Denver Post Building

By Matt Masich, LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — In a little more than a month, Colorado’s highest state courts will be located in a ground-floor storefront. It’s the court’s first move since 1977, when it moved from the Capitol.
The Colorado Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and Supreme Court Law Library will open for business on April 19 in temporary quarters next door to Heidi’s Brooklyn Deli in the Denver Post building near Colfax Avenue and Broadway. The Colorado Judicial Building, the courts’ home for the last three decades, soon will be demolished to make way for the Ralph L. Carr Judicial Complex, where the courts and other state legal agencies will move in 2013.
The Supreme Court will hear its last arguments in its current courtroom later this month, after which the court’s wooden bench will be moved to the Post building. The temporary courtroom will be shared by both appellate courts.
“The [Court of] Appeals will be holding hearings pretty much until the moving weekend,” said Fred Schultz of Trammell Crow Co., which is managing construction of the Carr complex, “but there’s a window in the Supreme Court hearing schedule to take the old bench apart and put it in here.”
The first oral arguments after the move-in date are scheduled for April 26.
The temporary courtroom will have an entry area near Broadway, to the left of the Post building’s parking ramp. “That’s where security screening will happen,” Schultz said. “Then there’s a vestibule area with public toilets, and then there’s the courtroom itself.”
“The courtroom seats about 35 people,” said Trammell Crow’s Bill Mosher. “It has a speaker area and it has a dais for the seven judges.”
The law library will close April 5 and reopen in its temporary location April 19. The new 1,500-square-foot space “is just going to have the most heavily-used books, three tables that seat four each and a couple tables that seat one each,” Mosher said. About 75 percent of the library’s approximately 100,000 volumes will be stored off-site, but will still be made available with a day’s notice.
Preparations for demolition of the current judicial building will begin May 3.
“We’ve given everybody until May 1 to get out of there,” Mosher said.
But people anticipating a dramatic implosion or a wrecking ball smashing into the old Supreme Court may be disappointed.
“I would call this more a dismantling than a demolition,” Mosher said. “Today there’s so much recycling.”
Steel, stone and bricks will all be recycled, he said.

Editor’s Note: You can listen to this testimony by clicking on this player.

By Don Knox, LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — The Colorado Supreme Court is considering broadcasting its proceedings, but those telecasts — whether on cable television or the Internet — won’t begin until the new Ralph Carr Justice Center is completed in 2013, a top court official said Friday.
The state’s high court is moving in May to a new temporary home on the first and eighth floors of The Denver Post building, 101 W. Colfax Ave. But the new courtroom that’s under construction isn’t being configured for TV coverage, Colorado Judicial Branch Legal Counsel Carol Haller told members of the newly formed Colorado Channel Authority.
The authority provides live coverage of proceedings of the Colorado House and Colorado Senate. It is seen as a vehicle for offering broadcasts of other entities, including the court system.
Haller, asked to talk about the judicial efforts to provide programming to the authority, said “all of the court’s energy” is focused on having temporary space to hold proceedings while the new justice center is being built at the site of the current court.
“This is a retrofit for a very temporary period of time,” she told Law Week Colorado after the meeting. “The courts are going to have to share the space [with The Post]. We may have to have some proceedings in other locations depending on what happens. Our concentration is making sure we have a place to hold court that is appropriate and able to be scheduled for all of the things that we need.”
Additionally, the cost of broadcasting the proceedings hasn’t been budgeted, she said.
But Haller, who sits on the authority’s board, told her fellow board members that Judicial Branch officials are interested in having conversations about the technical requirements for broadcasting from the new Carr Justice Center.
“There’s a media room already” in building plans, she told Law Week. “The shell design is well underway, and the interior design is just starting. To that extent, I’ve seen plans where media rooms are in there.”
Haller said she didn’t know whether the court’s seven justices have had conversations about broadcasts, though judicial administrators who work for the justices seem amenable to the idea.
“What I keep telling people is there certainly is no one putting the breaks on being as transparent as possible,” she said. That extends to putting up a live audio feed from the supreme court and the appellate court; the current feed is delayed.
“I think the court is very cautious about not wanting to spend money frivolously and to make sure there’s a desire and a need for it first,” Haller said. “And I think there is.”
Telecasts of high court arguments would set the Colorado courts apart from the U.S. Supreme Court, where cameras aren’t currently allowed.

