LAW WEEK COLORADO
Kathleen M. Schoen, the director of the Colorado Bar Association’s local bar relations and access to justice department, has been named a 2010 recipient of the Sharon Corbitt Award.
Schoen will be honored at 10 a.m. Aug. 6 in the offices of Arnold & Porter in San Francisco.
The award is named for the late former chair of the ABA Family Law Section and a member of the Commission on Domestic Violence.
LAW WEEK COLORADO
The Colorado Defense Lawyers Association announced Monday that Dawn Kubik of Jones Waters & Geislinger, Jessica Stieber of McConaughy & Sarkissian, Jody Haskins of White & Steele and David McLain of Higgins Hopkins McLain & Roswell have joined the association’s board.
The four appointments fill recently vacated seats.
The CDLA represents lawyers involved in the defense of civil litigation.
LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER – David Hersh, a shareholder at Greenwood Village litigation law firm Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh & Jardine, has been appointed to the board of directors for the Arapahoe County Bar Association.
Hersh will chair the association’s Continuing Legal Education committee, where he will oversee the bar association’s CLE programs. He was also elected chair of a membership development committee for the Colorado Judicial Institute earlier this month. Much of Hersh’s practice focuses on civil trial law in liability and damages.
“We are very proud of David, his work and his support of numerous legal service groups,” said managing shareholder Kerry Jardine in an announcement.
Mari Newman speaks on behalf of the Amanda Hall v. Colorado Department of Corrections, et al Case of the Year.
LAW WEEK COLORADO
The Colorado Trial Lawyers Association last night at its annual spring dinner named Amanda Hall v. Colorado Department of Corrections its case of the year.
The lawyers on this case were Mari Newman, Rebecca Wallace and Althea Licht, all of Killmer Lane & Newman. They represented Hall, whom they met after reading letters she sent from prison that said she’d been raped by a prison guard. After visiting her and the prison and finding out that she was not the only one, they helped Hall bring suit.
Newman seemed thrilled to be honored for her work on this case, CTLA member and dinner attendee Mari Bush of Kaye and Bush said.
Bush was on the committee that selected the top three nominees. Besides, the winning case, the other finalists were DeLew v. State of Nevada ex rel. Nevada Highway Patrol and U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Outback Steakhouse of Florida.
Editor’s note: Read the full story in Law Week’s print edition.
LAW WEEK COLORADO
John Shively, an antitrust litigator and former managing partner of Faegre & Benson’s Denver office, was named a co-chair of the American Bar Association’s newly-established Antitrust Agriculture & Food Committee.
The committee was formed ” to report, educate, and participate in the increase of antitrust developments addressed in the ongoing DOJ/USDA workshops launched by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in March 2010,” according to a press release announcing the appointment. The committee will address antitrust issues surrounding seeds, crops, livestock and other agricultural products. Joining Shively are two other attorneys from Washington, D.C., and Chicago.
Shively, who’s practiced with Faegre & Benson for 30 years, also helped to initiate the need for the establishment the committee. He specializes in antitrust litigation.
By Allie Winter, LAW WEEK COLORADO
The Colorado Bar Association holds its semiannual board of governors meeting 9:30 a.m. tomorrow at Estes Park’s Stanley Hotel.
Three initiatives on Colorado’s 2010 ballot —Proposition 101 and Amendments 60 and 61 — are expected to stimulate discussion among the more than 100 governors attending, President David Johnson said. The full board packet is published below this story.
“Those three ballot initiatives are aimed at reducing the number of taxes, and essentially it will be reducing the income stream that the state has to pay its bills with,” Johnson said. “Included in these bills is the judicial branch. The bar is always very concerned about properly funding courts so they can address the needs of citizens.”
The association is staying abreast to this issue, Item No. 16 on the meeting’s agenda, because the “sense is there’s going to be a dramatic impact on the revenue stream the state receives, which will eventually impact the court’s ability to do their job.”
Discussion typically lengthens whenever anything political is addressed, Johnson said, specifically if the bar is asked to take a position. As an example, Johnson referenced Amendment 40. That was a proposed amendment to the constitution that would have imposed term limits on appellate court judges.
