Gov. Jared Polis appointed Montezuma County judge JenniLynn Everett Lawrence to serve as a 21st Judicial District judge in Mesa County, effective Sept. 28.
Lawrence, a judge in the 22nd Judicial Court, was appointed to the position on Friday. She replaced Valerie Robison, who retired.
“It has been an honor to serve Montezuma County,” Lawrence told The Journal on Friday. “It has always been my goal to serve in the District Court, and I look forward to this incredible opportunity on the West Slope.”
Lawrence graduated from Mancos High School and then received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Fort Lewis College in 1989. Before going to law school, Lawrence taught English at Montezuma-Cortez Middle School and Montezuma-Cortez High School.
She graduated with her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1997, according to a news release from the governor’s office. Before returning to Montezuma County, she worked as an attorney in New Mexico, Wisconsin and Florida.
In 1998, she worked as an associate attorney at Shindell & Shindell in Wisconsin. She moved to Florida to be an attorney at the Palm Beach County Florida School District in 1999. She also served as a senior staff attorney for the 15th Judicial Circuit Court in Florida from 1999 to 2000.
She then went on to be a litigation attorney at Page, Mrachek, Fitzgerald & Rose, P.A. from 2000 to 2005, Shand, Newbold & Chapman, P.C. in 2006, Beasley Hauser Kramer Leonard & Galardi, P.A. in 2007 and 2008, and at Becker Poliakoff in 2008.
She served as a senior litigation attorney at Katzman Garfinkel Rosenbaum from 2008 to 2010. She also served as a shareholder at Schwed McGinley Kahle and the sole practitioner at JenniLynn Everett Lawrence, LLC in 2010.
As a practicing attorney, she earned the esteemed AV Preeminent rating from Martindale Hubbell, according to the Colorado court’s website.
In 2010, Lawrence also became a judge in the 22nd Judicial District in Montezuma County, where she has served ever since. Her docket mainly consists of matters such as traffic and misdemeanor offenses, civil cases up to $15,000 and preliminary hearings on felony cases.
