Hon. Rebecca Kourlis (Ret.)

Becky Kourlis devotes her entire practice to commercial arbitration and mediation. She is a AAA panelist and experienced mediator, recently recognized as a top lawyer in alternative dispute resolution by Denver's 5280 Magazine. 

Becky understands the law from all angles, including the one she built to help improve the legal system itself. She spent nearly two decades on the bench—first as a Colorado state trial judge and then on the Colorado Supreme Court. After practicing law for a decade and handling a wide range of cases including natural resources, water, public lands, oil and gas, and mineral law, Becky was tapped to serve as a Colorado state trial court judge with a general jurisdiction docket. She also served as Water Judge and finally, Chief Judge of the district. Becky then arbitrated and mediated civil disputes at Judicial Arbiter Group (JAG). In 1995, Governor Roy Romer appointed Becky to the Colorado Supreme Court. There, she authored seminal opinions and dissents in criminal, domestic relations, water, and complex civil cases.

She left the bench to found and lead the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS) at the University of Denver. She pioneered a data-driven, collaborative process to tackle some of the legal system’s most entrenched problems including discovery, civil rules reform, judicial performance, attorney regulation, and access to justice. She helped to forge true consensus among natural adversaries and built the broad coalition of support necessary to implement long-needed reforms. Her focus on clear, inclusive process, deep listening, and practical solutions achieved real change across the country.

Her entire career has focused on serving litigants in a respectful, effective way with active case management and a commitment to efficiency. Her public policy work over the years has involved court procedures, legal ethics, regulation of the legal profession, water, oil and gas, jury trial reforms, and education issues.

Now, Becky serves as a full-time arbitrator and mediator at Decisioncraft, handling a wide variety of complex commercial cases. 

• Juris Doctor, Stanford University
• Bachelor of Arts, Stanford University
• Honorary Juris Doctor from the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver

• Federal Judicial Center Foundation Board Member (by appointment of Chief Justice John Roberts), 2018-present
• Colorado Forum, 2021-present
• Boettcher Foundation Board of Trustees, 2021-present
• American Arbitration Association panelist, 2021-present
• Graland Foundation, 2022-present

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