“The bar association opposed that,” he said. “It was not terribly controversial within the bar, but it was hot topic in the media.”
The amendment ultimately failed.
Also tomorrow, a representative from each of the local bar associations will be present to discuss basic information and housekeeping items. This is done quickly. Each topic is designated anywhere from five to 15 minutes discussion. The governors try their very best to stick to the schedule, but at the end of the day the allotted time is just a guideline, Johnson said.
“Because the agenda is so large we stick to [it],” Johnson said. “If there are some discussions, that’s fine, but a lot of time is spent making routine decisions.”
The day’s agenda includes an array of topics including the introductions of new members, the approval of the 2010-11 CBA budget, a president’s report and membership survey results. However, Johnson expects this meeting to basically act as a recap of last year. He assumes they’ll be interested in Item No. 8, the bar’s economic task force’s progress, and Item No. 13, Chuck Turner’s report on the status of the “Clear the Bench” campaign on the agenda.
“If we do have any sort of decision to make that needs to be given good discussion, we have an incredibly talented group of people,” Johnson said.
The next board of governors meeting will be Saturday, Nov. 6.
LAW WEEK COLORADO
The Colorado Hispanic Bar Association voiced opposition to Arizona’s decision to implement SB 1070 (otherwise known as “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act”), a law that invades the federal government’s province by attempting to regulate immigration and facilitates the unconstitutional and oppressive harassment of Hispanic Americans, the association said in a press release.
The law was designed to help enforce immigration laws in Arizona. The CHBA believes this law violates the constitution.
“The legislation requires law enforcement officials to determine a person’s immigration status if the official has a ‘reasonable suspicion’ that the person is unlawfully present in the U.S and detain them if the official has ‘probable cause’ to suspect them of being removable. Thus, on its face, SB1070 impermissibly attempts to grant Arizona law enforcement officials the power to determine immigration status and effect the deportation of undocumented immigrants—functions expressly reserved for the federal government and its designated officials under the U.S. Constitution and federal law.”
The association quotes President Obama in its statement, saying he has called the legislation “misguided,” as has former Arizona governor and current U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. “The renewed divisiveness engendered by SB1070 only makes it more difficult to build consensus toward practical and humane immigration policy that reflects the core American values of freedom, equality, economic opportunity, and tolerance.”
The press release stated that the association will continue to challenge this bill and any similar proposed laws in the future.
LAW WEEK COLORADO
The Colorado Bar Association will holds its semiannual board of governors meeting on Saturday, May 8, at 9:30 a.m. in the concert hall at Estes Park’s Stanley Hotel. The approximately 100 governors will discuss action topics, administrative matters and informational reports.
The day’s agenda includes an array of topics including the introductions of new members, 2010-11 CBA budget approval, a president’s report, and membership survey results. Each topic is designated anywhere from five to 15 minutes discussion.
The next governors meeting is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 6.
The agenda for the May 8 meeting is published below.
LAW WEEK COLORADO
On Law Week’s new events calendar tomorrow is the Asian Pacific American Bar Association 20th anniversary gala at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
The calendar, sponsored by Colorado Business Bank, is published here and on the events tab at Law Week Online (www.lawweekonline.com).
Check out the upcoming events in the Colorado legal community!
Have an event you’d like our readers to know about? Submit it below:
Law Week Photo: Jamie Cotten
Stacy Carpenter, of Hensley Kim & Holzer, was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2009. She was seven months pregnant at the time.
Editor’s Note: This story previously appeared in the print edition of Law Week Colorado.
By Allie Winter, LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — Beating cancer has become another thing on Stacy Carpenter’s to-do list.
In the past year, Carpenter, a Denver attorney, joined law firm Hensley Kim & Holzer as a partner. She became pregnant (her husband is Greenberg Traurig attorney Justin Prochnow). In July, she was named president-elect of the Denver Bar Association.
Her chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer — the diagnosis for which came in October, seven months into her pregnancy — added to a list that included morning sickness and body aches.