By Matt Masich, LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — For many new lawyers of the class of 2009, the months since graduation have been a period of professional limbo.
Students found job offers were scarce while they were in school. Those who did get offers sometimes saw them deferred or rescinded in the face of grim economic forecasts. Anecdotally, May graduates with jobs are outnumbered by their classmates without jobs, though Colorado’s two law schools have not yet released official employment data.
The archetypal law student career path — on-campus interview begetting summer associateship begetting first law firm job — still worked out for a number of law grads. But a lot of new lawyers have accepted that it will take longer than they had expected to begin their legal careers, or have entered the law by alternate routes like volunteer or contract work.
In the weeks after the Colorado bar results were released in October, Law Week Colorado spoke with four members of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law’s class of 2009 to get a snapshot of the world facing today’s new lawyers.

Success story
Heather Joyce recently started as an associate at Jackson Kelly’s Denver office. She got her job offer in fall 2008 after working there as a summer associate.
“I love my job, I am thankful for my job, but I am also keenly aware that my situation is akin to winning the legal employment lottery,” Joyce said.
While she recognizes her good fortune in landing a position at a firm and not being deferred, Joyce put in plenty of effort to make that happen. She did paralegal work during her undergraduate and early law school days, later working as a legal intern for then-U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar and for Judge Sean Connelly of the Colorado Court of Appeals.
When it came time for on-campus interviews during her 2L year, Jackson Kelly was the only firm Joyce wanted to talk to. She signed up for the first interview slot.
“I got to the interview early and when I got there I began moving the comfy-swivel chairs into the interview room for the two attorney interviewers so they could be comfortable during their long day of interviews,” Joyce said.
Demonstrating her resourcefulness to her potential employer, she also tipped off the attorneys to the free coffee in the dean’s suite (which is off-limits to students). Joyce made it to the next round of interviews.
The night before her second interview, she went to a Jackson Kelly reception where she chatted with Denver office Managing Partner Laura Beverage about her career and firm culture. After a successful second and third interview, Joyce got the summer job, leading to a job offer. She started as an associate in October after passing the bar. But many of the graduates she knows don’t have jobs as lawyers.
“I know a graduate working at Target, and several others who work at restaurants even after passing the bar, and some still cannot find non-legal work one year after passing the bar,” she said.

