The incoming chief judge of Colorado’s Court of Appeals told lawyers on Friday that his goals for his four-year term include figuring out why criminal cases are taking nearly 1.5 years on average to reach appellate judges’ desks.

“Criminal briefing is one of my biggest focuses, to be blunt,” said Judge Ted C. Tow III.

Tow will become the chief appellate judge this summer, succeeding Gilbert M. Román. Although the chief judge also hears cases and authors decisions, the role involves heavy administrative duties on the 22-member Court of Appeals.

Tow spoke at the annual appellate practice update, sponsored by the Colorado Bar Association. He said he hopes to use his interest in statistics to anticipate and adjust to trends affecting the court.

Looking at direct criminal appeals that were ready for a decision between January-April 2026, Tow said that the average time between the initiation of the appeal and the filing of an opening brief was just short of one year on average. The time from initiation to the completion of briefing was 543 days.

That number “is unacceptable. It is 50% higher than it was in 2024. And I don’t know why,” said Tow. “But that is gonna be my primary focus, to figure out why and to work with our partners about how to address it.”

He added: “I don’t like delay. Particularly, avoidable delay.”

Tow also shared that in the first four months of 2026, case filings in his court increased by 2% over the prior year, but direct criminal appeals and domestic relations cases increased by 9%.

With Román retiring from the court after his term as chief judge ends, plus other potential vacancies in the next four years, Tow said the Court of Appeals has specific personnel needs.

“Not the least of which, to be honest — and this may shock people — is criminal experience. Over half of our docket is criminal,” he said. “It would be nice to have criminal expertise. It would be nice to have probate expertise. It would be nice to have complex construction law expertise.”

Finally, Tow said that by the time he ends his term as chief, he would like to have at least one judge from “greater Colorado.”

“We don’t have a rural perspective on our court,” he said.

Attendees also heard from Chief Justice Monica M. Márquez, who said the Colorado Supreme Court is experiencing a slight decrease in case filings. In her travels around the state, she has also heard about an increase in trial court filings driven by the use of artificial intelligence tools.

“Some of that is from represented parties. A lot of it is from unrepresented parties,” Márquez said. “We are, right now, trying to get our arms around ways to triage all of that. There are certainly meritorious claims in there. Sometimes, it’s hard to sift through the AI filings for what litigants are asking for.”

She said that the judicial branch’s response could include creating online, fillable forms that litigants would use to generate “a nice, clean motion for judges” after providing necessary information.

Márquez indicated that two dozen courtrooms across the state will start using a new virtual system in June as a pilot program. The judicial branch has been seeking to pivot from Webex, the virtual meeting platform that judges immediately turned to during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was never designed to do court,” said Márquez, as evidenced by the rash of disruptions from malicious actors over several months. She added that the new platform will provide a long-term solution to virtual courtroom disruptors.

Finally, Judge Veronica S. Rossman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit briefly spoke about the Denver-based federal appeals court, which hears cases arising from Colorado and five neighboring states.

Rossman said filings in her court have increased slightly from prior years, and the 10th Circuit is holding oral arguments in just under one-third of cases that reach a decision on the merits.

“I learned that’s the highest percentage of cases in our circuit since 2009,” she said.

The 10th Circuit is also trying to schedule more oral arguments outside of its Denver courthouse, and has recently revived its historical practice of inviting trial judges from the six-state region to hear cases alongside the appellate judges.

“I hope we continue to do it. It was wonderful to have members of the trial court on the bench with us,” Rossman said.