Karen M. Ashby
Honorable Karen M. Ashby was appointed to the Denver Juvenile Court in September of 1998 and served as the Chief Judge from 1999-2013. She handled a varied juvenile docket and established, and then presided over, the Denver Juvenile Court's Family Integrated Drug Court for thirteen years. Judge Ashby has taught judicial education in the areas of juvenile competency, juvenile drug courts, delinquency, dependency and neglect, truancy, ethics and community involvement and adoption. She has been a presenter at many local and national conferences and judicial education programs. She is chair of the Colorado Court Improvement Committee and was an original member of the Supreme Court Standing Committee on Family Issues. Judge Ashby was a member of the Colorado Legislative Task Force for the Continuing Examination of the Treatment of Persons with Mental Illness who are Involved in the Justice System and was chair of the juvenile sub-committee of that Task Force. She currently chairs the Colorado Supreme Court's Juvenile Rules Committee. Judge Ashby served as a board member of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) from 2003-2011. She served in several capacities for NCJFCJ: a member of the Advisory Committee for the Permanency Planning for Children Department for several years; chair of the Board Diversity committee for five years and continues to serve as a member; chair of the subcommittee on the Disproportionate Representation of Minority Children in Foster Care and a member of the National Steering Committee of the Courts Catalyzing Change Initiative to reduce disparate treatment and disproportionate representation of minority children in child welfare. Judge Ashby was appointed to the Colorado Court of Appeals in December, 2013.
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