Indefinite deferral
Another ‘09 DU grad, “Blackstone” (not his real name), was also hired by a firm after his 2L year. But he wasn’t as fortunate. Midway through his final exams, his start-date was deferred — indefinitely. While some of this classmates found out they were deferred at the beginning of their 3L year, his firm didn’t tell him until May.
Blackstone built a solid resume as a student. He interned with two state judges. After his summer associateship ended, he continued working for the firm throughout his final year, even during his final semester when he interned with a state Supreme Court justice.
He signed a written agreement with his firm, complete with bonus plan, health plan, a 401k and gym membership. It came as a shock when his firm told him he would be deferred until February 2010, then until later, then until maybe-never.
“Everything was good up until then,” Blackstone said. “They told me, and of course I was really angry, I figured I’d given them so much.”
Ironically, he said he chose this job with a small Denver firm “because I thought there would be security, it would be personal — there wouldn’t be all the drama of a big firm.”
The firm assured him the deferral wasn’t a reflection of his performance.
“I don’t think there’s any malice there,” he said. “They’re just not busy. Some of the partners don’t have work.”
After taking the bar exam, Blackstone set up a flurry of interviews with firms around town. He was able to get a $10-an-hour job as a research assistant at DU, but a few weeks after getting his bar results he still had no immediate prospects of working as a lawyer. With $160,000 of student loan debt and payments coming due, he interviewed for a job as a server at a restaurant downtown. “I don’t understand,” he recalls the interviewer saying. “Why would you want to work here? You’re a lawyer, right?”
He didn’t get the job. If his economic situation doesn’t improve soon, Blackstone said, he might have to move in with his aunt. He said his predicament isn’t uncommon.
“The minority are those who have something. The vast majority of us — nothing. Nothing lined up,” he said.
“We were at the mandatory CLE we have to take to get admitted [to the bar], and one of the speakers was so nonchalant about it, and said, ‘These things are cyclical. Just calm down.’ And I was like, really? What do you mean calm down?”
But even if he isn’t comforted by assurances that the job market will improve, Blackstone seems to be taking it in stride. He continues looking for an opportunity to start his career, one interview at a time.
Contract work
From the time he was a child, Drew Hintze wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps as an attorney.
“I think my expectations were like most students, to hopefully have a job waiting for me once I graduated, to work hard through school to always try to make myself the strongest candidate for a position,” Hintze said.
He got an undergraduate degree in business finance and a master’s degree in legal administration in hopes of becoming a business lawyer. While in his 1L year in law school, Hintze worked as a bookkeeper at a local law firm. After his 2L year, he interned with Judge Gloria Rivera in Denver District Court and continued there through the beginning of his final year of law school. During his final semester, he worked there for Judge Michael Martinez.
“I was hoping to stay on board and find a clerkship with one of the other judges, but that January was when the hiring freeze took place,” he said.
Hintze focused on graduating and studying for the bar, beginning his job search in earnest after the exam. He scoured listings on the Internet, including DU’s career Web site.
“I would check that multiple times throughout the day to see if anything was posted,” he said. He applied to a listing he found on that site, a contract position with Lerman & Associates, and got the job. He began working about 40 hours a week after he passed the bar.
“I feel pretty lucky compared to some of my friends who are still looking for jobs and striking out,” Hintze said.

Summer dreams fade
“Megan” (not her real name) was a law clerk with a 30-lawyer Denver-based firm after her 2L year.
“I was hoping it would lead to something,” she said. “But as it turned out, they didn’t hire anybody for their Denver office. There was a good amount of work and then … in November things really slowed down.”
Megan did some networking while studying for the bar, then spent some time living with her family after the exam. She started devoting “110 percent” of her time to the job hunt when her bar results came back.
“I’m positive but also realistic,” Megan said in October. “I don’t expect to have a job by the end of the year, that’s for sure.”
She said her classmates in similar situations seem to be dealing with it well.
“I don’t know anybody that’s freaking out because I think people realize that it’s out of their hands.”

By Don Knox, LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — The medical marijuana situation in Colorado has gotten so bad that the venerable Colorado Bar Association has taken notice.
The Denver-based bar association, through its continuing legal education division CLE In Colorado Inc., next week will convene a one-hour program to deal with issues surrounding the proliferation of dispensaries and attempts by governments and courts to interpret their role.
The session is dubbed “Medical Marijuana: Legal Chaos.” It will be taught by Boulder lawyer Leonard Frieling and Denver lawyer Ann Toney. Both practice criminal defense law, and both are lifetime members of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.
The bar association is starting to do more quick presentations that are on issues “that are hot because of a new decision, statute or regulation,” said Gary Abrams, CLE in Colorado’s executive director. “We put this together with faculty just last week, and we also are planning a full day to follow up in early 2010.
The program is to cover:
* The Facts, the Law and the Media
* Federal Government vs. States Rights
* Uniquely Colorado: Home Rule, Constitutional Provision Art 18 Sec 14.
* Caregivers before and after August 20, 2009
The Colorado Board of Health moved in recent days to change its definition of a “caregiver” in the wake of a late October Colorado Court of Appeals case that said a Longmont woman convicted on charges of growing pot didn’t qualify for caregiver protections because she didn’t personally know her clients.
The case is People v. Clendenin.

