More than 1,200 people during the COVID-19 pandemic attended virtual events designed to encourage diverse and rural candidates to apply to be judges, according to a recent report from the Colorado Judicial Department.

The department also noted as an accomplishment a significant rise in the number of Black women who joined the bench within the last two years.

The 2021 Annual Legislative Report of the Judicial Diversity Outreach Program chronicled the increase in racial and gender diversity among the state’s trial and appellate courts. Between September 2020 and the end of August 2021, the state welcomed 35 new judges, three of whom were LGBTQ, roughly one-third were people of color and a majority were women.

“In October 2018, Colorado was left without a single Black district court judge serving in our state court system; we currently have 12 Black and African American judges on our state court bench,” noted the report from Sumi Lee, the head of judicial diversity outreach. The report added that Colorado is currently at its high-water mark for the number of Black judges serving simultaneously.

Although the analysis of new judges did not include Denver County Court, whose members the mayor of Denver appoints, the number of Black judges rises to 15 with the inclusion of the county court.

The state saw a particularly drastic increase among Black women on the bench. Gov. Jared Polis appointed eight Black women to the trial courts in 2020 and 2021. In the previous quarter century, from 1994 to 2019, only five Black women total were appointed.

However, the report highlighted areas in which Colorado’s state judiciary is still not representative of the population as a whole. No Black judges sit on the Court of Appeals or Supreme Court. Although Hispanic judges are represented at every level of the court system, they comprise only 9.5% of the approximately 330 judges and justices, compared to 22% of the state population.

The Judicial Diversity Outreach Program compiles general demographic data about state judges, and a detailed report about select judicial districts in metro Denver, El Paso County and Pueblo counties was shared with the governor’s office. That analysis showed there to be “only one judge of color serving at the district court level in Colorado’s South Central metro districts (4th and 10th Judicial Districts serving El Paso, Teller, and Pueblo Counties).”

By contrast, the population of the Fourth Judicial District is 28% people of color. The percentage rises to 47% in the 10th Judicial District in Pueblo County.

The Judicial Diversity Outreach Program touted as an achievement the testimony that state Supreme Court Justice Monica M. Márquez provided to a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee in July. Márquez, who is the first Latina and openly gay justice appointed, told lawmakers that 2018 – the point at which there were zero Black district court judges in the state – served as a catalyst for diversity efforts.

“Three key factors have contributed to our success: First, with bipartisan support, the Colorado General Assembly enacted legislation that established a full-time position responsible for education and outreach efforts regarding judicial vacancies and the application process,” she said, referring to Lee. “To our knowledge, Colorado is the first state in the nation to have a position of this kind.”

The other two factors, highlighted in the report, included outreach initiatives to diverse lawyers and continued engagement with judges of color.

The judicial branch’s programs consist of virtual “Java with Judges” conversations between judges, law clerks and up to six law students, plus a six-month, individualized coaching program for prospective judicial candidates called Dream Team 2.0. The latter initiative is targeted to people who plan to apply to be a judge within the next five years, or who have already applied unsuccessfully.

Those programs seek not only to reach lawyers based on their race, gender and sexual orientation, but also their geography. A July 2021 report from a Colorado Bar Association task force found that rural judges and bar associations worry about the declining pool of candidates for judgeships outside of metropolitan areas.

The Judicial Department hosted three “Spotlight On…” virtual events that provided prospective applicants with information about vacancies in three judicial districts that are largely or somewhat rural.

Beginning in 2022, the Colorado Bar Association and other legal organizations will also sponsor an immersive summer program to house University of Colorado and University of Denver law students for eight weeks in two rural judicial districts deemed “legal deserts.”

In total, 27 virtual presentations in 2021 reached more than 1,200 attendees, and 107 students participated in Java with Judges. The Judicial Diversity Outreach Program’s annual report is a product of 2019 legislation that established Lee’s position and mandated the disclosure of demographic information for judges.