You are cordially invited to join us on Thursday, October 6, 2011, for a fireside chat and luncheon with the Honorable Jim Carrigan, who will share with us his ethical and professional words of wisdom and his personal and practical advice that have elevated him to his admired position as one of Colorado’s leading legal minds.  This is your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear Judge Carrigan, a Colorado Legal Legend, speak from the heart and leave you with thoughts and words to live by to enhance your professional and personal life.

The Honorable Jim Carrigan was born in Mobridge, South Dakota, where his father owned and operated a bakery.  The Great Depression forced the family to move to Hallock, Minnesota, where he attended public school. His English teacher, to whom he says he owes his excellence in writing and love of poetry and drama and with whom he is still good friends, is Helny Ohnstad of Grand Forks. Upon graduating from high school, and with no funds for college, he hitchhiked to Los Angeles where he found work in a brass foundry.  Before long, work in the foundry solidified his ambition for higher education, and the very low tuition rate at the University of North Dakota made it his choice from 1948 until 1953. He was admitted to the University’s law school after three years as an undergraduate, and received both his Ph.B and Juris Doctor degrees simultaneously in 1953.

Upon graduation he practiced law in Williston, North Dakota and then taught for two years at New York University Law School while earning a master’s degree in tax law. In 1956, he and his bride, Bev, moved to Denver where he became a trial attorney until joining the faculty of the law school at the University of Denver.  He later taught in NYU Law School’s Master of Tax program, and was on the law faculties of the University of Washington and the University of Colorado, before returning to trial practice in Denver.

His full-time public service includes a combined twenty years as Colorado State Court Administrator, Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court, and as United States District Judge.  During his legal practice and judicial tenure, he also taught law at the University of Colorado, frequently lectured at legal seminars around the country, and served on the Colorado Supreme Court Board of Bar Examiners, the original Colorado Bar Association Ethics Committee, and the University of Colorado Board of Regents. He also served on Denver’s Metropolitan Stadium Commission. Additionally, with encouragement from Bev, who loves to travel, he taught for the U.S. Information Agency in Taiwan, Zambia, and Jamaica, and in an American Bar Association program for judges in Zagreb, Croatia, as well as in Budapest and Vezprem, Hungary.  He has taught for the National Law Societies of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and in programs at Oxford University in England, sponsored by the American Bar Association and the English Barristers Association.

Early in his career as a trial lawyer, he was inducted into the prestigious International Society of Barristers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and remained active in both throughout his professional life. He was one of two trial lawyers on the original faculty of the National Judicial College for which he taught during its first fourteen years of existence.  Based on that experience, he helped create the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) for which he has served on its Board of Trustees since its founding, has chaired the Board, and has taught extensively.

On the Federal District Court, Judge Carrigan handled over 6,000 civil cases and over 1,500 criminal cases.  He also sat on the Tenth Circuit United States Court of Appeals and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. After retiring as a Federal District Judge in 1995, he became an arbitrator for the Judicial Arbiter Group, handling cases in ten states. He and Bev have six children and (at this writing) ten grandchildren.

Judge Carrigan will be joined by his long-time friend and colleague, John T. Baker. John graduated from the University of Denver College of Law in 1973. He concentrates his practice on complex litigation and public interest law. John has a special interest in professionalism and professional responsibility and has served or is serving in bar association leadership positions. These positions include: President Elect of the Denver Bar Association (2008-2009), Past Chair of the Denver Bar Association Professionalism Committee, current chair of the Metropolitan Conciliation Panel, chair of the Colorado Bar Association Attorney Admission and Law School Committee, member of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado Conduct Rules Committee, and current law school working group chair of the Colorado Bar Association Professional Reform Initiative Task Force. John’s legal teaching experience includes adjunct professor at the University of Denver College of Law, Program Director and Lead Faculty for the NITA Hanley Advanced Advocacy Program, and Program Director NITA in-house or pro bono programs for the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the American Bar Association Section of Litigation. He is immediate past president of the board of directors of Denver Kids, Inc., a program to keep “at risk” Denver Public Schools students in school.

Don’t miss out on this wonderful opportunity to hear from one of Colorado’s most distinguished and legendary legal professionals!