President
David M. Johnson, Colorado Springs

President-Elect
Paul H. Chan, Denver

Immediate Past President
William E. Walters, Denver

Senior Vice President
Robert C. Gavrell, Glenwood Springs

Vice-Presidents
Joseph B. Dischinger, Denver
Lesleigh W. Monahan, Lakewood
Nicholas White, Brush
Mark A. MacDonnell, Las Animas
Larry R. Gaddis, Colorado Springs
Sam D. Starritt, Grand Junction

Treasurer
Charles F. Garcia, Denver

Council Members
John T. Baker, Denver
Bill C. Berger, Denver
James R. Garts III, Lakewood
Melissa A. Ogburn, Highlands Ranch
William A. Paddock, Denver
Kathryn Sellars, Montrose
Larry D. Tannenbaum, Denver
Kara D. Veitch, Denver
Jennifer M. Wascak, Brighton

Executive Director
Charles C. Turner, Denver

Adams-Broomfield
Randall J. Davis, Broomfield
Jennifer M. Wascak, Brighton

Arapahoe County
Christine N. Chauche, Aurora
Nancy A. Hopf, Castle Rock
Virginia B. Horton, Littleton
David J. Stevens, Littleton
Robert J. Truhlar, Centennial

Aurora
Natalie R. Lynch, Littleton

Boulder County
Jon N. Banashek, Boulder
Constance T. Eyster, Boulder
Bruce F. Fest, Boulder
Melody K. Fuller, Broomfield
H. Patrick Furman, Boulder
Alexander Garlin, Louisville

Continental Divide
Inga H. Causey, Edwards
Beth A. Pond, Eagle

Delta County
James R. Briscoe, Hotchkiss

Denver County
Andrew S. Armatas, Denver
John T. Baker, Denver
David R. Ball, Denver
D. A. Bertram, Denver
Ilene L. Bloom, Denver
Aaron P. Bradford, Denver
Kristin M. Bronson, Denver
Stacy A. Carpenter, Denver
Nancy L. Cohen, Denver
Rebecca W. Dow, Denver
John A. Eckstein, Denver
Craig C. Eley, Denver
Kwali M. Farbes, Denver
Mark A. Fogg, Denver
Todd A. Fredrickson, Denver
Valerie A. Garcia, Denver
Kandace C. Gerdes, Denver
Alfred C. Harrell, Jr., Denver
William W. Hood III, Denver
Thomas L. Kanan, Jr., Denver
Annie T. Kao, Denver
Vance O. Knapp, Denver
Scott P. Landry, Englewood
Randall M. Livingston, Denver
Daniel R. McCune, Denver
Douglas I. McQuiston, Denver
Zach C. Miller, Denver
Barbara J. Mueller, Denver
Melissa A. Ogburn, Highlands Ranch
Neeti Pawar, Denver
Marsha M. Piccone, Denver
Brian S. Popp, Denver
Jason R. Prussman, Denver
Meshack Rhoades, Denver
MaryBeth Sobel, Denver
Richard S. Strauss, Denver
Kara D. Veitch, Denver
Daniel A. Vigil, Denver
Nina Y. Wang, Denver
Marla J. Williams, Denver

Douglas-Elbert County

John D. Becker, Castle Rock
Theresa “Traci” Slade, Castle Rock

El Paso County

Joe A. Cannon, Colorado Springs
Henry “Hank” Eastland, Colorado Springs
Hayden W. Kane II, Colorado Springs
Patricia K. Kelly, Colorado Springs
David L. Shakes, Colorado Springs
Norman R. Thom, Colorado Springs

First Judicial District

Robert G. Busch, Denver
Jane G. Ebisch, Lakewood
Robert T. Hoban, Evergreen
Sherene C. Stenger, Littleton

Four Corners
Vacant

Fremont-Custer
Bryan T. Fredrickson, Cañon City

Heart of the Rockies
O. Edward Schlatter, Salida

Larimer County
Ian D. McCargar, Fort Collins
Dianne H. Peterson, Loveland
Randolph W. Starr, Loveland

