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The Sam Cary Bar Association: Colorado’s Vanguard for Black Attorneys

Robyn Munn — Thu, 29 May 2025 16:25:01 +0000

The Sam Cary Bar Association: Colorado’s Vanguard for Black Attorneys Robyn Munn Thu, 05/29/2025 - 10:25

Hon. Gary Jackson '70

The following article, Sam Cary Bar Association: Colorado’s Vanguard of Black Attorneys, originally appeared in The Colorado Magazine, Spring/Summer 2025. It is reprinted here with permission from History Colorado. You can view the original publication on History Colorado’s website.

Originally published online: May 7, 2025
Author: Hon. Gary Jackson ’70

In the spring of 1971, seven young attorneys met in a Denver office and embarked on a singular mission: to advance equal opportunities for Black lawyers and judges.

It is almost commonplace today to see Black prosecutors carrying the torch of democracy and fulfilling the American principle that the rule of law should apply to all people equally. Former Vice President Kamala Harris as San Francisco District Attorney; Alvin Bragg, New York County District Attorney; Fani Willis, District Attorney of Fulton County, Georgia; and Jerry Blackwell, former Minnesota prosecutor in the George Floyd murder trial are all Black prosecutors who gained nationwide media attention in prosecuting celebrity defendants for criminal conduct.

But even in the not-so-distant past, things were so very different.

I graduated from the University of Colorado Law School (CU Law) in 1970. At that time, the nation was divided over the Vietnam War (among other issues), with student protests at Kent State, Jackson State, the University of California at Berkeley, and various other colleges and universities across the nation. The country was still reeling from the untimely deaths of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy. The Black Power movement was impacting all aspects of my life. In the legal arena, the death penalty had been declared unconstitutional in the case Furman v. Georgia by the US Supreme Court. The Hon. Thurgood Marshall was the Black Supreme Court justice we had revered since his selection in 1967, when Jim Cotton, Sonny Flowers, and I were admitted to CU Law. Edward Brooks of Massachusetts was the first Black US senator since the Reconstruction years. Shirley Chisholm of New York was the first Black person to run for president of the United States.

In 1970, when I was hired as a deputy Denver district attorney, I was the only Black deputy DA in the state of Colorado. There was one Latino deputy DA—Roy Martinez—but there were no Asian Americans and only four women who held the office: Anne Gorsuch, mother of current US Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch; Ann Allott, sister-in-law of Gordon Allott, a former US senator; Marilyn Wilde; and Orrelle Weeks, who later became our first Denver Juvenile Court woman judge. All four women were siloed into the non-support section of the office, collecting child support payments or practicing law in the juvenile section.

My “welcome” to the Bar of Colorado was a 1969 photograph in The Denver Post with Art Bosworth, David Fisher, and Bob Swanson. We had been hired as legal interns by Mike McKevitt, Denver District Attorney. Each of us wore a suit and tie. The only difference in our appearance was the three-inch afro on my head, the goatee on my chin, and, of course, my skin color. The photograph set off a firestorm of anonymous letters and even a negative editorial comment by a Colorado Supreme Court justice who called my appearance a disgrace to CU Law and the Denver District Attorney’s Office. My moment of celebration for the achievement of academic success initiated me immediately into the resistance that lawyers of color have faced ever since we entered the profession of law and the American Bar Association in 1925.

A gathering of District Attorney's office alumni in 1982. The photograph was taken on the steps of the old District Attorney Building on Speer Blvd and Colfax. At least 10 members of that staff became County, District, and Presiding Disciplinary judges.

Courtesy of Gary M. Jackson

Filling the Need for an Affinity Association

Sometime in the spring of 1971, Billy Lewis called a meeting at his office on 1839 York Street, inviting six other Black attorneys. Lewis, a graduate of Denver’s Manual High School and the first Black scholarship basketball player for the University of Colorado in 1956, was a graduate of Howard University, the historic Black law school in Washington, DC. He had an integrated law firm with Black partners Morris Cole and Phil Jones and white partners Natalie and Hank Ellwood. The other six lawyers who attended the meeting were King Trimble, Raymond Dean Jones, Daniel Muse, Norm Early, Phil Jones, and me.

There were a total of fifteen Black lawyers in the state of Colorado at the time, two of whom were judges. Hon. James C. Flanigan, Denver district judge, was appointed as the first Black judge in 1957 on the Denver Municipal Court bench. Ten long years after Jackie Robinson broke the color line for Blacks in baseball in 1947, Judge Gilbert Alexander was the other Black judge in Colorado.

At that meeting, we decided to create a bar association focusing on the needs of Black attorneys and the issues of our Black community. The organization would be a local one but in the mold of the National Bar Association (NBA), the nation’s oldest and largest national network of predominantly Black attorneys and judges. The NBA was established in 1925 at the convention of the Iowa Colored Bar Association. On August 1, the NBA incorporated in Des Moines, Iowa, as the “Negro Bar Association” after several Black lawyers were denied membership in the American Bar Association. When the number of African American lawyers barely exceeded 1,000 nationwide, the NBA tried to establish “free legal clinics in all cities with a colored population of 5,000 or more.” Its members supported litigation that achieved a US Supreme Court ruling that defendants in criminal cases had to be provided with legal counsel. Members of the NBA were leaders of the pro-bono movement at a time when they could least afford to provide legal services for free. When the Supreme Court outlawed school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education, the NBA was only nineteen years old.

