Matthew B. Durrant (born 1957) is the chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court. He is a graduate of both Brigham Young University and Harvard Law School. Durrant had a clerkship with Judge Monroe McKay of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, a position as a lawyer for the Utah firm Parr, Brown, Gee, and Loveless for over a decade, and time spent on the bench of Utah's Third Judicial District. Early life and education Matthew Durrant was born in Arkansas, where his father was stationed at Fort Chaffee. His family continued to live in Arkansas for a short time before moving to Provo, Utah where Durrant spent his elementary school years. When Durrant entered junior high school, his family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. They subsequently moved back East, to Louisville, Kentucky, where Durrant attended Seneca High School. Durrant was an active participant in numerous extracurricular programs in high school, competing on both the basketball and track teams and serving as the Student Council President in his senior year. Durrant attended Utah's Brigham Young University as an undergraduate student, where he met and married Jaclyn Huish. He put his education on a two-year hold between his freshman and sophomore years for a mission in Tokyo, Japan for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Upon returning from Japan, Durrant completed his undergraduate studies and graduated with a double major in American Studies and Japanese in 1981. He subsequently continued his schooling at Harvard Law School and earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1984. Durrant has taught as an adjunct professor at the Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law School, teaching constitutional issues regarding family law. Judicial career Following his graduation from Harvard University in 1984, Justice Durrant applied for a clerk position for Judge Monroe McKay of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He was accepted and spent the next year conducting legal research and assisting the judge in drafting opinions. Durrant then joined the private law firm Parr Brown Gee & Loveless, working as a civil litigator (commercial law). He became a shareholder in the firm thereafter. In 1997, three years before taking a seat on the Utah Supreme Court's bench, Governor Michael O. Leavitt appointed Durrant to Utah's 3rd Judicial District bench. Governor Mike Leavitt later appointed Durrant to the Utah Supreme Court in January 2000.