Cristina Ortega
Judge Cristina Ortega
Circa 2019
Cristina Ortega was born in El Paso, Texas. She lived in Juarez, Mexico with her mother until she was about six, when her mom’s job relocated to Ogden, Utah. She grew up in Clearfield, and learned English watching television. In elementary school she saw a television show that had a woman attorney and knew that was the career she wanted.
Cristina graduated from Clearfield High and attended Weber State University as a first generation college student. During her first year she met with Academic Advisement Director Ned Laff, who encouraged her to pursue her dream of becoming a lawyer. While at Weber she became involved in as many activities and groups as possible, such as Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MeChA). From 1995-1997 she was the WSU Student Association Latino/Chicano/Hispanic senator. She volunteered as a bilingual tutor for elementary schools, and frequently did presentations at schools about Hispanic heritage and contributions. Cristina graduated in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with minors in legal studies and Latin American studies.
After taking a year off to work, Cristina was accepted in the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law. She continued the practice of immersing herself in campus life and joined several groups including the Minority Law Caucus and the Native American Caucus. Throughout her education she often had to figure things out on her own, and became a trailblazer and support to her family and fellow students. She graduated with her Juris Doctor in 2002, and passed the bar that summer.
Cristina began her career with the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office where she had worked as a law clerk. She worked there for eight years, working on special victims cases. She then went to work in child justice for the Davis County Attorney’s Office. In 2018 Cristina became a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Utah. In 2021 she was selected by Governor Spencer Cox and confirmed by the Utah Senate to be a judge in the Second District Court.
Her advice is “Don’t underestimate what you bring to the table because your perspective matters. We all have different experiences. We need to have that diversity, that’s where you get these different perspectives, different ideas, different feedback.” No matter what field you work in “hard work and preparation, they’re the great equalizer.”
WSU Student Association Senate 1995-1996
WSU Student Association Senate 1996-1997
Deputy District Attorney Cristina Ortega for the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office during trial, 2009
Cristina Ortega and her son at the Hispanic Heritage Month Dolores Huerta event, 2018
Exhibit in the Stewart Library