ST. GEORGE — The new judge in Santa Clara may be Washington City and Hildale’s loss.
Santa Clara Mayor Rick Rosenberg nominated Jake Graff to fill the vacancy as judge of the one-judge Santa Clara Justice Court, and the Santa Clara City Council unanimously approved Graff during the council’s April 12 meeting.
Graff has been the Justice Court judge in Hildale since June 2012. In March 2021, Graff was named initially as a temporary judge in Washington City after the presiding judge, Thad Seegmiller, changed robes to become the city attorney in Washington City.
For the last two years, Graff has presided over court in Hildale on Wednesday and Washington City on Thursday. Santa Clara has court proceedings on Tuesdays.
It was not revealed during the Wednesday meeting if Graff intends to stay in Santa Clara exclusively or add a third day to his judicial bench time. In any case, Rosenberg said his experience working as a local judge made Graff a clear choice.
“Jake floated to the top based on recommendation of the committee and the fact he’s already a sitting judge, I felt good about the selection,” said Rosenberg. “He’s familiar with our court so he could hit the ground running.”
A nominating committee narrowed down the choices for a new judge to four, from which Rosenberg made the final recommendation to be approved by the council, which it did in a 5-0 vote.
After graduating from BYU in 2003, Graff completed law school at UNLV in 2005. After clerking for a year in the family division of Las Vegas’ Eighth Judicial District Court, he started practicing family law as an attorney for firms in Las Vegas and St. George before founding a firm of his own — Graff Law Firm — in St. George in 2020.
In Santa Clara, Graff is replacing Ken Armstrong who retired after 22 years leading the Santa Clara bench. Rosenberg said Graff will start presiding in Santa Clara immediately.
The court, which is held at Santa Clara Town Hall, hears speeding, DUIs and other misdemeanors as well as small claims from the Santa Clara-Ivins area that would otherwise be heard at the Washington County courthouse in St. George.
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