DENVER- May 3, 2007 - The Colorado Trial Lawyers Association has quietly revived its practice of giving input to Colorado's governor about nominees for state judgeships, LAW WEEK COLORADO reports.

The 1,200-member association stopped evaluating judge nominees in 2002 because it felt then-Gov. Bill Owens and local judicial nominating commissions favored prosecutors over all other candidates. Then-CTLA president Ross Buchanan complained that Owens appeared to have a "litmus" test, appointing only judicial conservatives and moderates, but no liberals.

Now that Democrat Bill Ritter is governor, the association has restarted the evaluations.

"They contacted us . . . about submitting evaluations, and we were more than happy to receive their input," Trey Rogers, Ritter's chief legal counsel, told LAW WEEK COLORADO.

The governor's office also receives input from organizations including the Denver Bar Association, the Colorado Civil Justice League and specialty bar associations like the Women's Bar, the Sam Cary Bar Association, the Hispanic Bar Association and the GLBT Bar Association. Hundreds of individuals including lawyers and judges also offer assessments.

NOTE TO EDITORS, REPORTERS: Please credit LAW WEEK COLORADO, Colorado's only weekly newspaper for lawyers, general counsel and judges, with reporting this story in the Colorado market. For additional information: Don Knox, editor, 303-292-1212 or editor@circuitmedia.com.