Who Is Judge Katharine E. Lum? Appointed by Polis in 2022, Rated 9-0 With Every Respondent in Favor, and on Every Douglas County Ballot This November

Katharine E. Lum is a judge on the Colorado Court of Appeals, and this is the first time her name has been on a ballot. Douglas County voters, like voters everywhere in the state, are asked one question about her: shall she be retained in office? There is no opponent and no campaign. Here is who she is, from the governor's announcement, the court's records and the volunteer commission that evaluated her.

Who appointed her, and when

Gov. Jared Polis appointed her on Sept. 15, 2022, the same day he appointed Karl L. Schock to a second vacancy. She filled the seat of Judge Michael H. Berger, whose retirement took effect Oct. 29, 2022. Colorado Politics reported that she took office in late November and held her formal investiture on April 28, 2023, where, by that account, she used her remarks to remind colleagues about the difficulties facing people who represent themselves in court.

New Colorado judges serve a two-year provisional term and then face voters at the next general election. The 2026 commission narrative says it plainly: "This is her first time standing for retention." A yes vote gives her a full eight-year term.

What she did before the bench

She came to the court from family law. The governor's release listed her as an attorney at Lass Moses Ramp & Cooper LLC since 2012 with a practice of "family law matters"; the commission describes the same work as "Of Counsel with Cooper Ramp Cage Bucar Lewis (and predecessor firms) where she specialized in domestic relations law at the trial and appellate levels." Before that she clerked for Justice Gregory J. Hobbs Jr. of the Colorado Supreme Court in 2011 and 2012. She graduated from Northwestern University in 2006 and from Berkeley Law in 2011.

On the court, the commission says, she sits on the Supreme Court Standing Committee on Family Issues, coordinates a long-running externship program with Colorado's law schools, and serves on the board of the Minoru Yasui Inn of Court.

What the performance commission found

The State Commission on Judicial Performance interviewed her, watched her at oral argument, read a selection of her opinions including dissents, reviewed her self-evaluation and surveyed attorneys and judges. Its finding: she meets performance standards, 9-0, with one commissioner absent and one seat vacant.

The narrative is among the warmest of the thirteen. The commission found she "embodies the qualities of an outstanding appellate judge," called her "an exceptional judicial writer who conveys her opinions in a clear and accessible style understood by litigants, practitioners, and members of the public alike," and said she "arrives well-prepared to oral arguments, and is engaged, present, and respectful in the Courtroom." Respondents singled out "her strong listening, polite and respectful nature, and thorough preparation."

"An exceptional judicial writer who conveys her opinions in a clear and accessible style understood by litigants, practitioners, and members of the public alike." The State Commission on Judicial Performance, 2026.

The survey numbers

The commission's contractor invited 372 attorneys and 253 judges; 6 attorneys and 19 judges answered. All 25 said she meets standards. Her overall score was 3.8 on the 0 to 4 scale, after interim scores of 4.0 in 2023 (from a single respondent), 3.8 in 2024 and 4.0 in 2025. The only items below 3.4 anywhere in her report are two attorney ratings: 3.2 on issuing opinions in a timely manner, from five lawyers, and 3.3 on refraining from reaching issues that need not be decided, from six; judges gave her 3.7 on both. Six attorneys is a small sample, which is typical for an appellate judge and worth knowing anyway.

Is she a Republican or a Democrat?

The ballot does not say, because Colorado judges do not run under a party label; the Douglas County sample ballot lists her with no party, no opponent and no statement. The governor who appointed her, Jared Polis, is a Democrat, and she was chosen from a short list sent to the governor by a judicial nominating commission. She has no platform or endorsements; the Douglas County Republican Party's online voter guide recommends retaining her, and we found no organized opposition to her and no news coverage of her rulings in the past two years beyond the court's routine opinion announcements. Her opinions are public in the Colorado Judicial Branch's opinion database; we have not reviewed a sample of them for this page and will not characterize them beyond what the commission wrote.

How to vote on her

She appears in the judicial retention section of the ballot with five other Court of Appeals judges and one Supreme Court justice. A "yes" keeps her for eight years; a "no" removes her at the end of this term and the governor appoints a replacement; a majority of the votes cast on the question decides it. Retention judges do not campaign, and we found no organized opposition to her. All thirteen judges on the Douglas County ballot drew a "meets standards" finding this year; our page on all thirteen has every narrative and vote count.

More: every race and measure on your ballot, the November ballot guide, and where to vote. We do not endorse candidates or take positions on judicial retention. Corrections to hello@discoverdougco.com.

*Election night: live results for every Douglas County race, measure and judge, with the first numbers after 7 p.m. on Nov. 3. Before then: where to vote in person, every drop box, and the deadlines, and who has voted so far.*