The Coconino County Commission on Trial Court Appointments will meet Thursday to review applicants for the Superior Court vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Cathleen Nichols.
The meeting will be in the Jury Assembly Room of the county courthouse, 200 N. San Francisco St., at 8:30 am. The commission will accept public comments during the meeting and vote on which applicants to interview.
Interviews for selected applicants will take place Jan. 9, 2025. Following the interviews, the commission will recommend at least three nominees to Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, who will then make an appointment.
Six people submitted applications for the open position: Rhys S. Campbell, Charles W. Doughty, Brent D. Harris, Neil E. Sherman, Marianne E. Sullivan, and Adam K. Zickerman.
Campbell is currently Flagstaff’s assistant city prosecutor. He previously worked for the Coconino County public defender’s office and also served as a contract public defender in Kingman and Lake Havasu municipal courts. He has practiced family and dependency law in multiple county and tribal courts.
Doughty is the senior Arizona attorney for DNA-People’s Legal Services, a nonprofit legal aid organization. He serves on the board of directors for Native Americans for Community Action and The Literacy Center in Flagstaff, and he has previously been an adjunct instructor at Northern Arizona University. Doughty spent approximately eight years working for the Coconino County public defender. He has experience with felony cases, eviction and housing law, family law, and public benefits, across municipal, county and tribal courts.
Harris is judge pro tempore of the Coconino County Superior Court, Division VI, appointed June 2022. Prior to that role, he was the chief prosecutor for the Flagstaff city attorney’s office for six years. His earlier career in private practice included contract work as a public defender in Flagstaff and Camp Verde, as well as civil litigation, guardianship and conservatorship law, estate planning and real estate law.
Sherman is an attorney with the Flagstaff-based firm Antol & Sherman, PC. His firm specializes in criminal defense and family law. He has previously worked for the Flagstaff City Attorney’s Office and the Arizona attorney general’s office and has also been a sign language interpreter.
Sullivan is the senior assistant city attorney for Flagstaff, providing legal advice and review as well as legal representation for the city’s police and fire departments. She has previously served as a prosecutor for both the city and county -- including time as a prosecutor for the METRO inter-agency narcotics task force totaling approximately 10 years. Her other experience includes a stint with the Arizona attorney general’s office and six years at the Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles.
Zickerman currently serves as presiding magistrate for the Williams Municipal Court, as well as judge pro tempore of the Williams Justice Court and a contract prosecutor for the Page Municipal Court. He is the owner of The Zickerman Law Office, PLLC, in Flagstaff, which specializes in criminal defense, civil litigation and family law. He has previously worked for the Coconino County attorney’s office and the Apache County attorney’s office, totaling about seven years, and also worked as an adjunct faculty member at Coconino Community College and Northern Arizona University for approximately 13 years.
Per the state constitution, the nominees submitted to the governor cannot all be of the same political party affiliation. All of the candidates except for Sullivan listed their current affiliation as Democrat.
Sullivan stated in her application that she is registered as an independent voter.
Meanwhile, Sherman and Zickerman stated that they were previously registered as Republican and independent, respectively, but are now registered as Democrats.
The full applications of the candidates can be found at .