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1 of 3 judgeship finalists to be appointed by guv

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Samuel H. Cassidy, Gayle O. Dixon and Deborah R. Schulte have made it to the next round in the quest for the Archuleta County judgeship.

The three are finalists to replace Judge James Denvir when he retires in January. They were selected by the 6th Judicial District Nominating Commission from a field of seven candidates. Gov. John Hickenlooper will appoint the new judge.

Here is some information about the three finalists:

Samuel H. Cassidy earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma and his Juris Doctor from the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. He also did postgraduate work in ethics at Harvard University.

A former state senator for our area, Cassidy also served as lieutenant governor during Roy Romer’s term in the mid-1990s and has primarily lived in Denver since then. He originally moved to Pagosa Springs in the 1970s, establishing a legal practice and raising his children there.

Since 2011, he has been splitting his time between Pagosa Springs and Denver, where he has been teaching business law and ethics at the University of Denver since 2000. In addition to teaching, Cassidy has done pro bono work in criminal trials, civil litigation, business contracts, business formation and real estate transactions.

He is scheduled to teach the fall quarter at DU but would move back to Pagosa Springs full time if appointed as Archuleta County Court judge, he said.

Does he see the need for any changes in the Archuleta County Court?

“No, I think Jim Denvir’s done a marvelous job,” he said.

Gayle Olson Dixon earned both her bachelor’s degree and Juris Doctor from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a master’s degree in library and information science from Kent State University in Ohio.

She retired from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Division in January, where she had worked as a law librarian in the Washington, D.C., office since 2006. Dixon moved to Pagosa Springs in August 2013.

Before working for ICE, she was on the faculty at the Texas Tech University School of Law in Lubbock and the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul.

Deborah Radican Schulte earned her associate’s degree from Western Nevada Community College and was admitted to the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law, where she earned her Juris Doctor in a special program for people who hadn’t earned a bachelor’s degree but showed an aptitude for the law. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy was her constitutional law professor at McGeorge.

Most of her legal career was spent in California, where she worked as an attorney for the state of California, the city of Sacramento as well as in private practice. She has worked in both criminal prosecution and defense and general civil litigation.

Schulte is the only one of the three finalists who has previously served as a judge. She was a temporary judge in Sacramento for three years and also served as a judge for a time in Placer County, California.

Schulte originally lived in Pagosa Springs from August 2008 to January 2013, returning to live there in September 2013. Since January, she has been a mediator in civil matters with San Juan Mediation Services, where her mediation practice includes family, business, property, consumer, contracts and employment disputes. She was admitted to the bar in Colorado in June.

abutler@durangoherald.com

To comment

Gov. John Hickenlooper has 15 days from this past Wednesday to select the next Archuleta County Court judge.

Comments may be sent to gov_judicialappointments@state.co.us regarding the three finalists, Samuel H. Cassidy, Gayle O. Dixon and Deborah R. Schulte.



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