Adele Ponce and Scott Blaney have been appointed to the Maricopa County Superior Court. These appointments are to fill vacancies due to the retirements of Judge Aimee L. Anderson and Judge Peter C. Reinstein.
Ponce is currently a criminal appellate prosecutor with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. After graduating from law school, Ponce worked with the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which was established to prosecute the leaders and organizers of the Rwandan genocide that took place in 1994. Ponce then joined Lewis and Roca, LLP as an Associate, practicing primarily in commercial litigation. In 2011, Ponce left the firm to clerk for Judge Mary Murguia, first with the U.S. District Court and then with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Ponce graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government. She also earned a Master’s degree in Social Science from the University of Chicago. Ponce then graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 2004.
Blaney has been serving with the Arizona National Guard/Arizona Department of Emergency & Military Affairs (DEMA) since 2007. During this time, Blaney was the General Counsel of DEMA and State Judge Advocate for the Arizona National Guard, where he provided wide-ranging legal services throughout the joint military-civilian governmental agency. Prior to these positions, Scott practiced employment law and commercial litigation at the law firms of Cohen Dowd & Quigley, Jackson Lewis, and Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak and Stewart.
Blaney served his country through the Army National Guard and Army Reserve for 24 years. He received his commission as JAG Attorney for the U.S. Army in 2005 and subsequently served in Iraq from 2006-2007 and in Afghanistan from 2009-2010, including serving as the legal advisor to the prison that held Saddam Hussein and other high-value detainees. Blaney also serves on the board of Soldier’s Best Friend, a nonprofit that provides therapy dogs, many of whom are rescued from shelters, to veterans with combat-related PTSD and traumatic brain injuries.
Blaney graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Arts in History in 1997. Blaney then received his law degree from the University of Arizona College of Law in 2003.