3 Takeaways:

• SRPMIC Member Ryan Andrews has been sworn in as associate judge for the Yavapai-Apache Nation.
• Andrews replaces Judge Brian Utsey, who is the new chief judge for the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation.
• Andrews recently graduated from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University with a master’s degree in legal studies.

The Yavapai-Apache Nation has a new associate judge.

Ryan Andrews, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community member and former SRPMIC chief judge from 2010 to 2019, was sworn in by Chairwoman Tanya Lewis in October.

About a year ago, former Yavapai-Apache Nation Associate Judge Brian Utsey, who was also a former judge pro tempore for the SRPMIC, as well as staff attorney and acting director for the SRPMIC Legal Services Office, called Andrews to ask if he was available to help him out.

“He needed a judge pro tempore for some work,” recalled Andrews. A judge pro tempore is someone who serves as a temporary judge if a sitting judge is unable to perform their duties.

“I was in the middle of schooling at the time. They said they might have a couple of cases, and I started doing that.”

The Yavapai-Apache Nation is located in the Verde Valley. Andrews would take the roughly two-hour drive up north about two or three days a week to help with the docket. Now, Andrews drives that route daily back and forth from the Valley. He said he is lucky that he misses the heavy traffic on the way in and back.

In June, Utsey started a new role and was sworn in as chief judge of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, while Andrews was graduating from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University with a master’s degree in legal studies.

“It’s a great program,” said Andrews, who took the school’s hybrid learning course half online and half in person. He said the law school classes were rough, but it prepared him for his new role.

“For me, this being a judge is the one thing I love to do. I love to be of service to the communities,” said Andrews.

“This is the one thing that I’m meant to do, and I enjoy doing it, whether it’s [at the Yavapai-Apache Nation] or back at SRPMIC. I enjoy being a judge.”