Mark Leonard Shurtleff (born August 9, 1957) is an American attorney, former three-term Utah Attorney General, and founder of the Shurtleff Law Firm and the Shurtleff Group. He was a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm Troutman Sanders and served as a Salt Lake County Commissioner prior to being elected as

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

of the state of

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Education and early career

Shurtleff attended

Brighton High School (Cottonwood Heights, Utah) Brighton High School in Cottonwood Heights, Utah is located about south of Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Sa ...

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

, University of Utah College of Law, and

University of San Diego School of Law The University of San Diego School of Law (USD Law) is the law school of the University of San Diego, a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1954, the law school has held ABA approval since 1961. It ...

. Shurtleff served as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

for

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

in Peru. He served four years in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

as a Judge Advocate General Corps (JAG).

Career

Shurtleff was the Deputy County Attorney and a Commissioner of Salt Lake County and later became an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Utah. Shurtleff was elected Attorney General in November 2000, and re-elected in 2004 and 2008. He is the first Attorney General in Utah to win re-election for a third term. As Attorney General, Shurtleff issued an official legal opinion stating that under a second law (HB174), private school vouchers would still be funded even if voters rejected the primary voucher bill (HB 148) in a November referendum. In May 2007, Shurtleff testified before the

United States Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nom ...

as a Republican in support of the Constitutionality of granting full representation in Congress for residents of Washington DC. That year Shurtleff co-founded the Utah Meth Cops Project and raised money to provide detoxification treatment to police officers. On May 12, 2009, Shurtleff disclosed, via a Twitter message, that he planned to enter the 2010 Republican primary. On November 4, 2009, Shurtleff ended his campaign for U.S. Senate in order to spend more time with his daughter, who was experiencing health problems. That year, he co-founded the Utah Pharmaceutical Drug Crime Project, an unprecedented multi-agency, multi-disciplinary task force to combat the serious problem of prescription drug abuse. Partners included the DEA,

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

, Utah Departments of Public Safety and Human Services, and the

Salt Lake City Police Department The Salt Lake City Police Department (SLCPD) is the municipal police force of Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The current Chief of Police, Brian Redd, was recommended by Mayor Erin Mendenhall on February 20th, 2025, and approved by the Sa ...

. In September 2010, Shurtleff testified before the

House Judiciary Committee The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, f ...

in support of the Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness Act,Hearing on: H.R. 5034, the "Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness (CARE) Act of 2010"
from the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, which includes
transcript of Shurtleff's prepared remarks
an act that seeks to reverse the effects of Granholm v. Heald, a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled unconstitutional state laws that permitted in-state wineries to ship wine directly to consumers, but prohibited out-of-state wineries from doing the same. Shurtleff's remarks were drafted by the general counsel of the

National Beer Wholesalers Association The National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) is a trade association that represents the interests of nearly 5,000 beer distributors throughout the United States before government and the public. In 2022, their political action committee was th ...

. In April 2013, Shurtleff testified before the

in support of comprehensive immigration reform during the Hearing on the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, S.744. In February 2013, Shurtleff spoke on Capitol Hill in Washington DC on "The Role of State Attorneys General in Enforcing Federal Law" to Congressional staffers at the Civil Justice Caucus Academy run by George Mason University School of Law In July 2015, Mark Shurtleff, with his brother Kevin Shurtleff, started a business called MicromistNOW. The company's first product is the QuickNic Nicotine Inhaler. While attorney general Shurtleff made multiple public statements critical of the tobacco industry.

Election history

Personal life

Shurtleff is divorced with five children and eight grandchildren. He is an Eagle Scout and is fluent in Spanish. Shurtleff was honored by the Boys and Girls Clubs with their 2012 Living Legacy Award. Shurtleff was divorced on November 6, 2019

Allegations of criminal misconduct

In 2008 several articles from local news sources accused Shurtleff of corruption and bribery regarding his prosecutorial decisions. These allegations were investigated by the

but the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

took no action. In 2014 Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill filed 10 felony charges against Shurtleff. Davis County District Attorney Troy Rawlings took over the Shurtleff prosecution when Shurtleff's criminal case was severed from the case of former Attorney General John Swallow. In July 2016 the state criminal charges against Shurtleff were dismissed on a motion by the state.

References

External links

Official site of Utah Attorney General
from the

Deseret News The ''Deseret News'' () is a multi-platform newspaper based in Salt Lake City, published by Deseret News Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS ...

Information Sheet
from

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is an American non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected offic ...

MARK SHURTLEFF BIOGRAPHYLinkedIn Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shurtleff, Mark 1957 births Living people S.J. Quinney College of Law alumni Latter Day Saints from Utah Brigham Young University alumni Utah attorneys general Utah lawyers Utah Republicans University of San Diego School of Law alumni United States Navy officers 2008 United States presidential electors American Mormon missionaries in Peru 20th-century Mormon missionaries