The Honorable Christine M. Arguello is a Colorado native and first-generation high school graduate who obtained a degree in Elementary Education from the University of Colorado at Boulder where she graduated with Special Honors, was number one in her class, and was selected by the faculty as Outstanding Senior of the School of Education Class of 1977. In 1977, she became the first Latina from Colorado to be admitted to Harvard University School of Law. She graduated from Harvard in 1980, where she served as Articles Editor for the Harvard Civil Rights Civil Liberties Law Review. 

Judge Arguello was sworn in as a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado in 2008. Prior to her presidential appointment to the bench, Judge Arguello’s career included partnership at two private law firms, Holland & Hart LLP and Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP, government service as Chief Deputy Attorney General of Colorado and as Managing Senior Associate Counsel at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She was also a tenured full professor at the University of Kansas School of Law. Judge Arguello is the co-author of a casebook, “Evidence: The Objection Method,” which is used in numerous law schools around the country and she has taught classes as an adjunct faculty member at both Colorado Law and University of Denver, Sturm College of Law.

Judge Arguello has received numerous honors and awards for the many glass ceilings she has shattered and for the work she has done to provide guidance and inspiration to those who wish to enter the legal profession. She has been inducted in to both the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame (2014) and the Colorado Latino Hall of Fame (2019). Judge Arguello has also received the Outstanding Latina Judge of the Year Award from the Hispanic National Bar Association (2015), and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association (2015).  

In 2014, Judge Arguello created Law School…Yes We Can (LSYWC), a law school pipeline mentoring program where college students interested in becoming lawyers are paired with three mentors, provided with skill-building and exposure programming, and awarded scholarships to pay for an intensive LSAT preparation course. The end goal of LSYWC is to level the playing field and assist the students in gaining acceptance into the law school of their choice. Currently, six LSYWC Fellows are in law school and an additional 15 will be taking the LSAT preparation course in June. For more information on the program, please visit our website.

Judge Arguello has graciously served as a Board Member for the Center for Legal Inclusiveness since its inception in 2007.