Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Sept. 17 announced the appointment of Lacey Gard to the Pinal County Superior Court. This appointment is to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Stephen McCarville.

“Lacey has dedicated herself to serving the public and protecting the community,” Ducey said in a release. “I am delighted to appoint Lacey Gard to the Pinal County Superior Court.”

Gard has spent nearly her entire career serving at the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. She is currently deputy solicitor general and chief counsel of the capital litigation section. This section represents the state in all post-sentencing lawsuits filed by death row inmates. Gard also oversees all federal habeas corpus litigation filed by all other inmates. In addition to her caseload, she supervises 15 attorneys in the section, the release states.

Prior to becoming chief counsel of the capital litigation section, Gard was the section’s unit chief counsel from 2010 to 2015 and an assistant attorney general in the same section from 2007 to 2010. From 2004 to 2007, she worked in the criminal appeals section. In 2013, she received the Arizona Attorney General’s Office Attorney of the Year Award.

While working in the Attorney General’s Office, Gard decided to give back to her alma mater — the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. As an adjunct professor, Gard taught advanced legal writing and appellate advocacy from 2012 to 2016.

Gard began her career as a law clerk to Judge J. William Brammer in the Arizona Court of Appeals.

Gard is a member of the Arizona Supreme Court’s Capital Case Oversight Committee, where she participates in rule or statutory change debates and proposals. She has presented numerous internal, statewide and national trainings on topics of criminal law, appellate practice, capital sentencing, and federal habeas corpus proceedings. She was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Association of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation.

Gard graduated from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Arizona’s Honors College with a bachelor of arts, majoring in political science and minoring in psychology.