Former Colorado Supreme Court Justice Melissa Hart spent her career working to make the legal system more accessible to people who could not afford an attorney, while mentoring women and generations of lawyers. Hart died Oct. 1 at age 57. Her death has left Colorado’s legal community grieving, said Azra Taslimi, president of the Colorado Women’s Bar Association. Taslimi described Hart not as a distant role model but as part of the organization’s community. “She was funny, she was generous, and she was genuine,” Taslimi said. “People could feel that the moment they met her.” Hart served for more than a decade on the association’s foundation board and was expected to become its chair in spring 2027. In September, just weeks before her death, she hosted the foundation’s Raising the Bar dinner. Her work extended from mentoring individual lawyers to pushing for changes to court systems that can be difficult to navigate without legal training. Hart believed that asking attorneys to volunteer was not enough to address the barriers people face, Taslimi said. “She was someone who believed that justice shouldn’t depend on whether you can afford a lawyer,” Taslimi said. “We’re not going to pro bono our way out of the problems that exist.” One major effort Hart helped advance was Colorado’s licensed legal paraprofessional program. It allows trained, licensed professionals to provide certain legal services, including in family law. As the Colorado Supreme Court’s liaison justice to a subcommittee, Hart helped oversee a study of whether paraprofessionals could assist the 75% of family-law litigants who appear in court without a lawyer. Taslimi called the initiative Hart’s signature achievement, saying it reflected her commitment to meaningful representation for people who cannot access traditional legal services. Hart also traveled around Colorado to hear from people shut out of the legal system and advocated for court forms written in plain language. “She cared about clarity because a law nobody can understand doesn’t help anybody,” Taslimi said. Hart’s leadership also included helping women advance in law. She was connected to the Colorado Women’s Bar Association for decades, beginning when she was a professor at the University of Colorado Law School. Taslimi said Hart mentored women, encouraged them to pursue opportunities and urged them to make space for those who followed. Hart continued teaching while serving on the state’s highest court and remained active with the association’s foundation. Taslimi said Hart’s influence was evident not only in her legal scholarship and judicial work, but also in the way she treated colleagues and supporters. Hart leaves behind her husband and two children. Taslimi said the lasting measure of Hart’s work is both the reforms that may give Colorado families a fairer chance in court and the personal example she set. “If you see a broken system, listen to the people it’s failing, roll up your sleeves, build something better,” Taslimi said. “And she did that her whole life.”