“Being pregnant and going through chemo was not pleasant,” she said.
Despite her diagnosis, Carpenter is not sad, angry or frustrated. She is positive. This is so even though she faces things that would make people shudder, such as the thought of carrying a child while going through cancer, which is exceedingly rare.
One in 3,000 to one in 10,000 pregnant women are found to have breast cancer, data from the National Cancer Institute show. There is a noticeable increase in breast cancers in the year after pregnancy, which afterward drops below rates for women who have never been pregnant and never given birth.
Carpenter never even thought she’d have children. When she came to work for the Hensley firm in May 2009, she had dealt with the stress of not being able to conceive, and she had suffered several miscarriages. But a month on the job, Carpenter became pregnant and joked that, at Hensley, there “must be something in the water.”
She had to tell her bosses she was pregnant. Then came the cancer diagnosis, and she had to tell them that, too.
Both were difficult.
“The minute I went in to tell anyone that I was diagnosed, I mean I could not even say the word without crying,” she said. “I hadn’t been at the firm very long, and I had to tell them I had breast cancer, and the tears are going down.”
CARPENTER was hired to head Hensley Kim & Holzer’s litigation group; the firm looked on her as a dynamic addition. She fit the firm’s goal of growing by bringing in entrepreneurial attorneys, said John Kim, managing partner.
“What it really came down to was [her] passion,” he said. “She didn’t come just to be an attorney. She has a great desire not only to build a litigation practice but also to put her stamp on a firm. That tells a lot about her as a person.”
“I love practicing law,” Carpenter said. In fact, the law surrounds her. The daughter of Willis Carpenter, Colorado’s “dean of real estate law,” Stacy Carpenter is from a family full of lawyers. She even married a lawyer, Prochnow, who, during her cancer treatments, has been “so amazing” doing late night feedings and changing diapers.
Carpenter, a Manual High School graduate, initially pursued a career in marine biology until the math got to her. She eventually decided to follow in her father’s footsteps. She discovered this while attending college at the University of Rochester in upstate New York.
“One of the judges in Rochester taught a course at college level, but with law school books,” Carpenter said. “When I took that class, I knew.”
Carpenter went to law school at Northwestern University in Chicago. After graduation, she came home to start her career among the ranks of many who’d worked with her well-known father.
Carpenter first worked for then-litigation firm Long & Jaudon, then moved onto Baldwin & Brown. After a partner left, the sign on the door became Baldwin & Carpenter.
At Hensley Kim & Holzer, she practices commercial and employment litigation, and professional liability defense.
According to her firm, Carpenter has represented clients on commercial issues and contract disputes. She has defended employers in employment law matters, including discrimination and termination claims. She has handled hundreds of civil matters and has been lead counsel for multiple trials and arbitrations.
In a few weeks, she’s defending a client who is claiming wrongful termination.
Her October breast-cancer diagnosis slowed her work some; she began chemotherapy a week later.
Carpenter went in for treatments once a week and would not work that day. The next day she’d receive a shot, which she said was worse than the chemo itself. But even that didn’t keep her down.
“The shot makes you feel like every ounce of your body aches,” she said. “There have been times when I’ve done too much the day after that shot and I came home at night and was like, ‘Oh God’.”
She credits her legal work to keeping her sane during this sickness.
“You have a choice,” she said. “It would be really easy to just stay in bed, but working forces me to get up and not dwell on it and think about it all day. Working has been the best thing for me.”
EVENTUALLY December came, and Carpenter gave birth. It was another thing to check off the list.
Taking care of their baby, Jackson, was a wonderful distraction. Carpenter said her labor went very well; she did have an emergency Caesarean section, but that had nothing to do with the cancer. The emergency procedure was an “added bonus,” she jokes now.
After the birth, Carpenter “sort of” took two months off but still did a fair amount of work from home.
“You can’t just disappear for two months,” she said. “I could not be off the scene.”
Kim said he was concerned that maybe she wasn’t taking enough time off.
SueAnn Schultz, senior vice president and general counsel for the IMA Financial Group, met Carpenter on business in the early 2000s. They’ve been friends since.
