Jackson Kelly announced the addition of attorney Gina Guy to its Denver office. Guy joins the firm following a career as legal counsel for the Department of Interior (Regional Solicitor, Rocky Mountain Region) and Department of the Air Force Deputy General Counsel, Environment and Installations. Guy’s practice at Jackson Kelly will focus on environmental law with an emphasis on natural resources.

Hensley Kim & Holzer has added patent attorney Chirag Patel to the firm. Patel received a B.E. in electrical engineering from Gujarat University in India in 1990 and got his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2002.

Chirag Patel PR Release

By Matt Masich, LAW WEEK COLORADO
Bill Martinez, nominated last month to one of two open judgeships on Colorado’s federal trial court, appeared before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee last week in Washington, D.C. The committee didn’t vote on his nomination. Martinez needs approval from the committee and the full Senate before he can be sworn in as a judge.
Colorado’s Sens. Michael Bennet and Mark Udall gave Martinez glowing introductions.
“Bill was not born with great privilege,” Udall said. “He came to the United States as an immigrant child from Mexico City and literally worked his way through college and toward a career in the law.
As a lawyer, Udall said, Martinez’ “focus has really been representing those with the least amount of power in our society.”
The committee’s ranking member, Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, gave Martinez a perfunctory grilling about his work with the ACLU of Colorado. Sessions, who’s often at odds with the ACLU, asked whether Martinez agrees with the organization’s stance that capital punishment is “cruel and unusual.” [Watch it on video here, starting at 83:00]
“What I would agree with as a district judge,” Martinez replied, “is that the U.S. Supreme Cout has ruled that capital punishment doesn’t violate the Eighth Amendment, except in narrow circumstances that have been carved out in recent years. So I think what is material and important is what my view would be as a sitting federal district judge, something that would be quite different from my views as a personal citizen or an advocate or litigant and member of the ACLU.”
Sessions pressed the issue, asking Martinez to share his personal view on whether capital punishment is unconstitutional. Martinez said he thinks “that day may come” when U.S. Supreme Court outlaws the death penalty, but that as a judge, he will follow the current interpretation. He also said he would not have a problem imposing the death penalty in court.
Martinez, a labor lawyer with McNamara Roseman Martinez & Kazmierski in Denver, brought a cheering section with him to Washington, including wife Judy Shlay; daughters Erica and Laura; parents Guillermo and Mary Martinez; and brothers Salvador Martinez and Al Martinez.

The Denver office of Arnold & Porter hired Paul Rodney as an associate in its general litigation practice group. Rodney worked as a summer associate for the firm last year. A 2009 law school grad, Rodney received his J.D. in December from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, where he was senior staff editor of the Denver University Law Review. He received a B.A. in English in May 1991 from the University of Colorado in Boulder.  He also received an M.A. in English language and literature in December 1992 and a Ph.D in English language and literature in December 1996, both from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. During the summer of 2008 Rodney interned for both the Colorado Water Trust and the appellant division of the attorney general’s office. He also worked as a contract law clerk at the Tillis Law Firm in Denver from April to October 2008.

Energy attorney Carol Harvey is the new executive secretary of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien announced. The executive secretary acts as a liaison between the Southern Ute Tribe, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, the urban American Indian population and the State of Colorado. The position was created by the Colorado General Assembly in 1976.
“We are fortunate to have found Carol, who has the depth of experience and passionate commitment to Native American issues. The Commission of Indian Affairs deals with natural resources, revenue, education, health, cultural, legislative and many other issues. We have worked hard to develop healthy relationships with both the Ute tribal councils and the urban community and know that Carol has the talent to develop new avenues of cooperation,” said Lt. Gov. O’Brien, who chairs the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs.
Harvey, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, has a law degree and MBA from the University of Denver. She comes to the Commission of Indian Affairs from her law practice in Santa Fe, N.M. She also holds undergraduate degrees in political science and economics from DU and in Spanish from the University of Houston.
In addition to her career in energy law, she has held small business formation seminars for Native Americans and is a museum and college lecturer on Native American history and culture.

Stacey Mueller joined Ogletree Deakins’ new Denver office as an associate. Mueller focuses on representing employers in employment litigation and also counsels them on employment and human resources issues. She also has experience representing companies in matters involving non-compete agreements and the protection of trade secrets and other confidential information. Mueller earned her J.D. from the University of Colorado and was previously with Hall & Evans in Denver.

OgletreeDeakins – StacyDMueller

After a battle with cancer, attorney John Albert “Jay” Bauer of Summit County died March 2, as reported by the Summit Daily News. He was 65. Bauer, who worked for Bauer & Burns in Breckenridge, had a career that covered a wide spectrum of the law.

Law Week Photo by Jamie Cotten
Judicial Department technology chief Bob Roper and State Court Administrator Jerry Marroney spoke after the hearing.

