Colorado Supreme Court
Honorable Maria E. Berkenkotter
Retention Year: 2024
Recommendation: Meets Performance Standards
Reports:
2024 Retention Survey Report (PDF)
2023 Interim Survey Report (PDF)
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The State Commission on Judicial Performance finds that Justice Maria E. Berkenkotter MEETS PERFORMANCE STANDARDS by a vote of 10–0 with one recusal. The Colorado statutory judicial performance standards are integrity, legal knowledge, communication skills, judicial temperament, administrative performance, and service to the legal profession and the public.
Justice Berkenkotter has been on the Colorado Supreme Court since January of 2021. The Commission finds that Justice Berkenkotter received high scores in all areas in her 2024 Evaluation including fairness and impartiality, issuing timely written opinions solidly based upon the facts and law, and being a leader in effective judicial administration and community service. These scores are consistent with the high scores she received in her 2023 Interim Evaluation. Comments from attorneys and judges include that she is thoughtful, practical, kind, and respectful in her approach to the parties, counsel, and other justices. Her written opinions are clear and well-organized. The Commission was especially impressed with Justice Berkenkotter’s leadership in addressing the issues raised by the lawyers’ and judges’ use of artificial intelligence and her positive efforts to help achieve team collaboration among other members of the judiciary, law clerks, and staff.
To conduct the evaluation, the Commission interviewed Justice Berkenkotter, reviewed her self-evaluation, observed oral arguments, read a selection of her legal opinions, and considered survey responses from attorneys and judges. One survey question asked whether Justice Berkenkotter met judicial performance standards. Of the attorneys who responded to that question, 91% answered yes and 9% answered no. Of the judges who responded to that question, 100% answered yes. A total of 54 attorneys and judges responded to the survey.
Prior to her appointment to the Colorado Supreme Court in 2021, Justice Berkenkotter served as a District Court Judge in the Twentieth Judicial District from 2006 to 2013 and served as the Chief Judge of the Twentieth Judicial District from 2013 to 2017. Following her District Court experience, Justice Berkenkotter conducted complex mediations, arbitrations, and judge pro tem appointments while at the Judicial Arbiter Group, Inc. Prior to her judicial experience, she led the Antitrust, Consumer Protection and Tobacco Litigation Units of the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and was in private practice at Holmes & Starr, P.C. in Denver. She also clerked for Justice Howard M. Kirshbaum of the Colorado Supreme Court after graduating from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 1987.