As of 1/1/2025, the Court Commissioner salary will be $171,000 per year.
The full online application and personal history MUST be completed and submitted by 11:59 pm on Friday, June 6th, 2025 in order for the Committee to consider your application. Please keep in mind that the online personal history statement is very lengthy and will take a while to complete. Please start early in case you have any questions or technical difficulties.
Applicants must apply at https://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/commissionerrecruitment during the open recruitment period.
DO NOT APPLY ON WORKDAY FOR THIS POSITION!
Job Type
Commissioners
About the Position
Court Commissioners are appointed by the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court through a nomination committee made up of Judges, Attorneys, and Legal Community Members. The selected Commissioners may be assigned and/or assist with work or hear matters in all Court departments to include Civil, Family, Juvenile, Criminal, Probate, Mental Health, Tax or Justice Courts and serve as Judge Pro Tempore as directed. The selected Commissioners may be assigned to Initial Appearance Court which may require evenings and weekends and may be for a year or more. One or more appointments may be made from this recruitment. A list of qualified applicants from which vacancies may be filled without additional announcements or recruitment will be made. As Judicial employees of the Court, Commissioners are not permitted to practice law.
For additional information about the position, please Click Here.
Application Procedure and Timetable
Applicants must apply at https://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/commissionerrecruitment during the open recruitment period. Registration in the application portal is required, and an extensive personal history will also be obtained using this portal during this period. You must complete the application and the online personal history statement by the deadline of 11:59 pm on Friday, June 6, 2025.
DO NOT APPLY ON WORKDAY FOR THIS POSITION!
About Superior Court
The Superior Court of the Judicial Branch of Arizona in Maricopa County is dedicated to providing a safe, fair, and impartial forum for resolving disputes, enhancing access to our services, and providing innovative, evidence-based practices that improve the safety of our community, and ensuring the public’s trust and confidence in the Judicial Branch. The Superior Court in Maricopa County, one of the largest, most innovative, and progressive trial courts in the nation seeks innovative individuals to join our team who will embrace our vision of excellence and the principles inherent in the Rule of Law...every person, every day, every time. We fulfill these principles through a culture that values fairness, respect, integrity, innovation, and safety.
Position Qualifications
Minimum qualifications are defined by Arizona State Statute. Commissioners of the Superior Court may serve as Judge Pro Tempore during their regular duties. The minimum qualifications defined by Arizona State Statute are that a candidate for the position must:
- Possess United States Citizenship
- Be a resident of Maricopa County at the time of appointment
- Be of good moral character
- Be a duly licensed member of the State Bar of Arizona for not less than five years immediately preceding appointment
- Be a resident of the State of Arizona for not less than five years immediately preceding appointment
- Not have any disciplinary matters pending before the State Bar Disciplinary Board
- Commissioners serve from time to time as judges pro tempore in the course of their regular duties. The Arizona Constitution, Article VI, §22 requires that judicial nominees must be at least 30 years of age.
Our Preferred Candidate has:
- Achievement or distinction in various areas of the law and litigation consistent with the duties of the Commissioner position
Knowledge, skills, and abilities:
Knowledge of:
- Legal principles and precedents and their application
- The statutory and constitutional law of the State of Arizona
- Family, Civil, Criminal, and Constitutional Administrative Law
Skill in:
- Establishing and maintaining cooperative working relationships
- Using logic and reasoning to evaluate and choose between conflicting alternatives based on partial or incomplete information
Ability to:
- Present statements of fact and law through clear communication and logic in written and oral form
- Define issues, perform legal research, analyze problems, evaluate and make appropriate findings and recommendations
Essential Job Tasks
(This is not an all-inclusive list of all job duties that may be required; employees will be required to perform other related duties as assigned.)
- Hear a variety of cases in Criminal, Civil, Family, Probate, and Juvenile Court departments.
- During the course of hearing cases interpret, enforce and carry out current laws.
- May be assigned to the Initial Appearance Court, which will include evenings, nights, and weekends. May also be assigned to a location such as the Maryvale Mental Health building or Desert Vista Hospital. Assignments may last more than one year.
- Exercise the same powers and duties as a Judge of the Superior Court in assigned cases, with the same jurisdiction.
Examples of duties in Criminal, Juvenile, and Family are below:
- Criminal: conduct arraignments, handle a pretrial calendar, preside over trials
- Juvenile delinquency: conduct detention hearings, pre-trials, adjudication hearings, disposition hearings, and probation violation hearings
- Juvenile dependency: conduct adjudication hearings, permanency planning, guardianship, and adoption hearings
- Family law: conduct child support calendars, including Order to Show Cause and contempt.
Working Conditions:
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to speak clearly and hear; see details of objects that are less than a few feet away; sit for long periods of time; stand, walk, climb stairs, use hands to finger handle or feel; reach with hands and arms; and occasionally push, pull or lift up to 20 pounds.
Note: Commissioners are required to file an annual financial disclosure statement.
Judicial Branch Information
Attention Current Maricopa County Employees: As of 1/1/2022, the Judicial Branch of Arizona in Maricopa County formalized itself as a separate entity and employer from Maricopa County. To learn more about how that may affect you please click here.
Judicial Branch Human Resources reserves the right to move forward candidates based on the information provided directly on the application. The hiring authority will select the successful candidate based on departmental needs.
All Judicial Branch offers of employment and continued employment are contingent upon passing a thorough background and/or fingerprint check. Applicants must completely and fully answer any questions regarding felony and misdemeanor convictions including any convictions that have been expunged or set aside. Failure to include criminal history information is grounds for termination of an offer and employment. A conviction may not automatically disqualify an applicant.
Judicial Branch facilities are located throughout Maricopa County. This position may be reassigned to other locations. Assignments will be made based upon the needs of the department.