Colorado Law mourns the loss of a stalwart in legal education and practice.
Former Colorado Supreme Court Justice Melissa Hart—a longtime faculty member whose work influenced scores of students at the University of Colorado Law School—passed away Oct. 1, 2026, at age 57.
Colleagues in the law school and broader legal community are remembering a scholar, educator, and judge whose career reflected intellectual rigor, deep reverence for the rule of law, and a tireless devotion to serving underrepresented communities.
“Melissa Hart’s legacy of service was substantial, both during her time as a professor at the University of Colorado Law School and later as a justice of the Colorado Supreme Court,” said Dean Lolita Buckner Inniss. “She will long be remembered for her engagements in support of access to justice.”
Hart grew up in Denver and graduated from East High School before earning a bachelor’s degree from Harvard-Radcliffe College. A 1995 graduate of Harvard Law School, Hart clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court. Hart practiced law for several years in Washington, D.C., including as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, before becoming an educator.
She began teaching at Colorado Law in 2000 and was named associate professor in 2001, beginning a lengthy faculty career that touched hundreds of students whom she taught and mentored in civil procedure, ethics, family law...
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