Katharine "Jenny" Ellison

Governor Jared Polis appointed Katharine "Jenny" Ellison to the county court bench in the Eighth Judicial District on February 27, 2020. She sits on the Larimer County Court. Voters retained her in 2022 with 75.08 percent of the votes cast on the question: 100,846 yes and 33,465 no.

From 2004 to 2018 she served in the District Attorney's Office in the Eighth Judicial District, where her work focused primarily on appeals and juvenile law. Before her appointment she also practiced civil litigation. She earned a bachelor's degree from Colorado College in 1999 and a law degree from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 2004.

The Eighth Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance voted 8 to 0 that she meets performance standards, with one commissioner absent and one vacancy on the commission. Sixteen people completed its survey, 9 attorneys and 7 non-attorneys, which the commission calls "a markedly low response rate."

The commission credits her with supporting access to justice through remote appearances for out-of-state parties, people in inpatient treatment and those who live far from the Larimer County Justice Center. It finds that she "maintains impartiality in her rulings and actively seeks input from her colleagues to help ensure balanced and fair decisions" and that she "works diligently to make the legal process fair and understandable for pro se parties, while remaining mindful of her role as the neutral judicial officer."

The commission praises the legal writing in her opinions and orders and adds: "At the same time, she acknowledges that she can further improve the reasoning and articulation of her oral rulings." It also credits her commitment to mentoring younger lawyers.