By Allie Winter, LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — A Colorado House panel had many questions last week for Colorado’s Judicial Department about its plan to bring the state’s courts e-filing system in house.
After fighting to get its outsourced services in house, the department already has won a victory. When its contract with Lexis Nexis, the vendor currently handling the state’s public access and e-filing systems, ends this summer, the department has been approved to bring the public access system in house. Now, it wants the same approval for e-filing when Lexis’ contract for operating that system expires at the end of 2012. At last week’s hearing, officials plead their case and their abilities.
“I understand many people think this will work, but what if it doesn’t?” asked Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, chair of the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee.
A big concern at the hearing was that judicial employees won’t be able to operate the system successfully, as some government systems have failed in the past. But Rep. Mike Ferrandino, D-Denver, assured the panel that the department could handle the task.
“When you look at judicial, every time they have implemented a system, the system has worked,” he said.
Another testifier, State Court Administrator Jerry Marroney, listed many programs and systems that the department has successfully launched.
“I know there’s been talk about failure,” he said. “We run probation, 90,000 people, all through an in-house system that we developed. It has 10,000 transactions a day.”
After listing a few more examples, Marroney said that not only is the department able to do this, it needs to; the system as currently constructed doesn’t do everything the department needs. Currently, the system includes only civil probate, domestic, water and county court collection filings, Marroney said.The department needs it to include criminal, mental health, juvenile and other filings and that would be possible if the department took over.
“We need it to do a lot more,” Marroney continued. “We need it because it’s our business to run the courts.”
But bringing it in house means hiring more people to help. Judicial has proposed hiring 19 information-technology employees to operate the e-filing system. This becomes a hot button for legislators, especially in light of the department’s previous request to cut 266 full-time equivalent positions in the next year. And more recently, the department has also requested permission to cut positions from its probation department.
“When people think of the judicial system, we think of judges and so forth; and the IT section is not the primary role of judicial,” said Rep. Larry Liston, R-Colorado Springs. “So, on one hand, you’re cutting 266 legitimate judicial employees and on the other hand, you’re bringing in 19 IT positions. I think we’re all a little bit weary, [especially with the] glowing report of what the outside vendors have done, and now we’re cutting them loose.”
Ferrandino answered saying that just because something has been outsourced doesn’t mean it needs to continue that way. Ferrandino, a member of the Joint Budget Committee, said the JBC prioritized the judicial budget request and felt it was essential to get these 19 FTEs.
“[Judicial] needs judges, but if they don’t have the system they need to function then they’re not going to be able to do their jobs and so by bringing on a system that allows them to do their jobs in a better way saves the state money,” Ferrandino said.
Marroney said the department has estimated a need for $2.6 million to fund the 19 FTE it wants to bring on. But, he also said the department will produce that money from the public access system by the end of 2012 — when it’s time to bring e-filing on board. The judicial department was given permission to run the public access system in house during the session, and it has been busy preparing it, testing it and bringing 12,000 government users onto the system before it is even turned on.
“If it doesn’t work, we’ll go back,” Marroney said. “There’s nothing preventing us from reissuing an RFP.” But should it face problems, Marroney said if it’s in house, at least he can deal with problems directly.
“I’m being held responsible, and I don’t have any authority. When you chew me out about something not working I can do something about it; right now I can’t. I have a vendor to go through, and I have to fit in their mold. I want to be able to walk in and chew [an employee’s] back side if they’re not producing.”
Should the department receive its wish and win approval to operate the e-filing, Marroney said Lexis Nexis will still be a vendor and buy the information, as secondary vendors BIS and Acxiom do now. He said those contracts are being negotiated.

James Warren Wilson

Jim Wilson, district attorney for the 22nd Judicial District in Montezuma and Dolores Counties, said he will not step down after his DUI arrest in Buena Vista last month, reports Steve Grazier of The Cortez Journal. Wilson will appear April 7 in Chaffee County Court for a formal advisement of five misdemeanor charges.

John Baker, Lucy Marsh and Fay Matsukage are this year’s honorees.

The University of Denver Sturm College of Law announced the alumni and faculty who will be named “Law Stars” at an annual gala event at the Hyatt Convention Center on Sept. 16. The winners are:

John T. Baker, JD’73, Alumni Professionalism Award:
In addition to a host of accomplishments in the courtroom, Baker has been a dedicated member of the Denver community. He has been president of the Denver Bar Association and led numerous Colorado professional associations, led the Colorado Supreme Court Judicial Advisory Council and was president of the board of directors for Denver Kids, dedicated to at-risk students. Professionally, he continues his career in complex product liability cases involving pharmaceuticals and vehicles, and has served as an adjunct professor of law at DU.

Lucy Marsh, Excellence in Teaching Award:
Marsh, who teaches trusts and estates and civil procedure, has been teaching at the Sturm College of Law (SCOL) since 1973. In addition to directing the Wills Lab, a practicum where law students work with practicing attorneys to provide services to low-income clients, Marsh has led professional organizations, including service on the Board of Governors of the Colorado Bar Association.

Fay Matsukage, JD’79, Outstanding Alumni Award:
Upon passing the bar exam in 1980, Matsukage became one of the first Asian-American women attorneys admitted to practice in Colorado. She soon found a niche in corporate and securities law and is currently a partner at the Denver firm Dill Dill Carr Stonbraker & Hutchings. She is a founding member of the Asian Pacific Bar Association of Colorado and has served many professional organizations in leadership roles. In 1999 she accepted the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association’s Trailblazer Award.