Hon. Alison S. Bachus has served FBA in a variety of capacities, including on the National Board of Directors. She has served on the National Constitution, Bylaws, Rules and Resolution Committee; Government Relations Committee; Budget and Finance Committee; Community Service and Outreach Committee; Membership Committee; Nominations and Elections Committee; Chapter Activity Awards Committee; and the Special Committee on Women in the Law. She currently sits on the FBA’s Judiciary Division Board. In FY2018, she chaired the Nominations and Elections Task Force, which examined the Association’s elections procedures. She then served on the National Governance Task Force in FY2019. From 2012 to 2017, she served as Vice President for the Ninth Circuit. Judge Bachus was Chair of the CVPs for FY2017. Prior to her election as a CVP, she served as president of the Phoenix Chapter, where she was a member of the board from 2007 to 2020. At the section level, she has been a member of the Federal Litigation Section and has served on its board. She has spoken at various national FBA conferences, including Leadership Summit and the Women in the Law Conference. She was honored with the President’s Award in 2022. Judge Bachus is proud to be a Life Fellow of the FBA Foundation.
Judge Bachus currently serves as a United States Magistrate Judge in Phoenix, Arizona. She previously served on the Arizona state bench from 2015 to 2023. Prior to her appointment to the Arizona state bench, Judge Bachus served as an assistant U.S. attorney for many years and as in-house counsel for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Arizona. She received various awards during her career as a federal litigator, including Cooperative Law Enforcement and Victims’ Rights awards. Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, she served as a law clerk for then-Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen M. McNamee. Judge Bachus currently serves on the board of the Law College Association of the University of Arizona’s Rogers College of Law, and she was a faculty member of Arizona’s Bar Leadership Institute, working on bench/bar relations between the federal and state bars, for many years. She is a member of the Arizona Women Lawyers Association, the Federal Magistrate Judges Association, and the National Association of Women Judges. Prior to joining the bench, she served as a lawyer-representative for the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference and on the Arizona State Bar’s Committee on Minorities and Women in the Law. Outside of legal organizations, Judge Bachus has volunteered with the Girl Scouts of Arizona and St. Mary’s Food Bank.