The Hon.

Scott

Bales

Scott Bales served on the Arizona Supreme Court for fourteen years, including as Chief Justice for five years before his retirement in 2019.  He now serves as a neutral (American Arbitration Association and FedArb) and consults on appellate matters.

He chaired the Appellate Judges Conference of the ABA’s Judicial Division and the ABA’s Council for the Section on Legal Education.  He is a member of the Council of the American Law Institute and the Board of Trustees for the National Conference of Bar Examiners.  From June 2023 through November 2025, he chaired the Judicial Vetting Commission for the Republic of Moldova.  

Before taking the bench, Bales practiced law for nearly twenty years as a private and public lawyer. He was a partner in Phoenix firms that later became Osborn Maledon P.A. and Lewis Roca, where his practice focused on appellate and complex litigation. 

Bales was Arizona’s Solicitor General from 1999‐2001, and he served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Policy Development, a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix, and a Special Investigative Counsel for the Justice Department’s Inspector General.

He clerked for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Joseph T. Sneed III on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Bales has often taught as an adjunct professor at Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law.

EDUCATION: Michigan State University, B.A.; Harvard University, M.A.; Harvard Law School, J.D.