Julianne P. Blanch is currently a shareholder at Parsons Behle & Latimer, out of their Salt Lake City office, where her practice lately has focused on commercial litigation, fraud cases, and catastrophic personal injury cases. She is currently a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and serves as the Utah Chapter Committee’s Vice-Chair and is a member of the Utah Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). She has also taught Trial Advocacy as an adjunct professor at the University of Utah Law School. Blanch was selected as the 2025 Outstanding State Chair Recipient, which is given annually to an ABF Fellows State Chair who has demonstrated dedication to the work of the ABF and the mission of the Fellows through exceptional efforts at the state level.
Q: What does being an ABF Fellow mean to you?
For our Utah Chapter, it’s the camaraderie. Utah has a small bar compared to other states, and most of the members in our chapter know each other. I enjoy seeing colleagues at our chapter events, and I enjoy the questions they ask of our speakers—our members are social and intellectually curious.
Q: Where do you consider your hometown and what is your favorite thing about it?
Munster, Indiana. My favorite thing about it is that the public high school had amazing teachers across the board. I received an excellent education that gave me a leg up in college. Our teachers were committed to their jobs, and they had very positive relationships with the students and the parents.
Q: Why did you decide to pursue a career in law?
Due to my involvement on my high school’s speech team. It was at the time I was there, and still is, one of the best high school speech programs in the country.
Q: What do you do in your free time?
I like to travel, run*, drink wine, read biographies, and go to Utah Jazz games with my husband.
*Blanch has completed 8 Boston Marathons!
Q: Who is your professional hero?
Erwin Chemerinsky. I have attended a few of his talks on the latest SCOTUS cases, and I’ve read his book Worse Than Nothing. Imagine how excited I was to learn that I would be able to meet him at the ABF Fellows Awards Banquet in Phoenix in January! He is a brilliant and warm human being.