Hon. Christopher T. Whitten is a judge for the Maricopa County Superior Court in Arizona. He was appointed to the bench by former Governor Janet Napolitano in 2006.
During his judicial tenure, Whitten has held assignments in the Juvenile, Tax, Family, Criminal, and Civil Courts. He also served as presiding judge of the Tax Department. In addition, Whitten has presided as a judge pro tempore of the Arizona Court of Appeals.
Prior to his appointment, he worked in private practice in Phoenix. During that time, he was an attorney at Whitten Berry, PLLC (1999 to 2006) and Holloway, Odegard & Sweeney (1996 to 1999).
He was a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and was certified by the Arizona State Bar as a specialist in injury and wrongful death litigation.
Before working in the private sector, Whitten was a deputy county attorney with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (1993 to 1996).
He also taught as an adjunct professor at several law schools, including the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Louisiana State University School of Law, the University of San Diego School of Law, Emory University School of Law, and the Arizona Summit Law School. In addition, Whitten has trained judges and lawyers in four of Mexico’s states, worked on trial skills with solicitors in Ireland, and also worked with lawyers in Myanmar, judges in Egypt, and law professors in Japan.
Whitten received a B.S. in business marketing from the University of Arizona in 1988. He then completed a J.D. at the University of San Diego University School of Law in 1991.
After graduating from law school, he began his legal career as a law clerk to the Hon. John L. Claborne with the Arizona Court of Appeals (1991 to 1993).
His memberships have included the Arizona Judges Association (Board of Directors), the Arizona-Mexico Commission, the Arizona Supreme Court’s Commission for Victims in the Courts, and the State Bar of Arizona.
Whitten was a past chair of the American Bar Association’s National Conference of State Trial Judges and served as the Judicial Division representative on its House of Delegates. He also sat as a member of the ABA Nominations Committee.
In addition, Whitten was chair of the Commission on the American Jury and Judicial Divisions liaison to the Section of Litigation Council and was also a liaison to the Coalition for Justice, the Trial Court Time Standards Committee, and the Advisory Group for Language Access to State Courts. His other committee memberships included the Empirical Research Steering Committee of the Civil Jury Project at New York University.
From a civic standpoint, he has sat on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Blind Children, the Arizona School for the Arts, the Brophy Lacrosse Club, the University of San Diego School of Law Alumni Board, and the Recreational Association of Madison Meadows and Simis. Whitten was also a past president and board member of the St. Thomas More Society.
Whitten and his wife, Ann, have two sons. He and his sons were part of a team that led several blind hikers on a twenty-four-mile hike across the Grand Canyon.