New Mexico Supreme Court News:

ALBUQUERQUE — The Judges and staff of the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico mourn the loss of Senior United States District Judge Curtis LeRoy Hansen, who passed away Oct. 27, 2023, at the age of 90.

“We were privileged to work with and know this exemplary man and we extend our deepest condolences to his family.” –the Court said.

Judge Hansen was nominated by President George H.W. Bush to fill a vacancy on the United States District Court in March of 1992 and his nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate in September of 1992. Judge Hansen received his commission Oct. 2, 1992, becoming the fourteenth Article III Judge in the history of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. He assumed senior status April 18, 2003, and retired in 2017 after serving the Nation and the Citizens of New Mexico as a federal district judge honorably for 25 years.

Judge Hansen was born and raised in Audubon County, Iowa. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 1956 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and then moved to Albuquerque to work for Sandia National Laboratories as a design and development engineer. In 1958, he was accepted to the University of New Mexico School of Law, graduating first in his class in 1961.

After graduation, he clerked for New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Irwin S. Moise before entering private practice in 1962 with William E. Snead. After two years with Snead and Hansen, he joined Richard Civerolo, eventually forming Civerolo, Hansen & Wolf, P.A., where he practiced law as a litigation attorney handling complex cases for 28 years until leaving the practice of law to become a federal district judge.

Throughout his career, Judge Hansen served on several national and local committees, including the Board of Bar Examiners, the Board of Bar Commissioners, the New Mexico Appellate Judicial Selection Commission, the New Mexico Bar Foundation, and the Inns of Court. He was a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the Judicial Conference Committee on the Budget, and the Twentieth Judicial Council of the Tenth Circuit. Additionally, he was an Adjunct Professor of Trial Practice at the University of New Mexico School of Law.

Judge Hansen had a pilot’s license and in the 1960s and 1970s traveled extensively in a plane he piloted. He was an avid snow skier and enjoyed hitting the slopes at Taos Ski Valley with his family and his closest friend for more than 50 years, the late Senior U.S. District Judge James A. Parker. Judge Hansen enjoyed living life and his family, friends and colleagues will miss his keen sense of humor.

In honor of Judge Curtis LeRoy Hansen, I have ordered the flags outside the courthouses of the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico be flown at half-staff.

Visit the Court’s website to see Judge Hansen’s Judicial Portrait