Hon. Joseph M. Livermore

LIVERMORE, Hon. Joseph M., retired judge of the Arizona Court of Appeals, died at his home in Tucson on Wednesday, September 28, 2011. He is survived by Elaine, his wife of 45 years and his son, Caleb, an agent of the Department of Homeland Security. Judge Livermore was born in Portland, Oregon 74 years ago and during his youth lived in Phoenix, Arizona with his parents. After graduation from North Phoenix High School, he earned a BA degree from Dartmouth College. He was admitted to Stanford University School of Law and graduated with an L.L.B. in 1961. He served in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the U.S. Army from 1961-63. He practiced law with the San Francisco firm of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison for two years before joining the law faculty of the University of Minnesota. During his tenure at Minnesota, he took a leave of absence to prosecute criminal cases as an assistant United States Attorney for Minnesota. Returning to the Minnesota law faculty, he was also a visiting professor at Stanford Law School and continued publishing articles on a variety of subjects such as the McNaughton test for the insanity defense, civil commitment, trademark and the law of evidence. In 1973 he joined the law faculty of the University of Arizona as its fifth Dean and as a Professor of Law. While serving as Dean, he pressed forward with faculty recruitment, including its first woman faculty member and began the planning of a badly needed new law building. He returned to full time teaching in 1977 and also tried cases as a pro tem Superior Court judge. In 1985, he was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals by Governor Bruce Babbitt and served there until his retirement in 1997. On the appeals court he wrote quickly and cleanly, relying on a careful reading of the record and briefs and on his own swift research. Judge Livermore is honored by his colleagues in academia, on the bench and at the bar for his incisive intellect, his terse writing style and perhaps most of all, for his intellectual honesty. Friends may make contributions in his memory to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona. Arrangements by HUDGEL'S SWAN FUNERAL HOME.