For women striving to achieve that elusive balance between family life and a successful career, it can be hard to find strong role models. But Colorado’s Allison Eid is as a shining example. Not only has she reached the highest levels of the legal profession, she has raised two amazing children and supported her husband’s own high-demand career. This combination — lawyer, mother, spouse to another working spouse — is extraordinarily rare in the upper echelons of the legal community and should be celebrated.

Eid currently serves as a justice on the Colorado Supreme Court and has been nominated by the president as the first Colorado woman to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. I had the pleasure of serving as one of Eid’s law clerks before going on to clerk for then-Judge Neil Gorsuch and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

I have been lucky to have great mentors, but none has been quite as special as Eid. From her modest beginnings to her remarkable legal achievements, she epitomizes the self-fortitude and grace we should hope for in our public servants.

Eid was raised in Spokane, Wash., under challenging circumstances. When she was a little girl, her father abandoned the family, leaving his wife and two young children with nothing. Eid’s suddenly single mother, who was not employed at the time, had no choice but to find a way to make ends meet. She instilled in her daughters the value of grit and hard work.

Eid’s resultant incredible work ethic is evident throughout her academic record: as a Phi Beta Kappa Stanford University graduate; as a High Honors graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, where she served as articles editor on the Law Review; and as a law clerk to Judge Jerry Smith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit and to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

She came to Colorado as a young attorney. She began by practicing both commercial and appellate litigation at a prominent national law firm where her work included representing an American Indian tribe. She later became a tenured professor at the University of Colorado Law School. In 2005, she was appointed to serve as solicitor general of Colorado, overseeing the state’s constitutional litigation and in 2006 she joined the Colorado Supreme Court, where she has established a strong record of judicial independence and clear writing.

But this sterling resume (significantly abbreviated here) is not what makes Justice Eid so special. Her experiences and her character are what set her apart. The challenges she faced — particularly in her childhood — forged an unsurpassed work ethic and sense of empathy. Eid commits her full mental energy and attention to each case, carefully mastering every legal and factual detail in order to conduct a rigorous analysis dictated ultimately by the law. She is also a champion for diversity, hiring and mentoring numerous diverse law clerks and supporting policies to make courts more accessible to diverse communities. She has received the American Bar Association’s highest “well qualified” rating. From across the state, and indeed across the country, broad-based support for her confirmation has poured in to elected officials.

At the same time she serves Colorado, Eid prioritizes her family. As a clerk I saw how involved she was in the mundane tasks that keep a family running. I appreciated that she did not hide her personal obligations and never apologized for them. She managed to fulfill her commitments to her family and to the people of Colorado while maintaining an unending supply of good spirit and kindness.

The people of Colorado would be well served by the confirmation of this fair-minded, commonsense Coloradan, this exceptionally well qualified judge, and this amazing working mom and mentor to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.

Katherine C. Yarger is an associate attorney at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

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