Brian Y. Furuya

Brian Y. Furuya was appointed as a judge of the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, by Gov. Doug Ducey effective January 25, 2021. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Furuya served as a deputy county attorney for Coconino County, in the office's civil division from 2016. In his government practice, Judge Furuya handled a wide variety of matters, including tax valuation appeals, code enforcement matters, general civil litigation, and providing legal advice and representation to local fire districts, as well as many county officers, commissions, and boards. From 2007 through 2015, he was in private practice, where he handled cases in the areas of real estate and business transactions, landlord-tenant, appellate, personal injury, and corporate law, as well as civil litigation with the law firm of Aspey, Watkins & Diesel, P.L.L.C. Judge Furuya was named as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers in 2015 and again in 2016.

Residing with his family in Flagstaff, Judge Furuya is active in the community. In addition to volunteering for community focus groups for the City of Flagstaff, he has served as President of the Board of Directors for the Coconino County Bar Association, and was also selected as a member of the Flagstaff Leadership Program’s class of 2013. From 2014 through 2020, he served as the elected member of the State Bar of Arizona's Board of Governors for District 1, representing Apache, Navajo, Coconino, and Mohave counties. He also filled a term as president of the State Bar of Arizona from 2019 to 2020. He continues his volunteer service to the legal community as a member of the Board of Directors for the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education.

Judge Furuya graduated with a bachelors of arts degree, cum laude, from Brigham Young University in 2003, studying political science and philosophy. He attended the J. Reuben Clark Law School, and was awarded a juris doctor degree in 2007. In law school, Judge Furuya was Managing Editor of Articles for the Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law. He also was an adjunct professor of law with the J. Reuben Clark Law School, teaching legal interviewing & counseling theory and technique until 2010. In addition to obtaining law licenses for all State and Federal courts in Arizona and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Furuya was also admitted to practice before the courts of the Navajo Nation in 2008, where he took pro bono cases to serve indigent members of the tribe.