About Craig L.
Craig L. Pankratz earned a law degree from Baylor Law School in 2008 after finishing undergraduate work in history at Brigham Young University in 2004. He moved from the classroom into public service early in his professional legal career, taking a clerkship that put him inside the nearby prosecutor's office. Those first years shaped his strategy to legal proceedings and appellate work.
Pankratz began his professional profession within the Salt Lake County District Attorney's office. He served as a regulation clerk and deputy district lawyer in 2008 and later returned as a deputy district lawyer in 2010. Between the ones stints he labored as a metropolis prosecutor for the City of South Salt Lake in 2009. He then transitioned to private practice, joining Christensen Thornton, PLLC as an affiliate in 2011. He became a junior companion in 2012 when the firm reorganized as Christensen Corbett & Pankratz, PLLC, and in 2015 he took at the position of partner at Corbett & Pankratz, PLLC.
Those roles uncovered him to a continuous blend of trial and appellate matters. On the trial aspect he treated prosecutions and protection work at the municipal and county levels. On the appellate aspect he has participated in briefing and argument earlier than state and federal tribunals, and he keeps admission to practice in Utah and earlier than the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Pankratz joined sections of the Utah State Bar in 2013. He is a member of the Appellate Practice Section and the Litigation Section. He has kept professional ties to the local bar while keeping a lively courtroom and appellate docket.
Colleagues describe his fashion as direct. He writes plainly in motions and briefs. He pursues problems at trial however prepares instances with an eye toward how they will examine on appeal. That balance of trial experience and appellate work informs how he evaluates evidence, frames legal arguments and prepares clients for each stage of a case.
Since becoming partner at Corbett & Pankratz, PLLC in 2015, Pankratz has split his time between litigation in state and federal courts and appellate filings. He continues to handle criminal cases and appellate matters in Utah and the Tenth Circuit. He practices at Corbett & Pankratz, PLLC, the place he handles felony defense and appellate litigation.
