County Court Judge - Larimer: Katharine "Jenny" Ellison

What the commission said

The Eighth Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance finds that Judge Katharine "Jenny" Ellison MEETS PERFORMANCE STANDARDS by a vote of 8-0 with one commissioner absent and one commission vacancy. The judicial performance standards are integrity, legal knowledge, communication skills, judicial temperament, administrative performance, and service to the legal profession and public.

Judge Ellison is highly supportive of access to justice in her courtroom, making effective use of remote appearances to accommodate out-of-state parties, individuals in inpatient treatment, and those who live far from the Larimer County Justice Center. Judge Ellison maintains impartiality in her rulings and actively seeks input from her colleagues to help ensure balanced and fair decisions. 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. Judge Ellison has demonstrated strong legal writing skills in her opinions and orders. At the same time, she acknowledges that she can further improve the reasoning and articulation of her oral rulings. The Commission also appreciates her commitment to mentoring younger members of the legal profession.

For this evaluation, the Commission interviewed Judge Ellison, read a selection of her legal opinions, observed her in court, reviewed her judicial performance survey report, interviewed the chief judge for the district, the district attorney and head of the public defenders’ office for the district, reviewed case management statistics, and reviewed her self-evaluation. As to the survey data, a total of 16 individuals, 9 attorneys and 7 non-attorneys, completed the survey, which is a markedly low response rate. Given the significantly low response rates to the surveys overall, the Commission gave the appropriate weight to the survey responses in its evaluation.

Judge Katharine "Jenny" Ellison was appointed to the Eighth Judicial County Court bench by Governor Jared Polis on February 27, 2020. Before her appointment to the bench, Judge Ellison practiced civil litigation and she also served in the District Attorney’s Office in the Eighth Judicial District from 2004 to 2018, where her work focused primarily on appeals and juvenile law. Judge Ellison received her bachelor’s degree from Colorado College in 1999 and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 2004.

The survey

The share of each group surveyed who said the judge meets performance standards.

• Attorneys86%
• Non-attorneys100%