Justice Melissa Hart
 |
401 UCB
2450 Kittredge Loop Drive
Wolf Law Building
Boulder, CO 80309-0401
E-mail: melissa.hart@colorado.edu
Curriculum Vitae: View (PDF format)
| Educational Background: | |||
| J.D. | Harvard Law School | 1995 | magna cum laude |
| B.A. | Harvard-Radcliffe College | 1991 | cum laude |
Justice Melissa Hart has served on the Colorado Supreme Court since 2017. An active member of the Colorado legal community, she is the court's liaison to the Colorado Access to Justice Commission, the Pathways to Access Standing Committee, the Standing Committee on Family Issues, and the Ralph Carr Judicial Learning Center. She is the co-Chair of the Judicial Department's Workplace Culture Initiative Standing Committee. Justice Hart also serves as the Chair-Elect of the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar and an Adviser to the American Law Institute's Principles of the Law, High-Volume Civil Adjudication project. She is a member of the Colorado Women's Bar Association Foundation Board and was a founding Board member of Legal Entrepreneurs for Justice (Colorado's affordable law practice incubator) and of the Sonia Sotomayor Inn of Court. Justice Hart is an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado Law School (teaching Legal Ethics and Professionalism).
Prior to joining the Court, Justice Hart was a professor at the University of Colorado Law School, where she directed the Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law. Throughout her years as a professor, Justice Hart maintained an active pro bono practice, writing amicus briefs in appellate courts and representing clients through Metro Volunteer Lawyers. Her teaching and scholarship focused on access to justice, constitutional law, judicial decision making, legal ethics, employment discrimination, and civil procedure.
Justice Hart grew up in Denver, graduating from East High School. She earned her bachelor's degree from Harvard-Radcliffe College, spent a year teaching at a high school in Athens, Greece, then returned to Harvard for law school. At Harvard Law, she was the Articles Editor for the Harvard Law Review and Book Review Editor for the Harvard Women's Law Journal. After graduating in 1995, she clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for Justice John Paul Stevens of the United States Supreme Court. Following her clerkships, she practiced law for several years in Washington, D.C., including as a Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Justice Hart and her husband, Kevin Traskos, have two children and two dogs.
Courses:
| Fall 2025 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-803 |
| Spring 2025 | Employment Discrimination | LAWS 7541-801 |
| Fall 2024 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-803 |
| Fall 2023 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-803 |
| Fall 2022 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-803 |
| Fall 2021 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-803 |
| Fall 2020 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-803 |
| Fall 2019 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-801 |
| Spring 2019 | Poverty Law | LAWS 7515-801 |
| Spring 2019 | Poverty Law | LAWS 7515-902 |
| Fall 2018 | Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project | LAWS 7285-801 |
| Spring 2018 | Seminar: Access to Justice?: The Provision of Legal Services for Middle- and Low-Income People | LAWS 8785-801 |
| Fall 2017 | Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project | LAWS 7285-001 |
| Fall 2017 | Poverty Law | LAWS 7515-801 |
| Spring 2017 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-002 |
| Spring 2017 | Employment Discrimination | LAWS 7541-001 |
| Spring 2017 | Employment Discrimination | LAWS 7541-902 |
| Fall 2016 | Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project | LAWS 7285-001 |
| Fall 2016 | Seminar: Access to Justice?: The Provision of Legal Services for Middle- and Low-Income People | LAWS 8785-001 |
| Fall 2015 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-001 |
| Fall 2015 | Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project | LAWS 7285-001 |
| Spring 2015 | Employment Discrimination | LAWS 7541-001 |
| Spring 2015 | Seminar: Access to Justice?: The Provision of Legal Services for Middle- and Low-Income People | LAWS 8785-001 |
| Fall 2014 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-803 |
| Fall 2014 | Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project | LAWS 7285-001 |
| Spring 2014 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism: What Kind of Lawyer Do You Want to Be | LAWS 5103-001 |
| Spring 2014 | Employment Discrimination | LAWS 7541-001 |
| Fall 2013 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-803 |
| Fall 2013 | Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project | LAWS 7285-001 |
| Fall 2013 | Journal: University of Colorado Law Review | LAWS 7906-901 |
| Spring 2013 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism: What Kind of Lawyer Do You Want to Be | LAWS 5103-801 |
| Spring 2013 | Seminar: Education and the Constitution | LAWS 8285-801 |
| Fall 2012 | Seminar: Education and the Constitution | LAWS 8285-801 |
Our Vision
With our roots in Colorado and a global outlook, we are ...
a supportive and diverse educational and scholarly community in a place that inspires vigorous pursuit of ideas, critical analysis, contemplation, and civic engagement to advance knowledge about the law in an open, just society.
Our Mission
To be an outstanding public law school that: provides students with a state-of-the-art legal education and prepares them to serve wisely and with professionalism; advances the development of knowledge through scholarship, testing of new ideas, and challenges to the status quo; and serves as a vehicle and catalyst for meaningful public service, all of which deliver high value to our students and have positive impacts?both locally and globally?on the legal profession and society.