The Colorado Appellate Courts' Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion, 0720 COBJ, Vol. 49, No. 7 Pg. 12
| Author | BY GILBERT ROMAN AND LINO LIPINSKY DE ORLOV |
| Position | Vol. 49, 7 [Page 12] |
JUDGES' CORNER
BY GILBERT ROMAN AND LINO LIPINSKY DE ORLOV
The Colorado appellate courts are committed to diversity and inclusion of highly qualified candidates for extern ships, law clerk positions, jobs on the court staff, and judgeships, including candidates from traditionally under represented backgrounds. By expanding the pool of applicants, the appellate courts can identify strong candidates who may not other wise know about these opportunities and, at the same time, improve diversity and inclusion within the judicial system.
This article discusses three of those efforts: the Lorenzo Marquez Appellate Externship Program, the courts' work with the Pledge to Diversity, and the "Dream Teams" that help to identify and train diverse candidates for the bench.
Lorenzo Marquez Appellate Externship Program
Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lorenzo Marquez decided in the 1990s that he wanted to increase diversity and inclusivity at the Court. Judge Marquez, now retired, became very aware of the lack of diversity in the chambers and hallways of the old Supreme Court building when he joined the Court in 1988. So he took it upon himself to ask the Colorado law schools to send diverse law students to participate in externship opportunities.
Simultaneously, Judge Marquez reached out to colleagues about mentoring these externs. These actions set in motion the diversity and inclusivity initiatives that the Colorado appellate courts have fully embraced.
The diversity externship program started with little fanfare. Because of limited working space in the old courthouse, there were only a few externs at any one time. But by 2014 the old courthouse had been demolished and, in its place, stood the much more spacious Ralph L. Carr Judicial Center. With more work spaces now available for externs, Judge Gilbert Roman, who took over as diversity externship liaison when Judge Marquez retired, recognized the opportunity to expand the program.
He reached out to his colleagues, much as Judge Marquez had done 15 years earlier. The Court of Appeals judges enthusiastically accepted the invitation to take part in the diversity externship program, and the number of participating judges swelled from an average of four judges in a typical year to about 17 judges a...
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