Executive Director & Senior Fellow
A courtroom attorney by training and practice, M.J. Menendez has litigated in federal and state courts for over 25 years. For the five years before MJ left the Department of Justice, she served on detail in the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces in Washington, D.C., where she was the Fentanyl and Heroin Major Projects Coordinator. MJ began her prosecution career in the District Attorney’s Office in Jefferson County in Colorado and returned to the jurisdiction to serve as a District Court Judge in Jefferson County, presiding over criminal, civil, family law, and dependency and neglect proceedings. MJ created and implemented the Jefferson County Controlled Substances Recovery Court from 2006 to 2009. M.J. served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Colorado for a total of thirteen years where she prosecuted violent crimes and crimes involving national and international drug distribution and money laundering networks. Currently, M.J. is the Executive Director at the CFSRE, and she also serves as the Executive Vice-President of the National Association of Medical Examiners 
