About Carol
Carol Mortensen built a practical foundation long before she earned her law degree. She completed a B.S. at the University of Utah in 1995, studying psychology, sociology and criminal justice. A decade later she returned to the university to receive her J.D. from the S.J. Quinney College of Law in 2004. She also spent time at the London Law Consortium in 2007 studying law in an international setting.
Her early work blended social services and corrections. In the late 1990s she worked at Odyssey House of Utah in the Women and Children’s Program, serving as a facility and case manager and acting as a liaison for the dependency drug court. Around the same time she worked as a youth corrections technician at the Wasatch Youth Center. Those roles put her in frequent contact with families, courts and treatment providers.
Mortensen moved into legal practice through a series of clerkships and internships. She clerked for the Utah Attorney General’s Office in the Child Protection Division and later took on an externship at the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. In 2007 she served as an international legal intern at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Special Department for War Crimes. She also worked in the Salt Lake District Attorney’s Office in the Criminal Justice Division and earlier provided contract consulting services for LSAC.
In 2008 she managed district operations for Court Supportive Services. The following year she opened her own practice, the Law Office of Carol Mortensen, PLLC, where she is listed as managing lawyer. Public defense has also been part of her career; records indicate she has served in a public defender role beginning in 2010 and continuing while maintaining private practice.
Mortensen is licensed to practice in Utah and admitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. She holds active status with the Utah State Bar. Her other professional credentials include an inactive Utah license as a substance abuse counselor and an active Utah social service worker credential. She belongs to a range of legal organizations: the Utah State Bar, American Bar Association, Utah Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers, Women Lawyers of Utah, the Salt Lake City and County Bar and others.
Her background in social services, criminal justice and courtroom work shapes the kinds of matters she accepts. She currently practices from the Law Office of Carol Mortensen, PLLC and maintains both private-client and public defender work.
