Faculty Profile

Judge Suchada P. Bazzelle was appointed to the Fourth District Juvenile Court in January 2007 by Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. Her court is located in Provo, where she serves the children and families of Utah County. Judge Bazzelle graduated from the University of Colorado in 1990 with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and went on to receive her law degree from Brigham Young University in 1994. Prior to her judicial appointment, Judge Bazzelle worked in private practice focusing on family law and general litigation. She later served as the Director of Legal Education for Westminster College, where she administered the Legal Assistant Program and taught law-related classes for both legal assistant and undergraduate level students.

Judge Bazzelle began working as a volunteer Guardian ad Litem in 1997, where she found her vocation in working with children involved in the legal system. She joined the Office of the Guardian ad Litem on a full-time basis in August 2000 and represented the needs of abused, neglected and dependent children in the Juvenile Court until her appointment to the bench. Judge Bazzelle has served as a member and as chairperson of the Board of Juvenile Court Judges. She has also served as Presiding Judge of the Fourth District Juvenile Court and as the Juvenile Court representative for the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice. Judge Bazzelle has conducted a family recovery court and a juvenile recovery court. She is currently serving as the judge for the first Infant and Toddlers Court Program in Utah, which is a pilot program focused on better serving children zero to three years of age who have become involved in the child welfare system.

Judge Bazzelle’s work with this population was recognized by the Utah Association for Infant Mental Health, which honored her with the Children’s Champion award in 2024. Judge Bazzelle is a current member of the Judicial Council, where she participates in leadership and governance of Utah’s judicial branch. She was named the 2024 Judge of the Year by the Utah State Bar Commission. Judge Bazzelle is also an adjunct instructor at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University where she teaches a course about child welfare and juvenile justice.

In her personal life, Judge Bazzelle treasures time and relationships with her family and she loves to travel—anytime, anywhere. She is also curiously fond of tedious, time-consuming, and/or expensive hobbies such as needlework, crochet, scrapbooking, and birdwatching, all of which she does while listening to audiobooks.