James P. Beene

James P. Beene was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One on December 9, 2016.  Prior to his appointment, Judge Beene spent over seven years on the Arizona Superior Court for Maricopa County having been appointed to the superior court bench by Governor Jan Brewer in April 2009.  As a superior court judge, Judge Beene presided over family, juvenile and criminal cases.  Judge Beene also served as the Associate Presiding Juvenile Court Judge.    

Judge Beene graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1988.  He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Arizona in 1991. 

Upon graduation, Judge Beene began his legal career serving at the Pinal County Attorney's Office, and then as a trial attorney in the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. In addition, Judge Beene has served as Chief Counsel at the Residential Utility Consumer’s Office, where he litigated rate cases before the Arizona Corporation Commission. As an Assistant Attorney General in the Capital Litigation Section of the Arizona Attorney General's Office, Judge Beene amassed extensive appellate experience in both state and federal court, including arguing cases before both divisions of the Arizona Court of Appeals, the Arizona Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the District of Arizona and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Prior to being appointed to the superior court bench, Judge Beene served as the Appeals and Extraditions Bureau Chief in the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.

Judge Beene has also served on the Town of Gilbert Planning and Zoning Commission, the Arizona State Bar Committee on Criminal Practice and Procedure, the Arizona Supreme Court Death Penalty Task Force, and he currently serves on the Arizona State Bar Committee on Criminal Jury Instructions and the Arizona Juvenile Justice Commission.