Who Is Judge Lawrence Bowling? Appointed by Ritter, on the Douglas County Court Since 2011, Rated 7-0 With 92 Percent of Attorneys in Favor, and on the Douglas County Ballot This November

Lawrence Bowling is a Douglas County Court judge, and his name is on the county's ballot this fall with one question attached: shall he be retained in office? He has no opponent and does not campaign. County court is where traffic tickets, misdemeanors and small civil disputes are heard, so of the thirteen judges on the ballot he and Kolony Fields are the two a Douglas County resident is most likely to have actually stood in front of. He has been on that bench longer than any other trial judge on this ballot has been a judge. Here is the record, from four evaluations, three elections and the court's own pages.

Who appointed him, and when

Gov. Bill Ritter appointed him to the Douglas County Court. The date is the one thing the state's own documents disagree about: the commission's 2014 narrative says he "was appointed to the Douglas County Court in August 2010 by Governor Bill Ritter," its 2018 narrative repeats August 2010, and its 2022 and 2026 narratives and the court's biography page say January 2011. We were not able to read the governor's executive order, which would settle whether one date is the signing and the other the start, so we print both. Everything agrees he has been a county judge since the start of 2011.

County judges serve four-year terms after a two-year provisional term, which is why he has been on the ballot more often than anyone else here: 2014, 2018, 2022 and now 2026. A yes vote gives him another four years.

What he did before the bench

He came to the law from another career. The commission says he "worked as a field engineer in the oil and gas industry prior to attending law school," after a 1981 degree from Colorado Technical College. He finished law school at the University of Denver in 1993. His legal career before the bench, per the commission, was "six years in general private practice, two years as a deputy district attorney, four years as an assistant county attorney and four years as both a district court and county court magistrate in Arapahoe County and Douglas County"; the court's biography says seven years of private practice, that the prosecutor years were spent on child support enforcement, the county attorney years on dependency and neglect cases, and that he became a magistrate in October 2006. He volunteers as a presiding judge for the Colorado Bar Association's high school mock trial competition and, the commission says, sits on committees on mental health services.

What the performance commission found, four times

The 23rd Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance met with the district attorney's office, the public defender's office, probation and the chief judge, interviewed him, watched him in court and reviewed the survey. Its 2026 finding: he meets performance standards, 7-0, with one commissioner absent and two seats vacant.

The narrative says he "scored higher than average for all County Judges and demonstrated strong ratings in all performance areas," that he "reliably displays a calm temperament and respectful demeanor," and that "across the board, the feedback on Judge Bowling's performance is exceptional." It describes his docket as "civil, criminal, misdemeanor, and traffic cases."

The three earlier reviews read the same way. In 2014 the 18th District commission found his combined rating "above the average combined rating for all county court judges standing for retention." In 2018 the vote was 10-0, with 96 percent of 26 attorneys and 95 percent of 57 non-attorneys saying he met standards, and the commission wrote that he "received extremely high marks in all areas." In 2022 the vote was 7-0 with three members not participating, 97 percent of attorneys and 94 percent of non-attorneys said yes, and 87 people responded.

"Across the board, the feedback on Judge Bowling's performance is exceptional." The 23rd Judicial District Commission on Judicial Performance, 2026.

The survey numbers

Sixty people answered the 2026 survey, more than for any other judge on the Douglas County ballot: 14 attorneys of 275 invited, 22 members of the public of 670 invited, four court staff and 20 jurors. Eleven of the twelve attorneys who answered the standards question said he meets them; 38 of 44 non-attorneys said yes, five said no and one had no opinion.

His overall score was 3.5 on a scale where 2 is "adequate performance" and 4 is "outstanding," in line with 3.4 to 3.8 in every year from 2020 through 2025. His six category scores run from 3.4 on fairness and on application and knowledge of law to 3.6 on demeanor. That is the highest overall score of the six trial judges on this ballot.

How the county has voted on him

The Secretary of State's abstracts show Douglas County retained him by 70,676 to 28,971 in 2014, or 70.93 percent yes; by 99,695 to 32,402 in 2018, 75.47 percent; and by 103,026 to 36,715 in 2022, 73.73 percent.

The "voting record" question

County court rulings are rarely published, and we found no news coverage of his rulings in the past two years. The one appellate case we found naming him, reported by Colorado Politics in November 2023, was a reversal in which the Court of Appeals ruled he had wrongly allowed a defendant to represent himself and threw out the convictions; the trial itself was before a district judge. We have not reviewed his other rulings and will not characterize them beyond what the commission wrote.

As for party: the ballot lists none for any judge, the governor who appointed him is a Democrat, and the Douglas County Republican Party's online voter guide recommends retaining him. We found no organized opposition to him.

How to vote on him

County judges appear only on their own county's ballot, so he is a question Douglas County voters alone decide. He is listed near the end of the retention section with the county's other county judge. A "yes" keeps him for four years; a "no" removes him 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. 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.*