Judicial publishes Annual Report on judicial officer recruitment and outreach efforts

Jan. 30, 2026, DENVER - The Colorado Judicial Department announces the release of its Judicial Officer Outreach Program 2025 Annual Legislative Report, a comprehensive document detailing how the program continues to advance its mission to promote judicial transparency, belonging, and public trust through targeted outreach, pipeline-building, and education on judicial vacancies and the nomination process.

This year’s report includes new data points that highlight the path judicial officers take to reach the bench. These additions underscore the department’s commitment to understanding the path that current judicial officers have taken to the bench and to providing resources that make that path accessible to all. 

Key insights found in the report include:

Judicial Officer Demographics and Statewide Trends: The report presents FY 2025 data on judicial appointments and demographics, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, and numerous additional background data points of judicial officers statewide. Demographic data are provided both at the statewide level and separately for each of the twenty-three judicial districts.

Findings on Statewide Listening Sessions: This year’s statewide listening sessions, conducted across judicial districts, offered region-specific perspectives on the challenges and opportunities in judicial recruitment. 

New Initiatives: Leveraging insights from statewide listening sessions, the Judicial Officer Outreach Program has launched Your Honor: Journey to the Bench, a seven-week virtual webinar series designed for attorneys and aspiring judges. The series aims to foster meaningful dialogue and clarify the judicial pathway to judgeship. This initiative was inspired by and is an extension of a similar in-person symposium held last spring.

"The Judicial Officer Outreach Program is grounded in the belief that meaningful community engagement and partnership build a strong and representative judiciary,” said Nga Vương-Sandoval, judicial officer outreach program lead. “By working closely with judicial officers, court staff, attorneys, government agencies, and community leaders across the state, we deliver programming and engagement that’s intentional, responsive, and impactful.”

The report is available on the Colorado Judicial Department’s website at: www.coloradojudicial.gov/human-resources/judicial-officer-outreach

About the Judicial Officer Outreach Program:

Through its educational and outreach efforts, the Judicial Officer Outreach Program seeks to further the mission of the Colorado Judicial Department to provide the community with a fair and impartial system of justice by ensuring that our courts reflect the communities we serve. This program was established under Colorado SB 19-043 to provide outreach on judicial office vacancies and to create and deliver educational programming on the judicial application process. This is the first program of its kind both in Colorado and in the nation.

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