Southern Colorado Mediation Judges

Judge Ronald Crowder (retired)

Judge Crowder served as a District Court Judge for eleven of his forty-four years as a Colorado attorney.  Previously in the private practice of law in Colorado Springs, he has also served as a Deputy District Attorney and a municipal court judge. As a District Judge, he presided over civil, domestic relations and felony criminal trials. In private practice he had an active mediation and arbitration practice as well as a general practice with emphases in representing clients with personal injury, domestic relations and commercial transactions issues.

A citizen soldier, Judge Crowder has extensive experience in the military as well as the law. His military experience (non-legal) spanned thirty-eight years with foreign tours of duty in Germany, Vietnam, Lithuania, Slovenia and Korea.

Prior to his retirement from the military in 2007, as a Major General in the Colorado Army National Guard, Judge Crowder was activated and assigned as the Deputy Commanding General of US Army Pacific, a 40,000 soldier organization headquartered at Fort Shafter, Hawaii.

In addition to a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Florida, Judge Crowder has a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Colorado and a Law Degree from the University of Denver. His military education includes the Field Artillery Officers Basic and Advanced Courses, the US Army Command and General Staff College, and the US Army War College.

In Colorado, he has held multiple community leader positions, including Secretary to the El Paso County Bar Association, member of the Colorado State Bar Association Board of Governors, President of United Services Organization (USO) Chapter, and President of the Association of United States Army (AUSA) Chapter.

Judge Crowder has been nationally recognized on the McNeil/Lehrer News Hour and CNN for starting the first Veterans Treatment Court in the nation that provided intensively supervised probation for veterans charged with felonies. This docket which focused on veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries was credited as very successfully helping deserving service members and reducing recidivism. Thus, significant costs savings were realized by the community and state of Colorado.

His military awards and honors include the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, Parachutist Badge, Pathfinder Badge and Ranger Tab. Judge Crowder is married to Ann H. Craig, M.D., and has two children, daughter, Kelly and son, Robert.

Presently Judge Crowder offers:

• Mediation in all phases of domestic relations (divorce) cases, to include Temporary Orders, Final Orders and post decree issues,
• Mediation in corporate, commercial, employment, probate and other civil cases,
• Settlement Conferences or Mediation in criminal cases,
• Settlement conferences and early neutral evaluation in personal injury cases,
• Arbitration in civil cases to include commercial, personal injury, domestic relations, and probate,
• Mediation/Arbitration in domestic relations cases, and
• Private Judge appointments from the Colorado Supreme Court and Special Master appointments from Colorado District Courts