In Colorado, we named our organization the Sam Cary Bar Association (SCBA) after one of Colorado’s first prominent Black lawyers: Samuel Eddy Cary, who had a solo practice in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood. Born in 1886 in Providence, Kentucky, Cary was the first Black graduate of Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas. Admitted to the Colorado Bar in October 1919, he was known for his outstanding trial abilities and for defending the rights of Black, Brown, and poor people. At the time, he was the only Black attorney practicing law in Colorado. On September 30, 1926, Sam Cary had to endure the harshest jolt of his life and career when he was disbarred by the all-white Colorado Bar Association. Exactly nine years later, on October 1, 1935, he was reinstated to the Colorado Bar; he continued practicing law until June of 1945, when he passed away as a result of throat cancer.

In 1971, the founding members of the SCBA researched the late Sam Cary’s background, including the reason for his disbarment. Founders spoke with former Colorado Chief Justice O. Otto Moore, who advised us that the disbarment was both racially and politically motivated at a time when members of the Ku Klux Klan held positions of power in state and local government, as well as in the judiciary. Thus, the SCBA took Cary’s name and became Colorado’s first minority bar association, or what is now known as a specialty or affinity bar association. We were all under thirty-five years of age, activists, community organizers, and fearless in terms of what we wanted to accomplish: equal opportunities for Black lawyers and judges. With no Black partners in the commercial law firms along Denver’s Seventeenth Street, no Black professors at the law schools, and only two Black judges and one Black deputy district attorney in all of Colorado, it was a profession in which many voices were not being heard and the economic rewards were all directed toward white men.

Samuel Eddy Cary was the first Black man to graduate from Washburn Law School in Kansas. He moved to Colorado and began practicing law here in 1919.

Courtesy of Gary M. Jackson

The Vanguard

The Sam Cary Bar Association became the vanguard organization in advancing the need for more lawyers of color and women attorneys in the state of Colorado. It was our mutual belief that forming a Black bar association was necessary for a multitude of reasons. We came together to create a bar to expand our influence—not through separation but through our need for inclusiveness and equity in the legal profession. Each of us became a leader within the legal profession. SCBA played a significant role in expanding the representation of diverse lawyers to key appointments of judgeships, committees, and associations. Importantly, four of the seven founders went on to become city, state, and federal prosecutors at various times in their careers.

Leaders of SCBA were not only local leaders but rose to national acclaim. Wiley Y. Daniel was our tenth SCBA president in 1981. He accelerated to high public profile as Colorado’s first Black federal court judge in 1995, selected by President Bill Clinton. Before his appointment to the bench, he served as the first and only Black president of the Colorado Bar Association from 1992 to 1993. Born in 1946 in Louisville, Kentucky, Daniel earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Howard University. After practicing law for seven years in Detroit, he moved to Colorado in 1977. He immediately became an active member of the SCBA. Appointed chief judge of the US District of Colorado in 2008, Judge Daniel was the president of the Federal Judges Association from May 2009 to April 2011. In 2013 he was appointed as a special mediator for the City of Detroit’s bankruptcy—the largest municipal bankruptcy at that time, involving approximately 18 billion dollars of debt. Judge Daniel, along with a panel of mediators, helped negotiate a settlement with creditors and with city employees regarding their pensions. According to the Associated Press, the settlement led to about 7 billion dollars of debt being restructured or wiped out, and to other financial relief set aside to improve city services.

Another significant case of Judge Daniel’s was Roy Smith v. Gilpin County, Colorado. This civil rights case involved extraordinary allegations of racially motivated crimes against Roy Smith, an African American man, including torture while hanging from a beam in his house, being shot at, and being assaulted with a vehicle. Among other charges, the case alleged that the Sheriff’s Department failed to investigate Smith’s complaints of ongoing racial harassment and failed to protect him based on racial animus. As The Denver Post reported on December 24, 1996, Judge Daniel stated in a hearing that the case had “the most appalling and reprehensible record I’ve ever seen.” He found that the defendants were not entitled in qualified immunity, stating that Smith “demonstrated not only a pattern of deliberate indifference on the part of the individual officers and the Sheriff’s Department, but also presented direct evidence of racial slurs that was[sic] sanctioned by the Sheriff’s Department.” Settled before trial, the case was featured in an episode of 20/20 with Barbara Walters and was the subject of a documentary screened at the Denver Film Society.

Former presidents of the Sam Cary Bar Association, from left to right, Wally Worthan, Hubert Farbes, Earle Jones, Linda Wade Hurd, William Harold Flowers, Jr., Hon. Ray Dean Jones, Hon. Gary M. Jackson and Hon. Wiley Y. Daniel.

Courtesy of Gary M. Jackson

Lastly, Judge Daniel was an extraordinary leader for the Sam Cary Bar Association. He served as chair of the Sam Cary Convention Committee in hosting the sixty-first Annual Convention of the National Bar Association in July 1986. With more than 1,500 Black lawyers and judges coming to Denver, his leadership put the SCBA on the map of the best Black bar associations in the country. Daniel passed away in May 2019.

Hon. Gregory Kellam Scott was appointed a Colorado Supreme Court justice in 1993 by Governor Roy Romer. Graduating from Rutgers in 1970, Scott earned his law degree with honors at Indiana University Law School. He started his career with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in Denver. Scott moved on to teach law at the University of Denver Law School for more than a decade. On the Colorado Supreme Court, he participated in more than 1,000 cases. Scott authored the opinion in Hill v. Thomas, a landmark case that concluded in early 2000 in which the Supreme Court upheld legislation that allowed a buffer zone around anyone entering or exiting healthcare facilities to avoid violence by picketers. During his time on the bench, Scott issued a concurring opinion in the 1994 decision of Evans v. Romer, in which the court blocked the enforcement of Amendment 2, a 1992 constitutional amendment prohibiting government protections for gays and lesbians. “Amendment 2 effectively denies the right to petition or participate in the political process by voiding…redress from discrimination,” Scott wrote. “[L]ike the right to vote which assumes the right to have one’s vote counted, the right peaceably to assemble and petition is meaningless if by law, government is powerless to act.” Scott resigned from the Supreme Court in 2000 and died on April 1, 2021.

