Colorado Court of Appeals
Honorable Janice B. Davidson
Retention Year: 1998
Recommendation: Retain
The State Commission on Judicial Performance recommends that Judge Janice B. Davidson BE RETAINED.
Judge Davidson was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 1988. She was a Judge on the Denver County Court, 1985-1988, and an Assistant Attorney General in both the Litigation Section and the Natural Resources Section of the Office of the Attorney General, State of Colorado, 1975-1984. She has also worked in private practice in Denver, 1984-1985, as a trial attorney in the Denver Litigation Center, EEOC, 1973-1975, as a deputy public defender for the State of Colorado, 1971-1973, and in the New York City Legal Aid Society, 1969-1971. Judge Davidson received her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law in 1969.
Judge Davidson believes it is important for judges to serve the community and has participated in a number of local, state, and national bar and civic association activities. Currently, she is the chair of the Supreme Court Standing Committee on Appellate Rules. Additionally, she is a long-standing member of the Supreme Court Standing Committee on Rules of Civil Procedure, serves on the Supreme Court Committee on Gender and Justice, and participates in the Colorado Judicial Department Leadership Development Institute and in the Judge William E. Doyle American Inn of Court. Judge Davidson is also an instructor in the Advanced Judges Orientation Program and is managing editor of the 1999 Colorado Appellate Handbook.
The State Commission found Judge Davidson to be a serious, hard-working, and productive member of the Colorado Court of Appeals. She wrote more than 100 majority opinions in 1997, and has developed an efficient office system for tracking cases and producing opinions. She continues to find ways to improve her writing so that her opinions are clear and understandable to the lay public as well as the legal profession.
Attorney questionnaires received by the State Commission rate Judge Davidson highly, especially with regard to her equal treatment of all parties. Of the responses received from attorneys, 88.5% recommended retention and 11.5% recommended do not retain.