Perseverance, grace key for Denver women who have succeeded in Colorado's justice system

History continues to be made in Denver and to highlight the end of Women's History Month over the weekend CBS Colorado highlighted women paving the way for the next generation.

Denver is one of the few cities across the country where women outnumber the men in areas of the legal profession. According to the American Bar Association as of 2023, women make up 39% of all lawyers. That's up from 29% at the turn of the century. In Denver, the first-female elected district attorney, Beth McCann, now leads an office that has 62 female prosecutors and 58 male prosecutors. Under McCann, the number of female prosecutors exceeded the number of male prosecutors in 2019. She says this wasn't by design, it just happened as she looks for the best candidates regardless of gender.

Still, with big power, comes big responsibility.

It's a mission Denver District Attorney Beth McCann, assistant DA Maggie Conboy and Chief Deputy Jane Walsh understand.

"One of the things that I think does make a difference when you have a woman running the office is that I think we are sensitive to the work-life balance," said McCann.

 
They are three women who balance the pressures of working in the justice system while also finding family time and exploring Colorado's outdoors.

"I ran for this job previously in 2004 and didn't win and that was a real blow, as you might imagine, took me a while to recover from that," said McCann.

Perseverance is a big part of how McCann landed this historic role.

"I said okay, I'm going to try this one more time, and see if I can pull it off," said McCann, "You know, that was a big accomplishment for me personally and professionally."

When she finally decided to run for the position again, she knew she had to be confident, but it wasn't easy.

"You have to be willing to really spend a lot of time and energy marketing yourself, if you will," said McCann. "That's not always a comfortable place for women."

 With that in mind-she has vowed to try make it a comfortable place for women just like her.

A big difference she has made in the role since taking office was adding paid maternity and paternity leave, something that was not offered before.

McCann has also created various new units and expanded on others to bring victims justice, including the Human Trafficking unit and the Elder and At-Risk Adult Abuse Unit, which Jane Walsh leads.

"I think it's encouraging that we have a large public office here that is being managed and run by a woman," said Walsh. "I found a lot of mentors, a lot of role models in Colorado and people have also been extremely kind of generous with their time, their knowledge and their support."

Support has come from women like Maggie Conboy, who, even with a busy workload, understands the importance of reaching out to other team members.

"I will say I've been lucky enough that there were women 5,10, 20 years in front of me who broke through a lot of the glass ceiling," said Conboy, "I think women my age know some stories about times when perhaps, we were not treated as fairly being women, but I think nowadays it's a lot better than it has been."

The office also started a peer support group five years ago with the intention to help staff cope with any trauma they may encounter while on the job.

"Our folks here, not just the attorneys, but the staff as well are exposed to a lot of trauma. I mean, horrible trauma, they see pictures, they read documents, you know, they read descriptions about just horrible things that you can't really even imagine," said McCann.

Six people in the office went through a 40-hour training to become peer supporters. They are now available to staff if they feel the need for it.

"We do have a psychologist who will who sort of help us if someone really needs more intensive kinds of treatment," added McCann.

It is through these additions she hopes to help with the overall work environment.

"I think those kinds of things are things that you know, having more women in leadership positions contributes to helping us deal a little more equitably with work-life balance," said McCann.