Colorado Women's Bar Association

MARY LATHROP TRAILBLAZER AWARD

The CWBA's prestigious Mary Lathrop Trailblazer Award, our highest honor, is presented annually to an outstanding female attorney who has enriched the community through her legal and civic activities. The Award recognizes the tradition begun by Mary Lathrop, an early woman lawyer in Colorado who blazed many trails for other women in the profession.

Nominations for the 2025 Mary Lathrop Trailblazer Award are closed and were due September 6, 2024.

The 2025 honoree will be honored during a special reception at the Annual CWBA Convention on Friday, May 16, 2025. To attend the reception, either register for the full Convention or click the "Meals Only & Mary Lathrop" option.

Purchase your congratulatory ad sponsorship for the 2025 Mary Lathrop Reception program booklet. Ads due by Friday, April 25, 2025.

Please contact the CWBA’s Professional Advancement Committee Co-Chairs Stephanie Williams or Krista Maher if you have any questions about the award or nomination process.

Meet Our 2025 Mary Lathrop Trailblazer Award Winner

The Hon. Angela R. Arkin

It is our distinct honor to recognize The Honorable Angela "Angie" Arkin as the recipient of the 2025 CWBA Mary Lathrop Trailblazer Award, our highest honor.

Judge Angie Arkin is a distinguished legal professional with a long and impressive career. In May 2017, Judge Arkin joined the Judicial Arbiter Group, Inc. (JAG), where her current practice includes ADR and appointed judge services.

After graduating from Emory Law School in 1983, she practiced law in Georgia and Colorado, gaining valuable experience in both states. In recognition of her skills and expertise, she was appointed as a District Court Magistrate in Arapahoe County in August 2000.

Judge Arkin's dedication to the legal system was further solidified by her appointment to a District Court judgeship in the 18th Judicial District in July 2002. For over 13 years, she presided over a variety of cases, handling mixed dockets across all four counties within the district. In 2008, she transitioned to a 100% domestic docket, where she served with distinction until her retirement in January 2016. Throughout her tenure on the bench, Judge Arkin received numerous accolades, including the District Court Judge Honoree for the Colorado Judicial Institute Judicial Excellence Award in October 2015.

Even after retiring from the bench, Judge Arkin continues to make significant contributions to the legal field. In 2016, she established a self-represented resource center to assist individuals navigating legal matters without an attorney. In October 2017, Judge Al Harrell and Judge Arkin created the “Symposium on Race,” an ongoing monthly forum for the discussion of race issues.

Judge Arkin was also key to the establishment of the Licensed Legal Paraprofessionals (LLP) program, having served from 2020 to 2024 as Chair and Co-chair of the committees that collaborated with the Colorado Supreme Court to create the program. She now serves as the 2025 Chair of the LLP Committee. Judge Arkin's commitment to justice extends beyond the courtroom. She is actively involved in various professional organizations and initiatives, including the Douglas County Domestic Relations Best Practices Team, and is a member and past president of the Colorado Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Her passions are training and mentoring judges and mentoring students and young attorneys.

Colorado is lucky to have a champion like Judge Arkin in our community.

Please join us in recognizing Judge Arkin for her outstanding contributions to the legal profession.

Click here to read a feature about Judge Arkin on our blog, The 1891.

Watch the video of our 2024 Mary Lathrop Trailblazers Award Celebration held on May 17, 2024, as we recognized our 2024 Honoree Judge Charlotte Sweeney. Read more about Judge Sweeney on our blog.

Click here to read the event program.

History of the Mary Lathrop Award

Mary Lathrop (September 1880)

Mary Lathrop was born in 1865 to a Philadelphia Quaker family. At age 19, she became a reporter at a local newspaper. She had a distinguished career until poor health forced her to choose a new profession at age 30. She came to Colorado and pursued a legal degree at the University of Denver College of Law where she graduated first in her class. She passed the Colorado Bar in 1896 with a score that would stand as a record until 1941.

Lathrop hung her shingle in Colorado in 1897, specializing in probate law. She continued to influence this field, helping to redraft probate statutes and assisting in developing the Small Guardianship Law. Her most famous case was Clayton v. Hallett, which established the law of charitable bequests in Colorado.

Lathrop was a woman whose many “firsts” would inspire others to follow in her footsteps. After being turned down twice because “women should not practice law,” she was the first woman admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court in Colorado. She was also the first woman to open a law office in Colorado, the first woman to argue before the Colorado Supreme Court, the first woman to join the Colorado and Denver Bar Associations, and was one of the first two women to join the American Bar Association.

Lathrop recognized the importance of community involvement. During her lifetime, she made anonymous donations to help students. She also received numerous awards for her service work and excellence in the legal profession. After her death in 1951, she left the bulk of her estate to establish a student loan fund at the University of Denver.

In order to preserve and foster the memory of this woman who has left a legacy for us all, the Colorado Women’s Bar Association (CWBA) began presenting the Mary Lathrop Award in 1991 and has made an annual presentation each year since. The CWBA gives the Mary Lathrop Trailblazer Award to an outstanding female attorney who has enriched the community through her legal and civic activities.

The CWBA is grateful for the ongoing and generous financial support of Lewis Roca, LLP for sponsoring this award’s presentation each year at the CWBA Annual Convention.

Past Mary Lathrop Trailblazer Award Honorees

2024 The Honorable Charlotte N. Sweeney
2023 Patricia M. Jarzobski
2022  The Honorable Theresa Spahn
2021  The Honorable Karen Ashby
2020  Velveta Golightly-Howell
2019  Alli Gerkman (deceased)
2018  Beth H. McCann
2017  Rebecca C. Alexander
2016  Helen C. Shreves
2015  The Honorable Sandra I. Rothenberg
2014  The Honorable Patricia Coan
2013  Lorraine Parker and Doris Truhlar
2012  The Honorable Janice B. Davidson, and Lynn Feiger
2011  The Honorable Mary A. Celeste
2010  Deborah R. Adams
2009  The Honorable Elizabeth A. Starrs
2008  Lynda A. McNeive
2007  Pamela Robillard Mackey
2006  Fay M. Matsukage
2005  The Honorable Nancy E. Rice
2004  Marla Williams
2003  The Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg (deceased) and Mary E. Ricketson
2002 The Honorable Mary Mullarkey (deceased)
2001  The Honorable Rebecca Love Kourlis
2000  The Honorable Christine Arguello and Dottie Wham
1999  Gale Norton and Gail Schoettler
1998  Susan Barnes and The Honorable Claudia Jordan
1997  Cathlin Donnell and Mary Hoagland (deceased)
1996  Sheila Hyatt, Barbara Salomon, and Mimi Wesson
1995  Norma Comstock, Karen Steinhauser, and The Honorable Zita L. Weinshienk (deceased)
1994  Natalie S. Ellwood
1993  The Honorable Jean Dubofsky, Marilyn Traub Meadoff, and The Honorable Jacqueline St. Joan
1992  Mary Brickner, Margaret B. Ellison, and Brooke Wunnicke (deceased)
1991  Elizabeth Adams Conour, Elizabeth L.Guyton Girch, Estelle Hadley, and Helen T. Street

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