Justice Mullarkey was
appointed to the seven member Colorado Supreme Court in 1987 by Governor
Roy Romer. In 1998, she was selected by her fellow justices to serve as
chief justice. She has received several honors and awards including most
recently the 2010 Herbert Harley Award from the American Judicature Society,
the 2003 Judicial Excellence award from the Denver Bar Association and the 2002
Mary Lathrop award from the Colorado Women’s Bar Association.
Prior to her appointment to the bench, Justice Mullarkey practiced law for 19
years in a variety of settings. From 1975 to 1982, she specialized in appellate
practice, first while heading the Appellate Section in the Colorado Attorney
General’s Office and later while serving as Colorado’s Solicitor General. She
has also served as the legal advisor to Governor Richard D. Lamm, held legal positions
with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of the
Interior, and engaged in the private practice of law.
The Chief Justice graduated from college in her home state of Wisconsin at St.
Norbert College and from the Harvard Law School. She has been a resident of
Denver since 1973. She is married to Tom Korson who is a unitarian-universalist
community minister. Their adult son, Andrew, a physician, is married to Emily
and they have a daughter, Anika.
Justice Mary Mullarkey Presentation