Mesa County
Edward J. Nugent III, Grand Junction
David M. Scanga, Grand Junction

Ninth Judicial District
Katie Hays, Glenwood Springs

Northwestern Colorado
Claire Sollars, Steamboat Springs

Pitkin County
John Lassalette, Aspen

Pueblo County
Douglas J. Kwitek, Pueblo
E. Tuck Young, Pueblo

San Luis Valley
Ronald E. Howard, Alamosa

Seventh Judicial District
Kathryn Sellars, Montrose

Sixteenth Judicial District
William J. Culver, Rocky Ford

Southeastern Colorado
Karen Verhoeff, Holly

Southern Colorado
Robert G. Land, Trinidad

Southwestern Colorado
David Liberman, Durango

Thirteenth Judicial District
Robert B. Chapin, Brush

Weld County
Marcelo A. Kopcow, Greeley
Susie Velasquez, Greeley

Agricultural & Rural Law Section
E. Dwight Taylor, Aurora

Business Law Section
Anthony van Westrum, Denver

Criminal Law Section
Ted C. Tow III, Brighton

Dispute Resolution Section
James L. Stone, Golden

Elder Law Section
John J. Campbell, Englewood

Family Law Section
Helen C. Shreves, Denver

Government Counsel Section
Larry D. Tannenbaum, Lakewood

Health Law Section
Steven Nash, Denver

Intellectual Property Section
Clayton C. James, Denver

International Law Section
Frank J. Schuchat, Denver

Judicial Liaison Section
Constance C. Talmage, Denver

Juvenile Law Section
Bonnie E. Saltzman, Denver

Labor & Employment Law Section
Bill Berger, Denver

Litigation Section
Jon F. Sands, Denver

Natural Resources & Energy Section
Kendor P. Jones, Denver

Real Estate Section
Peter J. Griffiths, Denver

Solo/Small Firm Section
Andrew M. Toft, Denver

Taxation Law Section
Andrew C. Elliott, Denver

Trust & Estate Section
Robert L. Steenrod Jr., Denver

Water Law Section
William A. Paddock, Denver

Workers Compensation Section
Matthew W. Tills, Denver

Young Lawyers Division
James R. Garts III, Lakewood

ABA Delegates
Federico C. Alvarez, Denver
Richard S. Gast, Fort Collins
Dale R. Harris, Denver
Erin E. Hickey, Lakewood
W. Terry Ruckriegle, Breckenridge
Elizabeth A. Starrs, Denver

Asian Pacific American Bar Association
Dennis Kaw, Denver

Colorado Court of Appeals
Alan M. Loeb, Denver

Colorado Criminal Defense Bar Association
Richard L. Ott, Jr., Denver

Colorado Defense Lawyers Association
Craig A. Sargent, Greenwood Village

Colorado Hispanic Bar Association
David R. Juarez, Westminster

Colorado Indian Bar Association
Danielle L. Moore, Denver

Colorado Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Bar Association
Melinda B. Barton, Denver

Colorado Public Defenders
Norman A. Townsend, Fort Collins

Colorado Supreme Court
Allison H. Eid, Denver

Colorado Trial Lawyers Assoc.
Natalie A. Brown, Denver

Colorado Women’s Bar Association
Emily E. Anderson, Denver

County Judges Association
Frederic B. Rodgers, Golden

District Attorneys Association
Eva E. Wilson, Golden

District Judges Association
Francis C. Wasserman, Brighton

Municipal Judges Association
William E. Starks, Loveland

National Association of Black Women Attorneys
vacant

Sam Cary Bar Association
Mario Trimble, Denver

State House of Representatives
Terrance D. Carroll, Denver
Robert S. Gardner, Colorado Springs

State Senate
vacant pending appointment
vacant pending appointment

United States District Court
Kristen L. Mix, Denver

University of Colorado School of Law
David H. Getches, Boulder

University of Denver College of Law
Martin J. Katz, Denver

CBA Historian
David L. Erickson, Denver