A third leader of SCBA who gained national prominence was Norman Strickland Early Jr. Norm Early attended American University and then obtained his Juris Doctorate at the University of Illinois at Champaign. He came to Colorado in 1970 on a Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellowship and worked for the Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Denver. In 1972 District Attorney Dale Tooley hired Early as a deputy district attorney; he served in the position until 1983, when Governor Richard Lamm appointed him as head of the Denver District Attorney’s Office, a post he held until 1993.

Early became known nationally as a fierce advocate for the rights of victims, and he worked hard to create the most diverse district attorney’s office in the state. He helped establish and lead organizations such as the National Organization for Victim Assistance, for which he served as president. The Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance named its highest honor the “Norm Early Exemplary Leadership Award.” A champion of crime victim’s rights, Early was also co-founder of two premier organizations dedicated to ensuring the success of Black lawyers. He created an organization to unite and advance Black prosecutors in 1983—the National Black Prosecutors Association—with 100 individuals gathered at its first meeting in Chicago, and was elected its first president. In 1971 Early was one of the seven co-founders of the Sam Cary Bar Association. Norm Early passed away on May 5, 2022.

William Harold “Sonny” Flowers, Jr. and Gary M. Jackson in 1991.

Courtesy of Gary M. Jackson

Following in SCBA’s Footsteps

Other specialty bars have followed the lead of the Sam Cary Bar Association. The Colorado Hispanic Bar Association was formed in 1977 with six original incorporators. Today, there are more than 500 Latinx and Hispanic American lawyers—the largest group of attorneys of color in Colorado. The association’s ongoing mission has been to serve Colorado and promote justice by advancing Hispanic interests and issues in the legal profession while seeking equal protection for the Hispanic community before the law.

The Colorado Women’s Bar Association (CWBA) was created in 1978; its first president was Natalie Ellwood, who was employed at the Billy Lewis law firm. The Hon. Zita Weinshienk was the face of the CWBA in the 1970s. She graduated from Harvard summa cum laude in 1958, but, as a Jewish woman, she could not obtain a job with the Seventeenth Street law firms in Denver. In 1964 she became the first woman on the Denver Municipal Court; she was a Denver County Court judge from 1965 to 1971. She was appointed to the Denver District Court in 1972, and in 1979 President Jimmy Carter appointed her as the first woman on the US District Court of Colorado.

The CWBA’s mission has remained the same since its inception: to promote women in the legal profession and the interests of women generally. The founders’ vision has resulted in decades of work promoting gender equality in the legal profession, historic preservation, influencing legislation related to women and children, mentoring, granting scholarships for women law students, fighting discrimination, influencing the selection of judges, and providing training and education. Judge Weinshienk had a personal impact on my own development as a lawyer as well. Serving as her deputy district attorney in Denver County Court in 1971, I was twenty-five years old when I was assigned to her courtroom in the Denver City and County Building and was the only Black state prosecutor in Colorado. At the same time, Judge Weinshienk was the only full-time woman judge, at any level of our state and federal court systems in Colorado.

The Asian American Pacific Bar Association (APABA) was formed in 1990. Its first president, co-founder Lucy Hojo Denson, was an associate in my law firm, DiManna & Jackson, and also became president of the Women’s Bar Association in 2010. APABA is a bar association in Colorado dedicated to advancing Asian-Pacific American lawyers as leaders in the profession. It advocates for issues concerning the Asian American community and spearheads programs benefiting underserved communities, promoting civil justice, and fostering professional development, mentorship, and community.

Formed in 1993, the Colorado LGBTQ+ Bar Association (CLBA) exists to provide a sense of community and belonging for LGBTQ+ individuals in the legal field in Colorado. Through programming and other initiatives, it seeks to provide opportunities for LGBTQ+ legal professionals to interact in safe settings, build meaningful professional relationships, and enhance our members’ community and professional profiles. The CLBA has more than 350 active members and sponsors. Its first president was the Hon. Mary Celeste, a retired presiding judge from the Denver County Court. Luminaries and past presidents include the Hon. Monica Marquez of the Colorado Supreme Court’s incoming Chief Justice; the Hon. Andrew McCallan; and Jon Olofson of the Denver District Court, who has served as secretary of the Sam Cary Bar Association.

The South Asian American Bar Association (SABA) was formed in 2009. Its founder and first president, my former partner Neeti Pawar, was named to the Colorado Court of Appeals and was the first Asian American woman on an appellate court in Colorado. SABA fosters growth and advocacy of justice in the South Asian legal community, serving both the interests of the minority voices it represents and the larger community it serves through programming and community outreach.

Judge Gary M. and Regina Jackson. Judge Jackson won the Hon. Wiley Daniel Lifetime award from the Center for Legal Inclusiveness in 2020.

Courtesy of Gary M. Jackson

A Place for Specialty Associations Today

Today, with no formal barriers for diverse lawyers to become members of the American Bar Association or the Colorado Bar Association, some have questioned whether this array of affinity associations is still necessary. But I believe that the need for specialty bars is strong. Today, eighteen states have no Black state supreme court justices, and, in nineteen there are no state supreme court justices who publicly identify as a person of color.

If we reflect on the criminal prosecutions of President Donald J. Trump and of Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, those cases raise the question of how Americans are maintaining and upholding our democratic principle that all are accountable under the rule of law. We are greatly concerned about the massacres of our children at our schools, which raise questions about the interpretation of the Second Amendment of our Constitution and its viability in a world inundated with automatic weapons. Access to the voting booth has become more restricted in some states, and people of color, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals are also underrepresented in many.

