Confetti! Spring 2022

Bench Strength

• Charlotte Sweeney was confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

• Allison Esser was appointed to the 19th Judicial District Court.

• Stephanie Scoville was appointed to the 2nd Judicial District Court.

• Ashley Andrews was appointed to the Pitkin County Court.

• Yolanda Fennick was appointed to the El Paso County Court.

• Diana May was appointed to the 4th Judicial District Court.

• Bryon Large was appointed Presiding Disciplinary Judge.

• Marques Ivey was appointed to the Adams County Court.

• Hon. Paul Dunkelman was named Chief Judge of the Fifth Judicial District.

• Hon. Nicole Rodarte was named Presiding Judge of the Denver County Court.

On the Move

• CWBA Legal Services Committee Co-Chair Dawn Gould joined the Harris Law Firm.

• Mamie Ling joined Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe, P.C.

• Lisha Coultrip became a shareholder with Banner & Bower, P.C.

• Susan Marhoffer joined the Harris Law Firm as Of Counsel.

• Elise Aiken joined Kottke & Brantz LLC as a partner.

• Megan Murphy joined White, Bear, Ankele, Tanaka & Waldron as Of Counsel.

• Karin Williamson was promoted to Member at Childs McCune.

• Anastasia Evans joined Griffiths Law PC as an associate.

• Emily Wasserman was promoted to Partner at Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP.

• Marianne Blackwell joined the Harris Law Firm as an associate.

• Harshwinder Badhesha joined Ireland Stapleton Pryor Pascoe, P.C.

• Payton Buhler joined Bell Gould Linder & Scott, P.C. as an associate.

• Taylor Bechel joined Berg Hill Greenleaf Ruscitti LLP.

• Stephanie Boutsicaris and Mollie Schultz joined Montgomery Amatuzio Chase Bell Jones, LLP as associates.

• Ariel DeFazio joined Lowrey Parady Lebsack LLC as Of Counsel.

• Sheila Gutterman retired from Griffiths Law PC after 34 years.

• Ashley Balicki is a founding partner of Smith Balicki Finn Laraway, LLC.

• Kara Veitch was named Chief Legal Counsel to Governor Jared Polis.

• Jolly Northrop joined Holland & Hart’s Boulder office as Of Counsel.

• Iris Halpern has been appointed to serve as a Commissioner on the Denver Women’s Commission where she will be leading its legislative subgroup.

• Kevin McReynolds joined the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office appellate group.

• Megan Garnett started a new position as Senior Corporate Counsel at Crocs.

• Libby DeBlasio will serve as Senior Counsel and Co-director of the Postsecondary Equity & Economics Research (PEER) Project at Student Defense.

• Andrea LaFrance joined the trademark and copyright team at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, LLP.

• CWBA Vice President Alison Connaughty joined the United States Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Cyber Crime and National Security Section in the Criminal Division.

• Catherine Hansen-Stamp is now Of Counsel with CrestPoint Law, PLLC.

• CWBA El Paso Chapter President Amber Blasingame is now a Partner at Messner Reeves LLP in Colorado Springs.

• CWBA Inclusion Officer Carime Lee joined the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority.

You Were Recognized

• Susan Minamizono was awarded the 2021 Consumer Protection Award from the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association.

• Laura Wolf and her colleagues were awarded the 2021 Case of the Year Award from the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association for their work on Abay v. City of Denver.

• Katharine (Katy) Lum and CWBA Legal Services Committee Co-Chair Deborah Yim were recognized as 2021 Pro Bono Stars by the DBA Access to Justice Committee.

• Beth Ann Lennon, Phyllis Wan, and their colleagues on the Hate Crimes National Team were awarded the Team of the Year for 2021 by the Colorado Lawyers Committee.

• Katayoun Donnelly, Chalyse Robinson, Kristin White, and their colleagues were awarded the Pandemic Heroes Award by the Colorado Lawyers Committee.

• Maha Kamal’s works, “Unfinished Business” and “The Revolution of an Orphan in Kandahar,” won first prize in the Painting and Fiction categories of the Docket Arts and Literature Contest.

• Hon. Paul Dunkelman was honored by the Colorado Judicial Institute at the 2021 Judicial Excellence for Colorado Dinner.

• Ana Lazo Tenzer was named a Lawyer of the Year 2021 by Law Week Colorado.

Leading the Way

• Tess Hand-Bender and Almira Moronne were selected as co-chairs of the Davis Graham & Stubbs Women’s Network.

• Kenzo Kawanabe was appointed by Governor Polis to the Board of Governors of the Colorado State University System.

• Tess Hand-Bender joined the Colorado Lawyers Committee Executive Committee.

• Christine Hernandez, a shareholder at Hernandez & Associates, P.C., has been appointed as co-chair of the CBA|CJI Diversity on the Bench Coalition, of which the CWBA is a member. Christine will co-chair the coalition with retired Judge Gary Jackson.

• Rebecca Klock Schroer coauthored “Selecting a Trust Situs: What Should a Trustee Consider?” for the October 2021 issue of the Colorado Lawyer.

• Joan McWilliams coauthored “Parenting Plans for the COVID-19 Pandemic Era” for the November 2021 issue of the Colorado Lawyer.

• Jennifer Lake authored “Follow the Money: Federal COVID-19 Funding and the Inevitable Wave of Government Enforcement” for the November 2021 issue of the Colorado Lawyer.

• Sabra Janko coauthored “Pro Bono Support to Communities in Need: A Survey of Free Monthly Statewide Clinics for Self-Represented Parties” for the November 2021 issue of the Colorado Lawyer.

• Brooke Meyer contributed to “Dispositive Motions Practice in Colorado: Best Practices and Challenges amid the Pandemic” for the November 2021 issue of the Colorado Lawyer.

• Courtney Sommer and Ryann Peyton coauthored “Making Mentoring Work in Remote Legal Organizations” for the December 2021 issue of the Colorado Lawyer.

• Bailey Mahoney and Emma Fletcher coauthored “Securing Future Child Support Obligations” for the January 2022 issue of the Colorado Lawyer.

• Hon. Maria Berkenkotter authored “Judges’ Corner: Seven Questions” for the January, March, and June 2022 issues of the Colorado Lawyer.

• Ryann Peyton authored “Mentors as Educators: Creating the Optimal Living Classroom” for the March 2022 issue of the Colorado Lawyer.

• Hon. Monica M. Márquez coauthored “Colorado’s Stamp on the Lawyer Well-Being Movement: The Colorado Supreme Court Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being” for the March 2022 issue of the Colorado Lawyer.

• Lynn Noesner authored “Batson—Aging Well or In Need of Revision?” for the April 2022 issue of the Colorado Lawyer.

• Katie Brown authored “The Current State of Pay Equity Reform” for the April 2022 issue of the Colorado Lawyer.

• CWBA Secretary Reagan Larkin coauthored “The State of Short-Term Rentals in Colorado” for the April 2022 issue of the Colorado Lawyer.

• Kristi Anderson Wells and Joanne Morando coauthored “A Primer on Executive Compensation in a Colorado Divorce—Parts 1 and 2” for the May and June 2022 issues of the Colorado Lawyer.

• Ryann Peyton authored “Decolonizing Legal Mentoring” for the May 2022 issue of the Colorado Lawyer.