Monica M. Márquez

Chief Justice Monica M. Márquez was appointed to the Colorado Supreme Court in 2010 by Governor Bill Ritter, Jr. She began her term as Chief Justice in July 2024. Before joining the Court, Chief Justice Márquez served as Deputy Attorney General at the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, where she led the State Services section in representing several state executive branch agencies and Colorado’s statewide elected public officials. Chief Justice Márquez also served as Assistant Solicitor General and as Assistant Attorney General in both the Public Officials Unit and the Criminal Appellate Section. Before joining the Attorney General’s Office, Chier Justice Márquez practiced general commercial litigation and employment law at Holme Roberts & Owen, LLP.

Chief Justice Márquez grew up in Grand Junction, CO. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University in 1991, then served in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps as a volunteer schoolteacher and community organizer in Camden, NJ, and Philadelphia, PA, before earning her law degree from Yale Law School in 1997. Upon graduation, she clerked for Judge Michael A. Ponsor of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Springfield, MA, and for Judge David M. Ebel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver, CO.

Chief Justice Márquez is a member of the American Law Institute, the American Bar Association, the Colorado and Denver Bar Associations, the Colorado LGBT Bar Association, the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association, and the Colorado Women’s Bar Association. She has also served as chair of the Colorado Supreme Court’s Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being. Before joining the Court, Chief Justice Márquez served on the boards of multiple bar associations and the Latina Initiative, as well as Chair of the Denver Mayor’s LGBT Commission.

Chief Justice Márquez has served as a liaison justice to the Office of Attorney Regulation and its related committees, and as chair of the Water Court Rules Committee and the Colorado Supreme Court’s Standing Committee on Judicial Well-Being. She has also led the Colorado Judicial Department’s Workplace Culture Initiative. Chief Justice Márquez and several law clerks helped coach La Academia’s mock trial team from 2014 until 2018, when the alternative high school closed its doors. She regularly mentors students and aspiring young lawyers, including a first-generation Latina student at DU with Law School Yes We Can.

For her career of service, Chief Justice Márquez has been recognized with the Colorado LGBT Bar Association’s 2009 Outstanding LGBT Attorney Award, Davis Graham & Stubbs, LLP’s 2009 Richard Marden Davis Award, the Yale Latino Law Student Association’s 2011 Public Service Award, the Latinas First Foundation’s 2014 Trailblazer Award, the Hispanic National Bar Foundation’s 2017 Judicial Leadership Award, the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Colorado’s 2019 Minoru Yasui Community Service Award, the Center for Legal Inclusiveness’s 2023 Wiley Y. Daniel Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Colorado Women’s Bar Association Foundation’s 2023 Raising the Bar Award.