The mission of specialty bars today remains the same as always: to overcome barriers and to promote equality in the judicial system so no one, regardless of race, gender, or identity, faces discrimination under the law. Specialty bars are creating great leaders who have reached beyond their associations to make an impact on the legal profession at large, and they have a voice that needs to be heard in the major legal and constitutional questions that the people of this country must answer.

The Sam Cary Bar Association in Colorado began this movement of diverse leaders and associations, and it continues to lead the way on the path to creating a more perfect union.

This article traces the history and legacy of the Sam Cary Bar Association, Colorado’s pioneering organization for Black attorneys. Written by Hon. Gary Jackson ’70, it highlights the association’s vital role in advancing racial justice, professional support, and community leadership since its founding.

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KWIP Welcomes James "Cass" Garner Home!

Erin Calkins — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 14:29:20 +0000

KWIP Welcomes James "Cass" Garner Home! Erin Calkins Wed, 04/30/2025 - 08:29

Erin Calkins

Last week, the District Court vacated the conviction of Korey Wise Innocence Project client, James “Cass” Garner, and ordered his immediate release. Remarkably, the same judge who presided over Mr. Garner’s original trial issued the order.

After 15 long years, James Garner is now free — released from Sterling Correctional Facility just after 5:00 p.m. last Wednesday. He is no longer imprisoned for a crime he did not commit.

Mr. Garner was wrongfully convicted in connection with a 2009 non-fatal shooting at a local bar — the same night he was there celebrating his birthday. He has always maintained his innocence. This life-changing outcome was made possible through the relentless work of KWIP attorneys Kathleen Lord and Jeanne Segil. Their case focused on discrediting the unreliable eyewitness identifications that had played a central role in Mr. Garner’s conviction.

In the initial months after the shooting, none of the three victims (all brothers) identified Mr. Garner in photo lineups. But nearly three years later at trial, all three pointed to him in court — a setting that was highly suggestive, especially with Mr. Garner being the only man seated at the defense table alongside two female attorneys. To strengthen their case, Kathleen and Jeanne brought in nationally recognized experts on human memory and eyewitness identification, both of whom concluded that the trial identifications were unreliable.

We’re overjoyed for Mr. Garner and his family. You can watch a short news story about Mr. Garner’s release and see a video of his first moments of freedom on KWIP’s Instagram page. There’s also a great Denver Post article.

“This is why we do this work,” Jeanne Segil said. “Today validates that what we do makes a difference for people.”

Last week, the District Court vacated the conviction of Korey Wise Innocence Project client, James “Cass” Garner, and ordered his immediate release.

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Two Decades of Dedication: Celebrating Professor Ann England's Legacy at Colorado Law

Erin Calkins — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 19:19:20 +0000

Two Decades of Dedication: Celebrating Professor Ann England's Legacy at Colorado Law Erin Calkins Wed, 04/02/2025 - 13:19

Erin Calkins

What originally inspired you to focus on criminal defense, and how did that passion evolve during your time at the law school?

When I was in law school, I worked primarily with unhoused individuals. I had plans to start a homeless legal clinic, but that didn’t work out. Instead, I clerked for a Juvenile Court judge, where I observed criminal court and was drawn to the public defenders and the work they did with clients. I applied to a public defender’s office, thinking I’d never get hired, but I did and I was fortunate to work with great mentors who taught me the ins and outs of criminal defense.

When I joined the Criminal Defense Clinic at the law school, I was excited to share my passion for helping people with my students. Teaching has been a constant source of growth for me, and over the years, the biggest lesson I’ve learned is to trust my students. Even though they’re new to the work, their passion to act on injustice is often less jaded. Each year, I relearn this lesson. I am consistently inspired by their drive to change the world.

Reflecting on your 20 years at the law school, what stands out most about your time here?

Teaching at the law school has been a rewarding experience, largely because we’re encouraged to follow our passions. I’ve had the opportunity to organize conferences on issues I care about, bring in national speakers, and create new classes with my colleagues – some that allowed me to travel the world while doing it. I’ve worked closely with national death penalty defenders and started the Korey Wise Innocence Project.

Additionally, I’ve had the privilege to practice in a variety of jurisdictions across the Front Range, from representing service members in Colorado Springs to working with municipal public defenders in Aurora. One of the most rewarding aspects has been being able to represent clients who fall through the cracks—people who can’t afford private attorneys but don’t qualify for public defender services. The freedom to follow my passions, with the law school’s support, is something I’ll always be grateful for.

You've taught countless students over the years—are there any particular stories or experiences with students that have had a lasting impact on you?

It’s always exciting to be part of a student’s first trial experience. I still remember my first trial in law school, and I know how transformative that experience can be. One moment that stands out was when we were fighting 91PORN’s camping laws. We did several jury trials representing unhoused individuals, each with a unique and impactful story. In one trial, after the verdict, every juror collected their $6 payment and gave it to the client. That powerful act made both the students and I tear up. Those are the moments I’ll never forget.

I’m endlessly inspired by the students I work with. They remind me that change is possible, and they’re going to be the ones to make it happen.

What are you most excited about in the next chapter of your career?

I’m excited to take on a larger role with the Korey Wise Innocence Project (KWIP) as the next Director. While I’ve been the faculty director since its inception, I’m eager to help KWIP transition into its next phase. We have an incredibly strong staff and board, and I’m looking forward to helping the organization grow.

I’m also excited to explore what’s next for me personally. I’m still driven by the desire to change the world, and I’m ready to find new ways to contribute to the movement for justice.

What advice would you give to your students who are about to begin their careers in criminal defense?

If you see injustice or something that seems unfair, fight it. It’s the small things that add up to the big things.

Trust your instincts—if something feels wrong, trust that, and stand up and object. You can figure out what to say after you stand up.

What will you miss most about your time here at the law school?

