Judge Hoffman was appointed to the Denver District Court in December 1990. Prior to his appointment, he was in private practice in Denver, specializing in commercial litigation, real estate and bankruptcy law. Judge Hoffman graduated with honors in mathematics from the University of Colorado and received his law degree from the University of Colorado School of Law in 1977. He has published extensively, in journals including the University of Chicago Law Review, Duke Law Journal and Stanford Law Review. He is judge-in-residence at the Gruter Institute for Law and Behavioral Research, and was nominated in 2002 to be a fellow at Stanford’s Center for the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

Judge Hoffman's recreational activities include riding his bike to work in the summer and shoveling snow in the winter.