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| Chief Justice Matthew B Durrant Utah Supreme Court |
Today's delight was to listen once again to the remarks of Chief Justice Matthew B Durrant of the Utah Supreme Court at David's retirement ceremony this week. I transcribed as I listened to the recording, tapping away sentence by sentence in the listen-pause-look manner of an unskilled typist. I never learned the art of not looking at the keyboard when I type having grown-up pre-computer age and never having owned a typewriter. Frankly I was grateful I had taken the time to listen slowly and capture the words one at a time because I was able to see a few things:
First, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is a humble man. A person with his position and accomplishments could be full of himself. Instead, he was thoughtful, sincere and gracious with a down-to-earth manner that charmed me. His thoughtfulness increases my natural respect for him.
Second, though his experience with David is quite different from mine, our opinion of Dave is the same. This speaks of David's integrity. He is the same person regardless of where he is, the company he is in, and the emotional energy of the space. All of the speakers at his retirement ceremony were witnesses to that fact.
Third, all of the many beyond-office-hours that David spent in service to people other than his family, as City Councilman, Mayor, coach, church leader, state and national ABA leader, and on behalf of the underserved in legal guardianship and other areas...all the things that kept him from relaxing on the couch at night...they were worth the sacrifice. They contributed, and continue to contribute, to his healthy self-definition. These things increase his capacity to love his fellow man, and therefore by nature make him happy. Who would not want to live with someone who is so happy? David is the happiest man I know.
Here are the words of the first speaker at Dave's retirement ceremony:
Matthew B Durrant
Chief Justice of the Utah Supreme Court
March 9, 2023
I'm sitting here thinking how grateful I am I was not put on the spot having to introduce the members of my family (as Judge Connors just did) because its a big family. I'm sure I'd freeze up on a few names. I was also thinking how grateful I am that this is not my jury here. I think I'd be up a river with this jury. But maybe I'd be ok because they could probably never agree on a jury foreman. (Sitting and Senior Judges occupied the jury seats for this ceremony)
As Judge Connors was introducing his beautiful family I was reminded of a time when I was introduced. This was many many years ago when I was an undergraduate - insecure, nervous, undergraduate at BYU, and got an invitation to a professor’s home for a social gathering. I was excited about it.
I went to this gathering, and to start off he asked us to sit in a circle, and each of us was asked to introduce the person to our left. It made its way around the circle and when it got to the fellow on my right he said “This is Matthew Durrant. His father is a religion professor here at BYU. My fathers name is George Durrant. He was a well known religion professor at BYU. And then he said his brother is Deven Durrant the basketball player." At that time my brother Deven was a star basketball player at BYU. Then he paused a minute he said, “He’s never really done anything himself but he is related to a lot of people.” And probably my chief credential remains that I am related to a lot of wonderful people and I can call a lot of wonderful people my friend. People like Ron Russell, people like the judges here, and on this occasion David Connors.
I am David Connors' friend and so I must I must be OK. That’s what I tell myself. 
If I had the authority I would instruct him not to retire, but sadly I do not have that authority. I hate to see him go, I just hate it. Probably for all the same reasons the judges here hate to see him go and that’s because he is a wonderful colleague and a judge really of a towering reputation.
Judge Connors is known as a judge committed to fairness, and he marries that commitment with an extraordinary intellect and levels of preparation that I think are unmatched. He cares about each litigant. He cares about each case. And it shows. I know I am preaching to the choir. We all know David Connors is a great judge. But I think something that is not as well known is what I an extraordinary judicial leader he is. He’s great at his day job, being a judge, but his commitment goes well beyond that. We have a large judiciary many facilities many many employees throughout the state, and we govern our judiciary through something called the Judicial Council. It’s unique among states in the sense that other states have judicial councils, but this is a judicial council with the level of authority that we don’t see in any of the other states. So the judicial council is the true leader of the judiciary. It’s not me. The Supreme Court plays a separate role in a certain area, but the leader of the judiciary is the Judicial Council. The council sets policy for the citizens of the state. And then the council is charged with being forward-looking in anticipating changes. The members of the council are elected by the different kinds of courts; juvenile courts, district courts, justice courts, we have a bar representative. I say all this to say that these are already leaders among the judiciary in whom other judges have vested authority to make decisions on their behalf through a democratic process. As a result, we get great people on the Judicial Council. Our judiciary is in good hands with these people. In recent years, the council has taken a much more active role in the leadership of the judiciary. They’ve been less inclined to defer to our court administrator or other administrators. They really kind of ventured out boldly, really seized the reins of governance. For many years the Judicial Council has led the judiciary, but never quite in the active way that we’re seeing now. The reason I’m telling you all this is to say it’s been a remarkable advancement, I think, for our judiciary. And right at the heart of that, one of the key central players in the process, has been David Connors. He has brought the leadership skills that he has cultivated over his service as a leader in the community through the years to our court system. He has played an absolutely critical role in bringing our court governance to the point we’re at now. And that’s why I was so delighted to be asked to speak at this. Is it a chance for me to thank him for his remarkable contribution. Even among all this collection of leaders, judicial leaders, he stands out as a leader. I wish I could convey to you the depth of his contributions and the deep respect in which he is held by other members of this governing body. His legacy will long live on.
That is why I hate to see this man retire. That is why if I had the authority right now I will rescind that letter. This is my chance to personally thank you David for all you’ve done I am deeply grateful. Thank you.