While I’m not leaving completely, I will miss the students. Every year, I get to work with a new group of students, and their passion for justice is always inspiring. This generation faces a lot of challenges, but I’m hopeful because they’re smart, compassionate, and driven to make a difference. I’ll miss watching them grow, but I know they’re going to change the world.

As you depart, what final message would you like to leave with the law school community?

Follow your passions.

After two decades of dedicated service, Ann England will be retiring at the end of this year. Throughout her time with Colorado Law and the Clinical Education Program, Ann has made a profound impact on nearly 500 clinic students, as well as her colleagues and community members. Her unwavering commitment to service and her invaluable contributions have been instrumental in shaping the success of both the program and those it serves.

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Prof. Colene Robinson Receives “Excellence in Teaching” Award

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Apr 2024 20:23:35 +0000

Prof. Colene Robinson Receives “Excellence in Teaching” Award Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/19/2024 - 14:23

Emily Battaglia

Congratulations to Prof. Colene Robinson, who recently received a 2024 91PORN Faculty Excellence Award for “Excellence in Teaching.” This award recognizes the vital importance of teaching and mentoring students as significant components of faculty duties that are central to the university’s mission.

“I am really grateful to everyone who worked hard to support my nomination and am so honored by the acknowledgement of my teaching,” Robinson said. “Hearing from former students that I had positively impacted their time in law school, which I know can be so stressful and hard, was incredibly moving.”

Robinson wears many hats here at the law school. Not only does she teach and write about child welfare and juvenile delinquency, she also co-directs the Juvenile and Family Law Program (JFLP). In her Juvenile and Family Law Clinic, students represent children and parents in child welfare cases and youth in delinquency and immigration matters. The JFLP provides students with opportunities to acquire specialized knowledge and fosters collaboration between students, academics, and practitioners.

“The people I work with at the law school are the best part of my job – foremost the students and also the faculty and staff,” Robinson shared. “Being able to laugh with people while at the same time working though hard issues that require compassion and good judgment, makes this my dream job. Not to mention the amazing professionals I work with frequently at the courthouse – like judges, caseworkers, and other attorneys.”

Prof. Robinson’s career has been extensive. Before joining Colorado Law, she represented children and families throughout Colorado and in New York City. Now as a professor and Director of Clinical Programs, she shares that some of her proudest moments come from witnessing students become more confident in their legal practice through their work in many of the Law School’s Clinics.

Like when students feel challenged by what they are learning and make noticeable improvements - “Those moments are gold when you see it happening.” Robinson said. “Also, the times when we [the clinic] have made a positive difference in someone’s case [have been among my proudest accomplishments] – which can be hard to do when you are working primarily in the child welfare system.” Professor Robinson and her students have represented over 300 families.

When asked what excellence in teaching means to her, Robinson revealed that it can be difficult to know if you are teaching well.

“If students don’t perform as well on an exam or assignment, I ask myself how I could have done a better job with the material,” Robinson explained. “Excellence means being creative, reading as much as possible in my area, keeping up with the changes in law and policy, updating or redoing my courses continuously, and finding ways to tackle difficult subjects. It also means being honest with myself when I haven’t done my best work and making changes to get better, including asking for feedback from students and colleagues.”

The University of Colorado Law School is grateful to have Robinson’s expertise and dedication to our students’ success as part of our community and look forward to the impact she will continue to have in the years to come. Congratulations, Professor Robinson, on this incredible achievement!

Learn more about Prof. Robinson here.

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Getting to Know Prof. Laura Dolbow

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 14:19:15 +0000

Getting to Know Prof. Laura Dolbow Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/20/2024 - 08:19

Emily Battaglia

In August, Prof. Laura Dolbow will join the Colorado Law Faculty as Associate Professor. Prof. Dolbow researches the intersection of patent law, health law, and administrative law.

Her work has been published or is forthcoming in the Michigan Law Review, the Vanderbilt Law Review and the Administrative Law Review. Her law school note won a 2018 Burton Award for Distinguished Legal Writing and was cited by the Patent Office in a final rule regarding claim construction standards in post-grant review proceedings. Her article, Agency Adherence to Legislative History, won the 2017 Gellhorn-Sargentich Law Student Essay Competition and the Weldon B. White Prize.

Dolbow is a Sharswood Fellow at Penn Carey Law. Before that, she practiced in the appellate and patent litigation groups at Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, DC. She clerked for Judge Judith Rogers on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Judge Timothy Dyk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She received her J.D. and B.A. from Vanderbilt University, where she won the Founder’s Medal for her law school class and served as Senior Articles Editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. Before law school, she taught middle school math through Teach for America in Nashville, TN.

In this interview, Laura shares more about her work, the inspiration behind it, and some of her career accomplishments so far.

What are you most excited about in your move to Colorado?

LD: I am very excited about teaching law students and joining the academic community at Colorado Law! I’m also looking forward to exploring trails on hikes and runs. Suggestions for trails or other outdoor activities are welcome!

What is your proudest career accomplishment?

LD: My proudest career accomplishment was during my second year as a middle school math teacher through Teach for America. I taught Algebra 1 to eighth graders, and my proudest moment was when my entire class passed the standardized exam to receive high school credit. The students worked so hard to pass the high school exam. Many of them made massive amounts of progress in their math skills during the year. I was so thrilled to see their hard work pay off in their exam results!

Can you tell me about your time as a Sharswood fellow? How has that impacted your career path?

LD: The Sharswood Fellowship helped give me time to write and develop my research agenda before I went on the job market for tenure-track teaching positions. As a Sharswood fellow, I have had the opportunity to teach law students, attend faculty workshops, and work on my own research. I taught a seminar about regulations that affect drug prices, which has given me ideas for future papers and helped develop my expertise about regulation of the pharmaceutical industry. Now, I am co-teaching Intro to Intellectual Property, which has been very helpful experience for teaching larger classes in the future. Spending time in faculty workshops and on research has also been helpful for thinking through how to frame research papers and select topics for future articles.

