The Honorable Jacalyn Colburn

Judge Colburn was appointed to the New Hampshire Superior Court bench in 2009 and presently sits as the supervisory judge in Hillsborough County -Southern District. Judge Colburn also presides over the Hillsborough County Adult Drug Court. She is a 1982 graduate of the University Of New Hampshire’s Whittemore School of Business and Economics, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. In 1996, she received her Juris Doctorate from the University Of New Hampshire School of Law and began her legal career as a staff attorney for the New Hampshire Public Defender. In 1998 she became the Managing Attorney of the organization’s Merrimack County office, and in 2000 she was named statewide Director of Legal Services. In addition to representing indigent clients in criminal cases ranging from misdemeanors to homicides, she was responsible for the administration of 10 trial offices, and the supervision of over 100 attorneys.

In addition to her judicial duties, Judge serves as an adjunct professor of law at University of New Hampshire School of Law. The NH Supreme Court appointed her to the New Hampshire Lawyer’s Assistance Program Board in 2015 and 2018, and as Co-Chair of New Hampshire’s Russian-American Rule of Law Consortium in 2010. She has served on the NH Bar Association’s Professionalism Committee, the Board of Governor’s Task Force on Public Sector and Public Interest Law, as a Practical Skills Instructor, and as a panelist at a variety of Continuing Legal Education seminars. In 2007 she was named Merrimack County Bar Association Lawyer of the Year, and in 2009 was honored by the New Hampshire Bar Foundation with the Frank Rowe Kennison Award, recognizing her contributions to the betterment of New Hampshire citizens through the administration of justice and the legal profession.