The Honorable Dianne Briscoe

Judge Dianne Briscoe was born on November 16, 1949 in St. Louis, Missouri to Ruth Denny and Eugene Briscoe. She received her B.S. degree in sociology from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri in 1971, her M.S. degree in business administration from East Texas State University in Commerce, Texas in 1978, and her J.D. degree from the University of Denver in Colorado in 1983.

Briscoe entered private practice in 1986. From 1988 to 1996, she worked as an attorney in the Colorado Governor’s Job Training Office administering contracts under the Job Training Partnership Act, and overseeing application of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act . Briscoe was an assistant city attorney for the City and County of Denver beginning in 1996, working as an airport attorney and later as a prosecutor of child protection. In 2011, she was appointed County Court Judge for the Denver County Court. She retired from her judicial position in 2019.

Briscoe has received numerous awards and honors including the Outstanding Volunteer Award from the Shaka Franklin Foundation for Youth, Workers Advocating for Youth Award from the State of Colorado in 1988, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award from the MLK CO State Commission in 2005, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sam Cary Bar Association in 2017, the Woman of Distinction Award from the Girl Scouts of Colorado in 2019, and the Woman of the Decade Award from the Colorado Gospel Music Academy and Hall of Fame in 2021.

Briscoe served as president and historian of the Sam Cary Bar Association, president and treasurer of Jack and Jill of America, Incorporated, Denver Chapter, and secretary and chaplain of the Denver Colorado Chapter of The Links, Incorporated. She served on the Colorado Bar Association Board of Governors, the Shaka Franklin Foundation Board of Trustees, and the Advisory Council for the Office of Colorado’s Child Protection Ombudsman. She was a member of the Colorado Women’s Bar Association and the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association.

As a member of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.’s Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy from 2004 to 2008, she traveled to several Middle East countries as a peacemaker and also chaired a committee that published an article on voting rights for prisoners.

Briscoe resides in Denver, Colorado. She has three children, LaDawn, Ruthie, and James. She also has two grandsons.

The Honorable Dianne Briscoe was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 9, 2025.