Member of Saint Ambrose is named Woman Lawyer of the Year

Intermountain Catholic

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Christine F. Soltis

SALT LAKE CITY - Christine F. Soltis was named the 2010 Christine M. Durham Woman Lawyer of the Year April 27, at the 2010 Women Lawyers of Utah Fireside. Soltis is an assistant attorney general in the Utah State Attorney General's Office in the Criminal Appeals Division and a member of Saint Ambrose Parish.

The award is presented each year by the Women Lawyers of the Utah organization in recognition of an outstanding woman member of the Utah State Bar for her professionalism, integrity, excellence and dedication to furthering opportunities for women in the law.

"I cannot think of a more deserving candidate for the 2010 award," said Laura B. Dupaix, Chief, Criminal Appeals Division, Utah Attorney General's Office. "Christine was one of the first 100 women to be admitted to the Utah State Bar. This year, she will have been in practice for 35 years. She was the first woman to serve as chief of the Criminal Appeals Division in the Utah Attorney General's Office. She served in that capacity from 1993 to 1999, when she stepped down due to personal and health reasons."

Soltis said trying to balance work and family has been possible with the help of her husband, John Soltis, assistant attorney general in the litigation division specializing in civil rights litigation. "He has always supported me in my professional decisions and helped with our two children, who are Judge Memorial Catholic High School graduates."

Soltis said she seriously considered only two careers, and when she discovered boys, she knew she could not be a nun, so she became a lawyer. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah in history and mathematics and then a juris doctor from the U’s College of Law in 1975. She said she liked the logic of the law and helping people on an individual basis in criminal defense work, and as a prosecutor, and on the appellate level, she likes helping victims from the standpoint of looking at the more global system.

"You have to be willing to make sure that things are done correctly and, if not, try to correct them. But at the same time, when they are done correctly, you have to defend the public’s right to have criminal enforcement and people punished," she said.

Mentoring both men and women has been a hallmark of Soltis’ legal career, Dupaix said. During the past five years, she has developed a training program for the division’s law clerks. "Her skill as a criminal appellate practitioner is unparalleled," said Dupaix. "She is regularly assigned difficult and complex appeals, which she always handles with the highest professionalism, integrity and excellence."

Soltis said any time you are experienced in a profession, you try to help those coming up. "When you can have someone help you find solutions or talk something out, it helps. That is something I had other attorneys provide for me when I was a young attorney."

"Chris has made a significant contribution to the advancement of women in the field of criminal law, both for prosecution and for the defense and both as a line attorney and as a supervisor," said Jeanne Inouye, assistant attorney general.

Soltis said there were only 14 women in her graduating class from law school. "Now there are about 40 or 50 percent," she said.

Soltis worked part-time in private practice and as an adjunct professor for a trial advocacy course at the University of Utah, while her children were young, and "doing appellate work is more manageable when you have children."