Former Colorado Supreme Court Justice Melissa Hart joined Judicial Arbiter Group in February 2026.

Justice Hart served on the Colorado Supreme Court from 2017 to 2026. As a member of the Court, she wrote opinions in civil, criminal, domestic, water, and other areas of the law. Justice Hart also served as the Court’s liaison to the Standing Committee on Family Issues, and in that capacity worked with a broad-based committee to develop Colorado’s first stand-alone Rules of Family Procedure.  

Before being appointed to the Court, Justice Hart was a Professor of Law at the University of Colorado Law School, where she taught, among other courses, Employment Discrimination, Employment Law, Legal Ethics, and Civil Procedure.  From 2010-2017, Justice Hart was the Director of the Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law.  She regularly drafted amicus briefs in appellate litigation on employment, constitutional, and legal ethics matters. 

Justice Hart clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi of the Second Circuit and Justice John Paul Stevens of the United States Supreme Court. Prior to returning home to Colorado, she practiced law in Washington, D.C. for several years, including as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice.