Judge Schofield to retire

PROVO — A fourth-floor office with an unobstructed view of Mt. Timpanogos is one of the perks of being the presiding judge in 4th District Court.

It's one of the things Judge Anthony Schofield will greatly miss when he retires in April.

"I'm campaigning for an equal view," he says with a laugh, hoping the law firm he joins after hanging up his robes will be as generous.

After 13 years of hearing Utah County cases, Schofield is heading back to private practice and the chance to work with two of his sons at a new branch of Kirton & McConkie in Utah County.

He said at 57, he's ready for the change, although leaving is still bittersweet.

"I'm going to miss looking people in the eye and helping them solve their problems," Schofield said.

Those problems range from custody battles to corporate fraud and domestic violence to aggravated robbery. Throw drug cases into the mix, and Schofield has seen it all.

"You'd like to think we don't have the same kinds of crimes as big cities, but we have murder, rape," Schofield said. "You can't name a type of crime that we don't have in Utah County."

Handling those cases as a judge was what Schofield always wanted to do.

Schofield graduated in 1976, in the first class of students who attended Brigham Young University's J. Reuben Clark Law School.

One of his classmates, Judge Lynn Davis, also in the 4th District Court, described Schofield as a bright, hard-working student who applied himself in all of his studies.

"I can't be overgenerous as it relates to him," Davis said. "He's been an exceptional judge ... and always honored the highest ethical standards."

After graduating, Schofield practiced as a civil litigator with an American law firm in Guam.

The tropical island felt more like a New York law firm than the last American territory before you reach Asia, as Schofield went to bat for large, deep-pocket clients like banks and oil companies.

But when the Schofield's youngest son developed allergies to tropical mold, they headed back.

Schofield and his wife, Becky, are the parents of eight children and grandparents of soon-to-be 19 grandchildren.