Judge Pamela Gates, who grew up on the family farm in Anamosa, Iowa, has ascended from her small-town roots to become the Presiding Judge of the Judicial Branch of Arizona in Maricopa County - the fourth largest trial court in the Nation.
Judge Gates, who officially assumed her new role on July 1, 2025, will continue to enhance the Branch’s rich history of innovation and technological advancements to ensure the Branch remains efficient, accessible, and responsive to Maricopa County and its residents.
“As Presiding Judge of the Judicial Branch in Maricopa County, I will prioritize transparency, efficiency, and collaboration. I want every person who interacts with our Branch of government to feel listened to, respected, and confident in the fairness and impartiality of the administration of justice,” said Judge Gates. “Our Court needs to be a place for justice for all. The services of the Judicial Branch must be accessible.”
Prior to the Arizona Supreme Court appointing her as Presiding Judge, she served the Superior Court for over 15 years in several judicial departments. She oversaw calendars in the Juvenile, Family, Criminal and Civil Departments and served most recently as Associate Presiding Judge. She has also held other leadership positions within the Branch, including Civil Presiding Judge, Associate Criminal Presiding Judge and Associate Presiding Judge for the Downtown Family Department.
Throughout her judicial career, Judge Gates has received numerous awards for her outstanding work. Awards include the G. Thomas Munsterman Award for Jury Innovation by the National Center for State Courts (2023), the Chief Justice Outstanding Contributions to Arizona Courts Award (2022), Judge of the Year by Phoenix Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (2021), Judge of the Year by the Maricopa County Bar Association (2018) and the Mark Santana Award for exceptional contributions in law-related education (2008).
As an esteemed jurist on the Superior Court Bench, the Arizona Supreme Court selected Judge Gates to serve on many committees. Her work on statewide committees includes the Arizona Steering Committee on Artificial Intelligence in the Courts, Chair of Arizona’s Task Force on Jury Data Collection, Policies, and Procedures and the Statewide Jury Selection Workgroup. She also Co-Chaired the Maricopa County Superior Court committee tasked with improving access to justice. Her past committee work also includes the Advisory Committee on the Rules of Evidence, the Task Force on the Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Committee on Superior Courts and the Civil Practice and Procedure Committee.
Before serving on the Bench, Judge Gates was a partner with the law firm of Bryan Cave, where she worked from 1997 to 2009. As a private attorney, she specialized in environmental litigation. Her environmental work focused primarily on environmental compliance and litigation to recover costs of cleaning up historical contamination.
Judge Gates graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1996 with distinction, and received her B.S. in Political Science, cum laude, from Drake University in Iowa in 1993.