The Honorable Claudia J. Jordan

Judge Claudia Jordan was born on May 17, 1953 in Raleigh, North Carolina to Maxine Thomas and Rawlin Jordan. She graduated from Garner Senior High School in 1971. She received her B.A. degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1975 and her J.D. degree from the University of Colorado School of Law in 1980. She was the only African American woman in her law school’s graduating class.

Jordan became the first African American female hired at Colorado’s Legislative Council as an analyst, where she worked on school finance and taxation issues. In 1981, Jordan began her legal career as a law clerk for Morris Cole, Colorado’s first African American district court judge. In 1982, Jordan was admitted to the State Bar of Colorado and worked as a trial attorney for the State Public Defender. Opening her own law office in 1987, she specialized in civil and criminal litigation. In 1994, Jordan was appointed to the Denver County Court by Mayor Wellington Webb, making her the first African American female to serve as a judge in the Rocky Mountain region. Jordan retired in 2014, after twenty years on the bench, where she presided over various Denver courts, including traffic court, state criminal court, and municipal court.

Jordan has been a member of several organizations. She served on the board of trustees for the Denver Bar Association and the board of governors of the Colorado Bar Association. She also joined the Colorado Women’s Bar Association. Jordan is a lifetime member of the Sam Cary Bar Association.

Jordan has received many honors and awards for her accomplishments. In 1996, she was inducted into the Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame. The Colorado Women's Bar Association honored Jordan with its Mary Lathrop Trailblazer Award in 1998 and named her as their Judicial Reception Honoree in 2011. She was the University of Colorado School of Law’s 2014 Alumni Honoree. Former Denver Mayor Michael Hancock proclaimed September 30th as ‘Claudia Jordan Day.’ Jordan was also honored at the 2023 Judges' Salute, hosted by the Sam Cary Bar Association and the National Association of Black Women Attorneys.

Jordan and her husband, Robert H. Johnson, Jr., reside in Denver, Colorado.

The Honorable Claudia Jordan was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on July 12, 2025.