JenniLynn E. Lawrence

Jennilynn E. Lawrence was appointed to the Twenty-First Judicial District Court, which serves Mesa County, in September 2024. She had served 14 years as a county court judge and was president of the Colorado County Court Judges Association. In 2022 voters retained her on the Montezuma County Court with 77.46 percent of the votes cast on the question: 8,267 yes and 2,406 no. That result was for the county court, not the district court seat on this ballot.

She practiced as a trial attorney handling complex commercial litigation and is admitted to practice in Colorado, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Florida. She holds degrees from Fort Lewis College, Adams State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The Twenty-First Judicial Commission found that she meets performance standards. Four members voted that she does and four that she does not; the commission has one vacancy and one commissioner was absent. It reports that "36% of attorneys found Judge Lawrence meets performance standards, while non-attorney responses were more mixed at 50%." Four judges of the Colorado Court of Appeals gave her an average rating of 3.8 out of 4. Because of "the small number of overall surveys returned", the commission "considered these results in the context of all available information." It notes that she is "relatively new to the district court bench, having been appointed in September of 2024."

It writes: "Although much of her work is satisfactory, her performance was not strong enough to gain a majority of the Commission’s support." Many commissioners found that she "has improved over the past year in administration and case management"; others "believe she is ineffective in knowledge of the law, communication and due diligence." The commission notes that she has logged 74 hours of continuing legal education over the past year and is "currently meeting or exceeding state benchmarks for timely completing cases."