What inspired your interests in patent law, health law, and administrative law?

LD: I got interested in patent law and health law when I majored in chemistry in undergrad. I was really interested in the research my chemistry professors were doing, particularly about drug development. I worked on the school newspaper at the time and interviewed several of them about their research. Given my interest in both science and writing, they suggested that I think about patent law as a career. Then in law school, I loved my classes about administrative law and became more interested in regulation of the pharmaceutical industry generally. As a lawyer at Covington & Burling, I was able to work on cases that involved all three topics. My practice experience further solidified my interest in researching and teaching in these areas.

Can you share a little about any current projects you are working on?

LD: I am currently working on a paper about laws that expressly authorize agencies to control how patents are used in commerce. These laws have come up in debates about high drug prices, particularly when federal funding supported development of drugs. This paper, which is forthcoming in the Michigan Law Review, surveys all the laws that explicitly give agencies powers over patents and studies how they have been used in practice. The Biden Administration recently issued guidance about how one power over federally funded inventions could be used. I argue in the paper that it should go further and issue guidance about how all the different powers could be used, which could have policy implications in a range of areas. I have a couple other ideas to build on this paper in future work, which I plan to work on next semester at Colorado!

In August, Prof. Laura Dolbow will join the Colorado Law Faculty as Associate Professor. Prof. Dolbow researches the intersection of patent law, health law, and administrative law.

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Byron White Center hosts “Reclaiming the Constitutional Text from Originalism” Lunch Talk

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 18:14:53 +0000

Byron White Center hosts “Reclaiming the Constitutional Text from Originalism” Lunch Talk Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/18/2024 - 12:14

John Henry Verhoff & M.R. Dickey

On March 12, the Byron R. White Center for American Constitutional Law and the American Constitution Society (ACS) at Colorado Law hosted a lunch talk on “Reclaiming the Constitutional Text from Originalism” with Georgetown Law Professor Victoria Nourse. Professor Nourse is former Chief Counsel to then-Vice President Biden, U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner, and writer for CNN and Ms. Magazine. Professor Nourse shared her research on the Supreme Court’s continuing trend towards originalism, potential ways to respond to originalist approaches, and how the Justices have applied originalist principles in their decisions.

The event brought an enthusiastic audience of students, staff, faculty, and community members. Byron White Center Director Professor Suzette Malveaux opened the event, thanking Professor Nourse for her important critique of originalism’s use of textualism, especially in the context of understanding executive power. ACS’s incoming president M.R. Dickey then introduced Professor Nourse, who presented her research and statistics on the increased presence of originalist references and principles in the Supreme Court’s opinions since 2019.

Touching on subjects such as abortion, gun rights, the right to privacy, and presidential immunity, Professor Nourse remarked, “No area is free from originalism.” Contextualizing the Court’s recent decision in Trump v. Anderson, Professor Nourse noted: “Originalism is not consistent, the Courts will hone in on one word and take it out of context. While originalism is lauded as a theory to reduce judicial bias, in practice, judges adding their own meaning increases the risk of bias.”

Following her presentation, the White Center’s Student Senior Fellow Michaela Calhoun engaged Professor Nourse in a fireside chat, asking her about executive power, combating originalism in practice, and similar topics.

Reflecting on the event, 3L Austin McCreary remarked, “This has been one of my favorite White Center events. I truly enjoyed the statistical data that illustrated the impact and use of originalism in SCOTUS decisions.”

This sentiment was shared by numerous attendees, as Mary Slosson, 3L, shared, “This was my favorite White Center event this year; I wanted the talk to continue because I was learning so much!”

This month, the White Center is excited to host constitutional law events with the American Constitution Society and the Federalist Society—organizations of different political stripes. This initiative is a testament to the Center's commitment to fostering the expansion of knowledge and stimulating public discussion on matters of Constitutional law. As Professor Nourse stated to a student inquiring about what to do in the courts as originalism becomes more prevalent, “the doctrines are up for grabs.”

The Byron White Center is eager to foster and nurture these discussions, encouraging a greater understanding of ideas surrounding originalist approaches.

In fact, as 1L Victoria Matson stated, “Our Constitutional Law professor attended the talk, and later that afternoon we applied Professor Nourse’s principles of constructive responses to originalism. Particularly, we applied Professor Nourse’s discussion of contextualizing originalism to a case where the originalist evidence was inconclusive and required adjusting our approaches to the problem to a more contemporary meaning.” She continued, adding “it was great to see the concept applied in an engaging way!”

Prof. Malveaux, echoed, “This is the kind of impact and engagement the Center is proud to offer to our students and the larger community.”

The White Center thanks Professor Nourse for her groundbreaking research and engaging presentation on originalism.

View a recording of the event here.

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John Echohawk to Deliver 2024 Commencement Ceremony Remarks

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 18:34:48 +0000

John Echohawk to Deliver 2024 Commencement Ceremony Remarks Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/05/2024 - 11:34

Emily Battaglia

The University of Colorado Law School is pleased to announce that Native American rights attorney and Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund, John Echohawk, will be the speaker for the Colorado Law Class of 2024 commencement recognition ceremony.

The ceremony will take place on Friday, May 10 beginning at 10 a.m.

“We are honored to welcome John Echohawk as the 2024 commencement speaker,” said Dean Lolita Buckner Inniss. “His profound influence on Native American rights has had an impact on Indigenous communities across the nation and globe, and we couldn’t be more pleased to have him speak before our graduating class.”

John Echohawk, Pawnee, is the Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund. He was the first graduate of the University of New Mexico’s special program to train Indian lawyers in 1970, and was a founding member of the American Indian Law Students Association while in law school. Echohawk has been with NARF since its inception in 1970, having served continuously as Executive Director since 1977.

