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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.
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 2024 Mary Lathrop Trailblazer Award Winner The Hon. Charlotte Sweeney
It is our distinct honor to recognize The Honorable Charlotte Sweeney as the recipient of the 2024 CWBA Mary Lathrop Trailblazer Award. Judge Sweeney was selected for CWBA’s highest honor because she embodies the qualities of a true trailblazer in her professional career and her commitment to community service. She is the first openly LGBTQ federal district court judge in Colorado and the first LGBTQ woman to serve as a district court judge west of the Mississippi. Prior to her appointment to the bench in 2022, she dominated the field of employment law at the helm of her own law firm where she was a fierce advocate for women, people of color, the LGTBQ community, and people with disabilities. Her work in pay equality has been groundbreaking in the courtroom and at the General Assembly. Judge Sweeney has also been a member of the Colorado Women’s Bar Association for over twenty-five years, regularly volunteering as a speaker and actively working on several of the committees. She has dedicated both her professional life and precious free time to advancing the interests of women and other vulnerable populations in the legal community and beyond. Please join us in recognizing Judge Sweeney for her outstanding contributions to the legal profession. We are proud to honor Judge Sweeney with the 2024 CWBA Mary Lathrop Award, as she embodied the intelligence, strength, stamina, and character of a true trailblazer! 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.
History of the Mary Lathrop Award
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 | CALENDAR
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