When the late Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey authored a 2002 opinion in the complex and long-running Taylor Ranch case involving landowners’ claims to access a 77,000-acre tract in the San Luis Valley, she worked with her law clerk, Andrea S. Wang.

“She’s just a very thoughtful person, and her writing style is good. I found her really helpful when we would be discussing this case as we were working our way through it,” Mullarkey told Colorado Politics shortly before her death in 2021.

Wang, who turns 54 this year, was a finalist for a previous Supreme Court vacancy that arose in 2020. The seat ultimately went to Justice Maria E. Berkenkotter, who likewise was a runner-up for an earlier vacancy.

Wang did not respond to an invitation to speak with Colorado Politics.

At the time of her 2020 application, Wang was an assistant U.S. attorney, where she handled cases involving companies that attempted to defraud the government in the energy, health care and air transport industries.

“I’ve been fortunate to work with Andrea Wang over many years. She is an extraordinary legal mind,” said Denver District Attorney John Walsh, who was Colorado’s U.S. attorney from 2010-2016. “Her knowledge of natural resources and environmental law is deep, and just one of many legal areas where she brings both experience and skill to the table.”

Matthew T. Kirsch, who works under Walsh and served as acting U.S. attorney, added that Wang “is one of the very best lawyers I’ve known at carefully considering all aspects of and viewpoints about a problem. This skill combines with her analytic acumen and her empathy for others to make her remarkably good at finding the best answers to complicated legal questions.”

Between 2022 and 2025, Wang was involved in policy and personnel decisions for the federal prosecutor’s office. She oversaw community engagement and two litigation divisions: appeals and asset recovery.

Wang left the office in January 2025 for the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. In her judicial application, she estimated that 90% of her work involves water-related litigation with other states.

“I get to fight the good fight for Colorado every day, protecting our fair share of our nation’s rivers. And through wrestling with the intricacies of interstate water law and writing briefs for the United States Supreme Court, I have gotten back to my ‘law nerd’ roots,” she wrote.

Wang’s noteworthy water cases included a long-running lawsuit by Texas, overseen by a special master, where Colorado is litigating alongside New Mexico over a nearly century-old Rio Grande River agreement for water apportionment. She is also defending the state in a lawsuit by Nebraska over a proposed canal that would divert water from the South Platte River using private property acquired in Colorado.

Prior to her work in the government, Wang was a litigator at Davis Graham & Stubbs, LLP for almost 14 years. She specialized in energy and natural resources issues. Wang noted in her application that she decided to enter public service after her mother’s death.

Although Wang has practiced for the past 10 years in federal courts, she estimated 30% of her private-practice cases were handled in state court. She conducted one jury and two bench trials in insurance or oil and gas disputes.

Among the cases she handled as a government attorney, she prevailed in an Aurora gun dealer’s challenge to the revocation of his firearms license after he committed “literally hundreds of violations.” Wang also investigated a whistleblower’s claim that a Grand Junction weapons manufacturer fraudulently concealed defects in grenade launchers. The case resulted in a $1 million payment, of which a portion was paid to the whistleblower.