Deputy County Attorney and a Commissioner of Salt Lake County. Following this stint, Shurtleff was became an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Utah.

Mark Shurtleff was elected Attorney General Utah in November of 2000; he was then re-elected in November 2004 and November 2008. He is the first Attorney General in Utah to to win re-election for a third term.

Criminal Justice Duties of the Utah Attorney General:

The Attorney General of Utah presides over an executive department administered in Salt Lake. The department oversees numerous public services, including processing Utah State Identification Cards, administering the Utah Criminal Justice Data Center, running the Missing Child Center, the Child Support Enforcement Agency, the Children Task Force, Tobacco Enforcement Unit etc.

The Legal Process and Procedure of the Attorney General Utah:

Administrative Law and the Utah Attorney General:

In addition to serving as the primary prosecuting attorney on behalf of the State of Utah, the Attorney General Utah also serves as the chief advocate of legislature and statutory regulation existing within the State of Utah

Common Law and the Utah Attorney General:

In many cases, the Attorney General Utah will employ the legal ideology of ‘Stare Decisis’ with regard to appellate hearings requested within the State of Utah; Stare Decisis facilitates a hierarchy with regard to legal venue, within which the process of appeals is determined for potential hearings

Upon the ruling set forth by a court classified as a ‘lower’, an appeal may be subject to judicial review by a court ‘classified as ‘higher’ only in the event that the ‘higher court’ has cited fault within the initial sentencing; however, case decisions, rulings, and Utah Attorney General Utah judicial review will be cited as primary sources with regard to sentencing

Contacting the Utah Attorney General:

The Utah Attorney General’s Office is located in the Utah State Capitol Complex at 350 North State Street in Suite 230. The Attorney General Office Utah may be contacted via phone at 801-366-0260 and may be reached via fax at 801-538-1121.

NEXT: Virginia Attorney General