Daily Journal Profiles Colleen Nichols '85
Placer County Superior Court Judge Colleen Nichols '85 was profiled by the Daily Journal on November 20, 2006. Nichols, a veteran Superior Court commissioner, won election in March 2004 to the bench seat of retiring Judge James D. Garbolino. She took her new seat on the bench the following January.
Nichols is assigned to felony and misdemeanor DUI cases and general trials. She has had many other assignments during her 12 years on the bench, including four years on juvenile delinquency cases, a stint as presiding judge of the juvenile court, and seven years of adult drug court. She has had family law and probate assignments. She also started drug court and dependency court in Placer County and developed the county's Proposition 36 drug-court program.
Nichols, 47, grew up in Roseville. Her parents owned several dry-cleaning businesses, which her family still operates, and she began working in the business when she was 12. She attended California State University, Chico, earning a degree in political science in 1981 after switching her career goal from high school Spanish teacher.
While attending the university in Chico, she worked as a paralegal, getting training through the university's Community Legal Information Center, which she co-directed in her senior year. There, she represented welfare recipients and those on Social Security disability.
After graduation, Nichols worked for a year in family law as a paralegal at Legal Services of Northern California in Sacramento. She was toying with the idea of becoming a Spanish teacher, she said, but watching all the lawyers walk out the door with her work convinced her to take the plunge.
In 1982, she entered law school at the University of California, Davis, getting her law degree in 1985. In her third year, she gave birth to the first of two children.
This November, Nichols was appointed chairwoman of the Juvenile Law Education Committee, an advisory committee of the Judicial Council, which develops curricula for judicial education in juvenile dependency and delinquency law.
In the profile, Nichols said her favorite part of her job is working with children. "I would say that's probably where my biggest focus has been," Nichols said. "My passion is working with kids."
Nichols is assigned to felony and misdemeanor DUI cases and general trials. She has had many other assignments during her 12 years on the bench, including four years on juvenile delinquency cases, a stint as presiding judge of the juvenile court, and seven years of adult drug court. She has had family law and probate assignments. She also started drug court and dependency court in Placer County and developed the county's Proposition 36 drug-court program.
Nichols, 47, grew up in Roseville. Her parents owned several dry-cleaning businesses, which her family still operates, and she began working in the business when she was 12. She attended California State University, Chico, earning a degree in political science in 1981 after switching her career goal from high school Spanish teacher.
While attending the university in Chico, she worked as a paralegal, getting training through the university's Community Legal Information Center, which she co-directed in her senior year. There, she represented welfare recipients and those on Social Security disability.
After graduation, Nichols worked for a year in family law as a paralegal at Legal Services of Northern California in Sacramento. She was toying with the idea of becoming a Spanish teacher, she said, but watching all the lawyers walk out the door with her work convinced her to take the plunge.
In 1982, she entered law school at the University of California, Davis, getting her law degree in 1985. In her third year, she gave birth to the first of two children.
This November, Nichols was appointed chairwoman of the Juvenile Law Education Committee, an advisory committee of the Judicial Council, which develops curricula for judicial education in juvenile dependency and delinquency law.
In the profile, Nichols said her favorite part of her job is working with children. "I would say that's probably where my biggest focus has been," Nichols said. "My passion is working with kids."