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BRET W. RAWSON is a partner in the Salt Lake City Law firm of Rawson & Goff, PLLC, where he practices primarily in the areas of civil rights defense, law enforcement and municipalities, family law, trusts and estates, and wills and probate. He received his B.A. degree from the University of Phoenix, his M.A. degree, with honors, from Brigham Young University and his J.D. degree from William and Mary Law School, Williamsburg, Virginia. He is a member of the Utah State Bar. GREGORY G. SKORDAS is a shareholder in the firm of Skordas, Caston & Hyde, LLC. His practice focuses primarily on criminal defense, attorney disciplinary matters, juvenile defense and police labor law. He has tried more than 100 jury trials as a prosecutor, criminal defense lawyer and civil litigator. Mr. Skordas is the former Chief Deputy Salt Lake County Attorney, where he worked as a prosecutor from 1987 until 1995. Prior to his employment at the Salt Lake County Attorney's Office, he worked for the Salt Lake Legal Defender's Association. He is a past president of the Salt Lake County Bar Association and the Criminal Law Section of the Utah State Bar. Mr. Skordas currently serves on the Utah Commission of Criminal and Juvenile Justice and on the boards of the Children's Justice Center and the Utah Law Related Education Project, as well as serving as attorney for the boards of the Rape Recovery Center and the Intermountain Specialized Abuse Treatment Center. He has been an instructor at the National College of District Attorneys and currently instructs at the State Police Academy. Mr. Skordas also is an adjunct professor in trial advocacy at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, where he earned his B.S. and J.D. degrees and the Excellence in Teaching Award in May 2005. SARAH E. SPENCER is an attorney with the Salt Lake City law firm of Christensen & Jensen, P.C., where she has significant experience litigating constitutional tort matters. She has handled discovery and motions practice in numerous civil rights cases arising under state and federal law, including cases involving wrongful detention, excessive force, malicious prosecution, substantive and procedural due process, and equal protection. Ms. Spencer has defended government officials and entities sued for violations of constitutional rights, as well as pursued claims on behalf of private citizen plaintiffs whose rights were violated by government actors. She has successfully prosecuted many civil rights appeals before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, two of which resulted in reversals of district court denials of qualified immunity, and one of which resulted in an affirmance of a grant of qualified immunity, in favor of Ms. Spencer's clients. She was a co-author of the petition for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court in the groundbreaking qualified immunity case of Pearson v. Callahan. She received her B.A. degree from Metropolitan State College of Denver and her J.D. degree from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. Ms. Spencer has published articles with the Defense Research Institute (DRI) regarding civil rights issues, including the impact of the Supreme Court's decision in Pearson v. Callahan on qualified immunity jurisprudence. She is committed to justice, the vindication of constitutional rights, and the integrity of the law enforcement system.
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