Profile

Judge Kenneth (Ken) L. Fields is a retired Judge of the Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County, Phoenix, Arizona. He presided over civil, juvenile, criminal, probate, special assignment and family court calendars. From February 1993 through June 1995, he served as the Presiding Judge of the Domestic Relations Department (Family Court), Superior Court of Arizona, in Maricopa County.

From Nov 29, 2002 to June 2007, he was one of three (3) judges state-wide assigned to the Complex Litigation Court. The Complex Litigation Court was assigned not only complex business and commercial litigation, but it was also assigned other types complex cases such as fraud/white collar criminal cases, dissolution of marriages cases involving business assets and election/voter fraud cases.

While a member of the Complex Litigation Court, Judge Fields presided over numerous complex cases including a 10 month criminal jury trial involving securities fraud, the redistricting of the Arizona voting districts for state and federal elective offices (a 90 day civil non-jury trial), and the insurance coverage dispute regarding a spill of toxic chemical waste (multiple jury and non-jury trials).

He was also a member of the Judicial Advisory Board of the Joint Education Program for State Court Judges sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institute, Washington, DC. While assigned to the Arizona Complex Litigation Court, he participated in the founding of the American College of Business Court Judges, an organization of state court judges specializing in business and complex litigation.

Since his retirement as an active judge, Judge Fields has worked as a re- call judge doing both civil and criminal cases in various courts in the State of Arizona in addition to having an active mediation and arbitration private practice. He is the presiding commissioner for a 5-person arbitration commission deciding disputes between the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe (both Native American Indian tribes). In addition to civilian courts, Judge Fields, a retired Army officer, was a Military Trial Judge for the Arizona National Guard presiding over Courts-Martials until September 15, 2015.

He taught Mexican Judges, prosecutors and public defenders in 2007-2008 as a member of a U.S.-Canadian team as well as teaching Alternative Dispute Resolution at the Faculty of Law, Belgrade, Serbia in 2013 and U.S. Business Law in Pristina, Kosovo in 2014. In April 2014, Judge Fields had a paper presented at the Azov Legal Conference in Berdyansk, Ukraine on Business Courts in the United States. He also taught Judicial Remedies as an adjunct faculty member at the Law School at Arizona State University in the fall semester 2014. In 2004 prior to his retirement, Judge Fields presented a class on U.S. Civil Procedure to European Judges in Madrid, Spain as a part of a comparative law course.

In April 2014, he was a guest lecturer at the University of South Wales, Cardiff, United Kingdom, on Alternative Dispute Resolution, giving a presentation via electronic conference link from the United States to students in Cardiff. In September 2014 he was on location at the University of South Wales participating in a panel lecture/discussion on mediation where many of the students were connected electronically off- site. He also acted as chairman of a mock arbitration which was videotaped for use by the University. In June 2015, Judge Fields was co-chair of the symposium on International Mediation for the Center for International Legal Studies in Salzburg, Austria. He was a guest lecturer in October 2015 at Udmurt State University in Izhevsk, Russian Federation, on American jurisprudence. In 2015 he was inducted into the Congress of Fellows of the Center for International Legal Studies, Salzburg, Austria.

Judge Fields, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science in 1968 from the University of Kentucky and as a Distinguished Military Graduate from ROTC was commissioned as a Regular Army Officer. From 1968 to 1971 he served in the U.S. Army as an armor officer in cavalry and infantry assignments. On separation from active duty, he joined the US army Reserve.

While serving in the U.S. Army Reserve, he was part of the adjunct/non- resident faculty of the US Army Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas and commanded the 10th Bn, 6th Bde, 104 Army Reserve Division. Judge Fields, an Army Ranger, retired from the US Army Reserve with the rank of Colonel in 2003.

Upon his return from Viet Nam, he attended the College of Law at the University of Kentucky where he obtained his J.D. in December 1973. Judge Fields was a member of the Law Journal at the College of Law.

Upon graduation from law school, Judge Fields was employed with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. with the Criminal and Civil Rights Divisions. In 1976, he was appointed an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Arizona in Phoenix and remained in that position until 1982. While in the U. S. Attorneys' Office, he was chief of the General Crimes Section of the Criminal Department.

In 1982 Judge Fields joined the law firm of Campana and Horne, involved primarily in commercial litigation. In 1985, he formed a partnership with Michael V. Black, in the firm of Fields and Black doing mostly criminal defense representation. He remained with this firm until his appointment to the bench in February 1989. While a trial lawyer, Judge Fields tried over 100 jury trials as lead counsel.