He has been recognized as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America by the National Law Journal and has received numerous service awards and other recognition for his leadership in the Indian law field including the 2023 Thurgood Marshall Award from the American Bar Association.

Additionally, Echohawk serves on the Boards of the Association on American Indian Affairs, the Indigenous Language Institute, Natural Resources Defense Council, Grand Canyon Trust, Native Ways Federation, Water Foundation, Keystone Policy Center, and the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development.

He holds a B.A. from the University of New Mexico, and served as a Reginald Heber Smith Fellow from 1970-72.

In addition to Echohawk’s remarks, Colorado Law will also present an Honorary Order of the Coif to a member of the legal community. The English Order of the Coif, an ancient and honored institution of the Common Law, was an association of distinguished lawyers consisting appointed by the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas. For centuries, they had the exclusive right to be barristers in that Court. The American Order was formed in 1911 for the purpose of promoting scholarship among law students.

The University of Colorado Law School, one of the 81 member law schools, became a member in 1942. Under the Order’s constitution, only the top 10% of the school’s graduating class is eligible for membership. Dean Lolita Buckner Inniss has selected David W. Stark ‘73 as the 2024 Honorary Order of the Coif Recipient.

Stark – a retired partner at Faegre Baker Daniels --represents lawyers and law firms in professional responsibility and ethics matters. Stark served as chair of the Colorado Supreme Court Attorney Regulation Committee and is currently chair of the Colorado Supreme Court Attorney Regulation Advisory Committee, which oversees the Colorado Attorney Regulation System. He is a member of the Colorado Supreme Court Standing Committee on the Rules of Professional Conduct, the CBA/DBA Professionalism Coordinating Council, the Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice's Commission on Professional Development, and the Executive Committee of the Colorado Lawyers Committee.

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Professor Andrew Schwartz to Deliver 2024 Scott Lecture

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 21:17:41 +0000

Professor Andrew Schwartz to Deliver 2024 Scott Lecture Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 14:17

Emily Battaglia

The University of Colorado Law School is pleased to announce that Prof. Andrew Schwartz will deliver the 48th annual Austin W. Scott Jr. Lecture. Schwartz will speak on “Digital Shareholders” on Thursday, April 11 at 5:30 p.m. in Wittemyer Courtroom. A reception will follow at 6:30 p.m.

Schwartz's lecture will draw from his new book Investment Crowdfunding, recently published by Oxford University Press. In this book, Schwartz details the recent reforms that have changed federal law to allow the general public to participate in the online investment of startup companies—a venture from which they were formerly excluded.

Are these investments safe? Are they lucrative? Should you join the millions of Americans that have already taken the plunge, investing billions of dollars in thousands of companies from coast-to-coast? Come learn about the opportunities – and dangers—of this new market from the Colorado Law professor and Fulbright scholar who wrote the book on the subject.

“The point of investment crowdfunding is to invite the general public—’the crowd’—to take their chance and invest in startup companies alongside wealthy angel investors and professional venture capitalists, so I'm particularly excited to present this lecture to the public. Everybody is welcome, everybody is invited, and I will offer lots of practical advice. Plus it will be funny.”

One general CLE credit pending for Colorado attorneys. Register here.

Named for Austin Scott, a member of the law school faculty for 20 years, this annual lecture features a member of the Colorado Law faculty selected by the dean who is engaged in a significant scholarly project. This year's Scott Lecture is co-sponsored by Silicon Flatirons.

Please contact lawevents@colorado.edu or (303) 492-8048 for any questions you may have about the event.

Learn more about the Austin W. Scott Jr. Lecture.

More about Andrew Schwartz

Andrew A. Schwartz joined the Colorado Law faculty in 2008 and was promoted to full professor in 2017. He teaches and publishes on corporate, securities and contract law, and has become an internationally recognized expert on investment crowdfunding. In 2017, Professor Schwartz served as a Fulbright Research Scholar and visiting professor at the University of Auckland Law School in New Zealand. Read Prof. Schwartz’s full bio here.

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Dean Inniss Announces New Faculty Appointment

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 20:57:47 +0000

Dean Inniss Announces New Faculty Appointment Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 13:57

Emily Battaglia

Lolita Buckner Inniss, Dean and Provost’s Professor of Law, is pleased to announce the appointment of another professor to Colorado Law’s full-time faculty: Laura Dolbow.

“We are truly fortunate to welcome Prof. Dolbow to our law school,” said Dean Inniss. “The future is bright at Colorado Law, and we are filled with gratitude for the knowledge and inspiration she will bring to our students and colleagues on the faculty!”

Meet Colorado Law’s newest professor:

Laura Dolbow

Laura Dolbow researches the intersection of patent law, health law, and administrative law.

Dolbow currently is a Sharswood Fellow at Penn Carey Law. Before that, she practiced in the appellate and patent litigation groups at Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, DC. She clerked for Judge Judith Rogers on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Judge Timothy Dyk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She received her J.D. and B.A. from Vanderbilt University, where she won the Founder’s Medal for her law school class and served as Senior Articles Editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. Before law school, she taught middle school math through Teach for America in Nashville, TN.

Lolita Buckner Inniss, Dean and Provost’s Professor of Law, is pleased to announce the appointment of another professor to Colorado Law’s full-time faculty: Laura Dolbow.

