During his career as a lawyer, Denver District Court Judge Jon J. Olafson, who is gay, would get singled out as “the party planner.”

Karen Steinhauser, a lawyer and Aurora Municipal Court relief judge, was once called up to a judge’s bench by herself, only to be told, “You look really lovely today.”

“When we talk about bias, the way we often react when we’re told ‘that’s a bias’ is to become defensive,” Olafson told a group of lawyers and judges on Feb. 23.

“When we say things like, ‘I didn’t mean that’ or ‘don’t be so sensitive’ or whatever it is, we’re invalidating that person’s feelings,” Steinhauser added. “We just need to be able to say, ‘Thank you for telling me. I’m really sorry.’ And make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

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The presentation on “de-biasing” courtrooms, sponsored by the Colorado Bar Association’s Judicial Liaison Section, occurred the same day the Colorado Supreme Court’s criminal jury instructions committee released an update to the template instructions judges give to jurors. Included for the first time was an implicit bias instruction, cautioning jurors to be mindful of “stereotypes, perceptions, attitudes, or preferences that people may hold without being aware of them.”

Olafson noted he has a directive on civility and inclusivity for his courtroom, prohibiting anyone from engaging in biased conduct, intentionally or not, based on race, religion, sexual orientation and other characteristics. Olafson’s order also requires the use of gender-neutral titles whenever possible.

“If you want to respectfully address someone, ask, ‘How may I respectfully address you?'” he said. “And when someone says, ‘This is how I want to be called,’ believe them.”

“I can tell you in law school now, there are so many students who don’t use ‘he’ or ‘she’ pronouns,” added Steinhauser, an instructor at the University of Denver. “So, really try to get used to saying, ‘members of the jury’ or referring to jurors as ‘Juror Smith, Juror Jones,’ as opposed to automatically assuming Ms., Mrs.”

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The presenters clarified that biases are not inherently bad, as they amount to shortcuts in the brain’s decision-making. However, recognizing the existence of the bias and its effect on lawyers’ actions is important.

For example, law firms might operate on “affinity bias,” Steinhauser said, putting candidates’ resumes on the top of the pile if they went to the same college as someone on the hiring committee.

“The idea that ‘birds of a feather flock together.’ We’re more comfortable with people who relate to us,” she said. “While it may be good for people who are like us, it’s not good for people who are not like us.”

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When Steinhauser first began as a municipal court judge, she recalled having the belief that parties must dress a certain way when they appeared in court.

“What I had to learn and understand,” she said, “in Aurora we have a huge homeless population. We have a lot of people who don’t have anything. … I had to kind of really change how I thought about things and understand that when someone comes in dressed differently from how I grew up thinking people should come into a courtroom, that doesn’t mean they were disrespecting the court.”