Justice Julie J. Vargas was appointed to the New Mexico Supreme Court in December 2020 by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham after serving for four years on the New Mexico Court of Appeals. While serving on the Court of Appeals, Justice Vargas was the co-chair of the Advisory Committee on the Code of Judicial Conduct. Before joining the Court of Appeals, Justice Vargas spent 23 years in private practice representing clients in business and real estate litigation matters. During her years in private practice, she served as co-chair of the State Bar’s Ethics Advisory Committee, and was a member of both the Disciplinary Board, and the Board of Bar Commissioners. Justice Vargas is a 1990 graduate of Brown University, receiving a degree in History and English Literature. She received her J.D. from the University of New Mexico in 1993, where she was an editor of the New Mexico Law Review. She has served on the Board of Directors for the New Mexico Museum of Natural History Foundation, volunteered for the Run for the Zoo, and rappelled down a 16-story building to raise money for Special Olympics