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Professor Malveaux Wins National Scholarship Award

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 19:29:18 +0000

Professor Malveaux Wins National Scholarship Award Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 02/27/2024 - 12:29

Emily Battaglia

We are excited to share that Professor Suzette Malveaux was recently awarded the National Civil Justice Institute (NCJI) 2024 Scholarship Award for her article, "Is it Time for a New Civil Rights Act? Pursuing Procedural Justice in the Federal Civil Court System," 63 B.C. L. Rev. 2403 (2022) (lead article). The Officers and Trustees unanimously selected "Is It Time for a New Civil Rights Act?" as the best law review article among the submissions from legal academics nationwide. Malveaux received a monetary stipend, framed certificate and paid trip to Austin, Texas where she was honored for this prestigious recognition. We sat down with her to learn more about her groundbreaking work.

Can you talk about the article that is being recognized by the NCJI and what it was about?

The fundamental premise of my article is that over the last half century, the U.S. Supreme Court has incrementally and quietly stripped away the procedural rights of everyday Americans, making it increasingly harder for vulnerable populations to get their “day in court” and vindicate their substantive rights. This is an important civil rights issue that often flies under the radar. While we usually focus on substantive rights, they are futile without robust procedural rights. I argue that Congress should address this regressive trend and enact a new civil rights act, to counter this dangerous and ubiquitous trend.
My article explores the conditions and catalysts that led to other restorative civil rights laws, specifically the sweeping Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the targeted Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The sheer amount and gravity of regressive caselaw, acute dissension within the Court, and groundswell of political pressure has led to a tipping point. My article breaks new ground by arguing for a new procedural civil rights act and setting forth what exactly that would look like.

How did this article build on some of your previous work?

This article is, in many ways, a culmination of years of work. I proposed this new procedural civil rights act after extensive work at the intersection of civil procedure and civil rights. My scholarship includes books, articles, testimony, appellate briefs, op-eds, and media commentary that explore this intersection. I have taught in the areas of Civil Procedure, Complex Litigation, Employment Discrimination, Civil Rights and Constitutional Law for the last two decades. As chair of the AALS (American Association of Law Schools) Civil Procedure section last year and director of the Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law the last six years, I’ve benefited from programming that explore these subjects. Moreover, as a class action specialist and civil rights attorney for eight years before entering the legal academy, I have practice experience that informs and grounds my work.

This was a highly competitive selection process from a heavy hitting legal organization. What does receiving this award mean to you as a scholar?

I’m honored to be part of this extraordinary group of scholars, judges, and lawyers who care deeply about the civil justice system and model excellence in so many different ways. We need to support and celebrate each other, especially in the face of such profound challenges to democracy and rule of law today.
I’m grateful to the NCJI for believing in my work and helping get the word out. It’s gratifying to know that my ideas are getting traction and having an impact.
On a lighter note, I also had a lot of fun! As academics, we don’t often get a lot of kudos. I usually have no idea what to do with the box of article reprints I have in my office. This year, I ordered extras and literally autographed them and handed them out like hot cakes to the NCJI Trustees and Board members at the awards ceremony! That was a first! (Laughing)

Can you tell me a little bit about the process of writing this article?

On the one hand, the research and writing process can be extremely gratifying. You get to think, learn, create and push yourself intellectually. And if you’re lucky, you get to have real-world impact. On the other hand, the process can be challenging, slow and solitary. And you can be unsure if you’re making a difference. Writing requires you to be patient, vulnerable, uncomfortable and at times, even courageous.
While writing requires discipline and independence, it ironically takes a village. I am indebted to many villagers for this article’s success! I have been fortunate to be supported by the administration. Former CU Law Dean Jim Anaya selected me to deliver the 46th annual distinguished Scott Lecture in December of 2020, where I vetted my research with the Colorado legal community and benefitted from the feedback of my colleagues. More recently, I’ve received support from the current CU Law Dean Lolita Buckner Inniss, who awarded me the Gilbert Goldstein Faculty Research Leave, giving me time to focus on my research without teaching responsibilities. The administration also supported my article, selecting it for an Honorable Mention for the 2023 Milstein Award—which provides a certificate and monetary stiped to a member of the faculty for excellent legal scholarship.
My peers have also been very helpful in my writing and editing process. I workshopped my paper at a number of conferences: the Duke Law School Race and Reform in 21st America Conference, the Fourth Annual National People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference, the Public Citizen and American Constitution Society Civil Justice System Summit, and the Lutie Lytle Black Women Law Faculty Writing Workshops. Each forum made my article stronger!
I also belong to a special group of female scholars who were brought together remotely during COVID for a writing bootcamp four years ago. The four of us followed a structured program on Zoom for one semester and decided to stick together for weekly check-ins once the program officially ended. We continued informally and through our myriad of personal and professional challenges, we bonded and encouraged each other. We even organized a three-day retreat where we met each other in person for the first time! The day before I received the NCJI award, I received the heartbreaking news that one of our dear members passed away. So it was through tears that I accepted the NCJI award, dedicating it to her and our crew and thanking them for getting me across the finish line.
And finally, my students have been invaluable to the article’s success. My research assistants and anyone whose taken Civ Pro from me has contributed to my growth and helped vet my ideas. They ask tough questions and keep me honest!

How do you hope to build on this work going forward?

I’m looking forward to building on Is It Time for a New Civil Rights Act? One of the encouraging developments that took place while writing this article was Congress’s passage of the bi-partisan Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Claims Act of 2021. Despite common gridlock and hyper-partisanship, Congress firmly passed this Act to protect victims of sexual assault and sexual harassment from being shut out of court and forced into arbitration—a forum that often provides less procedural protections.
My next article argues that, while groundbreaking, this legislation is not enough. Victims of racial harassment and discrimination should also be allowed the freedom to choose where and how to challenge such wrongdoing and to have their “day in court.” My work challenges the difference in treatment between race and sex when it comes to procedural protection in the civil court system. More generally, I will critique the legitimacy of law’s tethering access to justice to a variety of different axes and identities. My larger project will argue that procedurally protecting only the privileged, while leaving the vulnerable exposed, risks creating procedural caste.

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