Susan J. Blanco
 |
401 UCB
2450 Kittredge Loop Road
Wolf Law Building
Boulder, CO 80309
E-mail: susan.blanco@colorado.edu
Curriculum Vitae: View (PDF format)
Bio:Chief Judge Susan Blanco (she/her/hers) is the first female to serve as the Chief Judge of the 8th Judicial District of Colorado (Larimer and Jackson Counties). She was appointed to the bench in January 2017 where she has presided over criminal, civil, probate, domestic relations, adoptions, and appeals. Prior to the bench, she served as a Deputy District Attorney followed by over a decade in private practice as a solo practitioner with a focus on criminal defense as well as guardian ad litem work for children in the dependency and neglect and juvenile delinquency systems.
Chief Judge Blanco graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Colorado State University in 2000 and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Colorado School of Law in 2003. She is currently earning a Latin Legum Magister from Duke University focused on Judicial Studies. She has previously taught in the School of Social Work at Colorado State University.
During her time as a judicial officer, Chief Judge Blanco is dedicated to the advancement of access and inclusivity for those served by the courts. Through her community engagement and leadership, she pioneered the first Competency Court in Colorado. This court is the 2022 recipient of the City of Fort Collins Human Relations award because of the impact of diverting citizens with behavioral health challenges from jail to care. Chief Judge Blanco also developed the 8th Judicial District's Latinx Task Force which led her to receive the 2022 CHBA Community Service Award. She has served as a Commissioner on the Colorado Access to Justice Commission since 2020.
For the judicial branch, Chief Judge Blanco serves on the Chief Judge's Council, and chairs the standing committee to the Colorado Supreme Court on access to justice matters called the Pathways to Access Committee. She also co-chairs the Colorado Judicial Branch?s Information Technology committee. This allows her to bridge access and technology within the judicial branch. She also chairs the Digital Courts and Records Committee and the Advisory Committee on Language Access. Chief Judge Blanco serves on the Executive Council for Peer 2 Peer Coaching and is trained to coach judicial officers. She has served on Colorado?s Criminal Model Jury Instruction Committee since 2020.
Outside of her work for the Judicial Branch, Chief Judge Blanco has served on the Colorado Women's Bar Association's Board of Directors, the Colorado Bar Association's Executive Council, and the Colorado Bar Association's Criminal Law Executive Council. Through her collaboration, the CWBA's "Lawyer's Teaching for Change" program was developed. She was also a founding board member of the Colorado Bar Association's Diverse Attorney Community Circle. Chief Judge Blanco is a co-chair of the CBA's leadership training program, COBALT. She is also a founding member of Colorado?s Middle Eastern North African Bar Association.
Other honors she has enjoyed are speaking nationally for the American Bar Association and for the Iranian Bar Association. She is a Ted Speaker on the importance of community collaboration and is the recipient of the 2023 CWBA Judicial Excellence Award.
Courses:
| Fall 2024 | Motions Advocacy | LAWS 7169-801 |