“She doesn’t bring (the cancer) up,” Schultz said. “We’ll handle the business, and then I have to ask, ‘OK, how are you doing personally?’”
But working hard and staying positive doesn’t mean Carpenter forgot she has cancer. How could she? Her hair began to fall out a week or two after her first chemo treatment Nov. 1, her husband said.
“We ended up shaving her head Thanksgiving morning,” he said. “That was maybe the most difficult thing out of everything. It’s always difficult when there’s nothing I can do.”
This put a normally private Carpenter in the spotlight. It made her battle public.
“You can’t avoid it anywhere you go,” she said. “It becomes ‘look at me, I’ve got cancer.’ You lose your eyebrows, your eyelashes. You lose your hair everywhere.”
Once her hair went, staying private was no longer a choice, so she chose to go public. This interview is her first. “I hope that it provides inspiration to other people who may be in my situation,” she said.
As for her hair, she said last week that it’s “started to grow back already, and that’s got me very excited!”
AS the incoming Denver Bar Association president, Carpenter has an even busier year ahead.
“I want to enjoy being DBA president,” she said. “And I look forward to being able to focus on the things I want to focus on.”
She has been involved in the DBA since her earliest days as a lawyer. After finishing law school in the late 1990s, she moved back to Denver and immediately joined the bar.
“I can remember as a kid, going to the [Colorado Bar Association] meetings at the Broadmoor. My sister and I loved the escalators, and we’d run the wrong way up. It never occurred to me that you didn’t get involved with the bar association.”
Chuck Turner, the executive director of both associations, remembers Carpenter from her youth. He remembers Willis Carpenter bringing his daughters to meetings. Stacy Carpenter has grown up to be successful and confident, Turner said.
“I have never seen her unprepared,” he said.
The majority of her time spent as president-elect has been chairing the Barrister’s Ball, a fundraiser for the Denver Bar Foundation. This year’s installment is May 1 at the Hyatt Denver Tech Center.
Carpenter’s responsibility has been encouraging law firms to buy tables and selling raffle tickets. She’s also been doing the food tasting.
She says she’s looking forward to getting dressed up, eating the great food and listening to the band play. Becoming president holds added value for her; she and her father are the first father/child combination to be president.
CARPENTER continues to check things off her to-do list.
She had her final chemotherapy session last week. She marked the event with a celebratory drink.
She has a trial on April 18. She’s defending a client who is claiming wrongful termination, which she said is a difficult claim in employment law.
She is scheduled to have surgery on April 28, after which her doctors will know the precise stage of her cancer. Because of her pregnancy, an MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, procedure could not be performed. Besides a needle test that came up negative, it’s not known whether the cancer has proceeded to her lymph nodes.
There’s a possibility that the cancer has spread and that she could lose her breasts, her husband said.
Carpenter stays positive.
“I can’t feel it anymore,” she beamed during an interview. “I know it’s responding (to the chemo). I could feel a lump, and I can’t feel it anymore. It’s definitely gotten a lot smaller. It felt like a golf ball.”
Her surgery will be followed by the Barrister’s Ball on May 1, then radiation treatments then, hopefully, checking cancer off the list. Forever.
After surgery, she’s off to a glamorous night at the Barrister’s Ball on May 1. That’s a busy, and somewhat scary, couple of weeks. When it comes to being scared, both Carpenter and Prochnow try not let it consume them.
“It’s more of the long-term prospects of whether it may come back,” Prochnow said. “That has been the area of most concern, but the reality is we’ve thought about that a little bit and it doesn’t do any good because you can drive yourself crazy.”
“The surgery does not scare me,” Carpenter said. “I know that I can handle it. However, I try really hard not to look too far down the road. Cancer can kill you, and that is the part that scares me.
“I have a wonderful life that includes a husband who I adore, a beautiful 3-month-old son, a 10-year-old stepdaughter who loves her new brother, a wonderful and supportive family, and a job that I love. I have a pretty good life and I plan to be around to enjoy it for many, many more years.” •
— Allie Winter, awinter@circuitmedia.com
