
The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association’s
Nuts & Bolts Academy for Judicial Candidates
The LGBTQ+ Bar’s “Nuts & Bolts Academy for Judicial Candidates” seeks to provide interested legal professionals with the tools they need to end up on the other side of the bench. This intensive workshop welcomes legal professionals from all backgrounds and parts of the country, and particularly encourages attorneys of color, transgender attorneys, and women attorneys to participate. The LGBTQ+ Bar believes diverse perspectives bring diverse experiences to the bench – and diverse experiences lead to better judgments.
Our Judicial Nuts & Bolts Academy offers serious candidates planning to seek a judicial position in the next three years – either through appointment or election – with a foundation in those processes, as well as small-group mentoring from current LGBTQ+ judges with experiences in elections as well as nomination and appointment procedures.
Attendees will have significant small-group time with current judges for conversation about the pathway to the specific jurisdictions identified as being of interest, as well as networking time with other prospective candidates. Our faculty will include groundbreaking LGBTQ+ federal judges as well as esteemed LGBTQ+ state and municipal judges, and will dedicate significant discussion time specifically to the federal nominations process.
The 2023 Judicial Nuts & Bolts Academy will be held in conjunction with the 2023 Lavender Law® Conference & Career Fair in Chicago. Only registered Conference attendees are eligible to attend the Academy.
Sample Judicial Nuts & Bolts Academy Panel

Judge Linda H. Colfax, a San Francisco Superior Court Judge since 2011, currently sits in the criminal division of the court, and presides over the mandatory felony settlement conferences. Judge Colfax has also served as a supervising judge of preliminary hearings, a juvenile court judge in both dependency and youth justice, a family court judge, and has presided over both civil and criminal trials. She also sat on her court’s Appellate Division for 3 years and served on the Executive Committee for 4 years. Judge Colfax, a former Vice President of the California Judges Association (CJA), currently co-chairs CJA’s LGBT Judicial Officers of California Section CJA and the Committee on the Elimination of Bias and Inequality. Judge Colfax, a former Vice president of the International Association of LGBTQ Judges, currently sits on its board. Prior to her election to the bench in 2010, Judge Colfax worked as a San Francisco deputy public defender. She was privileged to win her seat during a primary election against 3 other candidates.
Judge Colfax, a native of the Midwest, earned her A.B. from Harvard and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. Judge Colfax and her wife, Kristin, who met playing ultimate frisbee in 1995, have been married since 1999*, 2004 and 2008. They have 2 children, 2 dogs and spend their free time outdoors biking, hiking, jogging, climbing, SUPing, Pickleballing, gardening, or just ambling with the dogs.




Justice Márquez is a member of the American Law Institute, the American Bar Association, the Colorado and Denver Bar Associations, the Colorado Women’s Bar Association, and the Minoru Yasui Inn of Court. Before joining the Court, Justice Márquez served on the boards of the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association, the Colorado GLBT Bar Association, and the Latina Initiative, and as Chair of the Denver Mayor’s GLBT Commission. Justice Márquez serves as a liaison justice to the Office of Attorney Regulation and its related committees, and as chair of the Water Court Rules Committee. She is a co-leader of the Bench Dream Team, a group of judges dedicated to diversity and inclusion in Colorado’s judicial system. She also serves as chair of the Colorado Supreme Court’s Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being. Justice Márquez and several law clerks helped coach La Academia’s mock trial team from 2014 until 2018, when the alternative high school closed its doors. She regularly mentors students and aspiring young lawyers, including a first-generation Latina college student with Law School Yes We Can.
For her career of service, Justice Márquez has been recognized with the Colorado GLBT Bar Association’s 2009 Outstanding GLBT Attorney Award, Davis Graham & Stubbs, LLP’s 2009 Richard Marden Davis Award, the Yale Latino Law Student Association’s 2011 Public Service Award, the Latinas First Foundation’s 2014 Trailblazer Award, the Hispanic National Bar Foundation’s 2017 Judicial Leadership Award, and the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Colorado’s 2019 Minoru Yasui Community Service Award. When not working or volunteering, Justice Márquez enjoys hiking with her spouse and partner of 20+ years, Sheila Barthel, and playing endless games of fetch with their boisterous yellow lab, Tegan.