New Attorney General Derek Brown is focused on looking forward  

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Attorney General Derek Brown started the job Monday, turning a new page for an office that’s been consumed by allegations of corruption, ethics complaints, and a disregard for transparency during the last three administrations.  

Republican and former state representative Derek Brown promises not necessarily to clean up the office, but to restore trust in it. Ahead of his swearing-in on Monday, KSL sat down with Brown to better understand what exactly that means and how he intends to represent Utah. 

Brown has said numerous times that he wants to make sure the office is the most transparent and respected law firm in the state of Utah. Asked by KSL whether he believes the office currently is respected, Brown replied, “Well, I can tell you what I will do as the attorney general.” 

When pressed to answer the question of whether the office has Utahns’ respect, Brown responded, “You know what? You’ll have to ask people around if it is. From my standpoint, if it’s not, it will be.” 

Brown has assembled a transition team of 40 people, both Republicans and Democrats, including those in and out of the legal field. There are 11 subcommittees looking at things like ethics, personnel, and current cases like one against Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta. 

As a lawyer working in the private sector, Brown represented Meta for the last seven years before running for attorney general. He’s adamant his work at Meta isn’t a conflict. Rather, he said, it compliments what Utah can do in its lawsuit against the company. 

“I became very familiar with those legal issues and the issues involving how these companies are affecting kids,” Brown said of that work. “And so that expertise, I believe, is a good thing that helps me understand what it is that’s going on in a way that somebody who doesn’t have that expertise doesn’t know.” 

In the court case, Utah alleged that Meta had made misrepresentations about the safety of its platforms, specifically when it comes to children.  

Asked whether he agrees with that argument, Brown said, “Well, I’m not going to comment on the merits of the case yet, because here’s the reality. I’m not in the office yet, and so I haven’t sort of analyzed the unredacted versions of what’s going on, but at the right time, I’d be happy to do that.”  

Yet Brown’s expertise and the nearly 300 attorneys that make up his office may not be enough when it comes to one case in particular, the public lands lawsuit the state hopes the Supreme Court will take on. 

Utah is trying to take back land roughly the size of South Carolina that it gave up to get statehood. 

Brown pledges this suit will continue as will the outside attorneys hired to litigate the case, at a cost of about 14 million dollars, according to the Deseret News. Brown said the lead outside attorney “is arguably the best appellate attorney in the country. So, would they continue to work on this case? Yes.” 

Asked if any lawyers within his office could litigate the case, Brown replied, “Well, what we do is we provide, we look for individuals with the expertise. And I think it’s appropriate at times to retain outside counsel. I mean, that’s what we’ve done.” 

As Brown spoke with KSL about issues like public lands, the Dobbs decision on abortion, and Utah’s controversial sovereignty act, which instructs the state to ignore federal law when they don’t like or agree with it, it became clear Brown isn’t likely to upset the Republican establishment in Utah.  

And while he wouldn’t criticize his predecessors, Brown said, “What’s legal and what’s ethical sometimes are two different things. There’s a higher bar, and then what should be perceived, a perception is also reality.”  

An example of Brown trying to set a higher example: He’s stepping down from community and nonprofit boards, including from a role he loved, as board chair with the education foundation for the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind.  He said he did so because the attorney general’s office oversees nonprofits. 

“And so, I’m taking those things into consideration to create an office… and an office that is that is trusted, that’s respected,” Brown said. “And perhaps taking steps that I may not need to take under law, but I’m going to anyway, because I think it enhances people’s trust.” 

Contributing: Annie Knox