Seven Questions
| Publication year | 2022 |
| Pages | 14 |
DEPARTMENT JUDGES'CORNER
Seven Questions
BY MARIA E. BERKENKOTTER
I first attended die Colorado state judicial conference in the fall of 2006. I was a brand-new district court judge, very much in the "drinking out of die firehose" stage of my career. That first conference was a wonderful, somewhat intimidating, and energizing experience. I learned a lot.
Designed to provide judicial officers with focused, intensive judicial education over the course of two days of classes, conference brings us together in ways that transcend that important purpose: it gives us a way to come together in one place and connect. As I write this, 16 years later, having just come back from conference, I’m grateful for the opportunity to attend such high-quality continuing judicial education, to hear insightful and inspiring speakers, and—after two years of being apart—to connect in person with our community of judicial officers from across the state.
I was delighted to catch up with old friends and colleagues and to see—some in person for the first time ever—the judges I’ve interviewed for this series over the past year. It was also a real pleasure to get to meet so many of our new judges. Their energy, enthusiasm, and commitment to this important and difficult work was palpable. I look forward to having the opportunity to introduce you to some of them over the coming months, including the three judges featured this month, Judge Sueanna Johnson, Judge Robert James, and Judge Margaret Vellar.
Sueanna Johnson
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Judge Sueanna Johnson was appointed to the Colorado Court of Appeals in December 2019. Before her appointment, she was employed with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, first as an assistant attorney general and then as a senior assistant attorney general. She is active within the Colorado Asian Pacific American Bar Association and is a member of the Thompson G. Marsh Inn of Court. As a person with albinism and a visual impairment, she is a member of the National Organization of Albinism and Hypopigmentation. For that organization, she speaks to parents who have children with albinism and was a featured adult in the book Raising a Child with Albinism: A Guide to the School Years.
Judge Johnson was born in Seoul, South Korea, and was adopted when she was 3 years old. She is a graduate of Colorado College and the University of Colorado...
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