June 19, 2013

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More than 600 Attendees Celebrate 32nd Annual CU Law Alumni Awards

March 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment

cu-wolf-law-bldgOn Wednesday, March 13, 2013, the University of Colorado School of Law celebrated its 32nd annual Law Alumni Award Banquet with more than 600 attendees gathering at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Dean Phil Weiser served as master of ceremonies as six distinguished award recipients were honored.

In the first award of the night, Regina Rodriguez received the Distinguished Achievement Award for private practice. Ms. Rodriguez is a 1988 graduate of CU Law. She is now a partner with the Denver office of Faegre Baker Daniels. Prior to joining Faegre Baker Daniels, Ms. Rodriguez was an assistant U.S. attorney. She supports numerous pro bono causes and is a founding member of Colorado Youth at Risk and a board member at Open Door and Family Star Montessori.

The Honorable Timothy Tymkovich of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals was honored for the judiciary. Judge Tymkovich is a 1982 graduate of CU Law. After clerking for Chief Justice William Erickson of the Colorado Supreme Court, Judge Tymkovich was in private practice with Davis Graham & Stubbs. He served as solicitor general and founded the firm of Hale Hackstaff Tymkovich Friesen before being nominated to the Tenth Circuit by President George W. Bush.

Carole Yaley was recognized for distinguished achievement in industry. She received her J.D. from CU Law in 1980 and is recently retired from Exxon Mobil Corporation after a distinguished 33-year career. Ms. Yaley was Chief Attorney for Exxon Mobile, managing more than 70 attorneys around the world. She handled such various legal issues as antitrust, real estate, construction, cybersecurity, data privacy, and much more.

This year’s Dean Edward C. King “Pay it Forward” Award went to John Schultz, who is a 1953 graduate of CU Law. He practiced in the oil and gas field for 37 years. Mr. Schultz and his late wife founded the John and Cynthia Schultz Law Scholarship. As the school’s largest scholarship fund, it is awarded each year to a second- or third-year student. Mr. Schultz also supported the construction of the Wolf Law Building and generously contributed to the Loan Repayment Assistance Program. In accepting his award, Mr. Schultz thanked the person who would receive next year’s award for all he or she will do for CU Law in the coming year.

The Richard Schaden “Adopted Alumnus” Award was presented to Jason Mendelson. Mr. Mendelson co-founded the Foundry Group and is managing director and general counsel at Mobius Venture Capital. Prior to this, he practiced corporate and securities law with Cooley Godward Kronish. Mr. Mendelson currently teaches the VC 360 course as an adjunct professor at CU Law. He was instrumental in securing $1 million to establish a permanent professorship for the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic.

The final award of the night went to Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Bender as he accepted the William Lee Knous Award, the law school’s highest award. Justice Bender graduated from CU Law in 1967. He was appointed to the Colorado Supreme Court by Governor Roy Romer in 1997 and selected as Chief Justice in 2010. Attendees enjoyed a video with tributes from Justice Bender’s friends, family, and colleagues. All of the justices of the Colorado Supreme Court were present to celebrate Justice Bender’s award with him. As Justice Bender thanked his family, colleagues on the bench, law clerks, and many others who had impacted his career, he asked them to remain standing to emphasize that it takes the support of a village of people to achieve success is one’s career.

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SB 13-038: Providing for Confidentiality of Certain Communications of Emergency Responders

February 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment

On Wednesday, January 16, 2013, Sen. David Balmer introduced SB 13-038 – Concerning the Confidentiality of Certain Communications Among Emergency Responders. This summary is published here courtesy of the Colorado Bar Association’s e-Legislative Report.

Current law makes certain communications between law enforcement officers and firefighters and their peer support team members confidential for purposes of testifying in court. The bill extends this confidentiality to emergency medical service providers and members of rescue units. The bill is assigned to the Judiciary Committee.

Since this summary, the Judiciary Committee referred the bill, unamended, to the Consent Calendar of the Senate Committee of the Whole.

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Jacqueline St. Joan to Speak on “My Sisters Made of Light”

November 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Jacqueline St. Joan has worn many hats in the Colorado legal community: practicing attorney, judge, and law professor. During a legal career dedicated to domestic violence law reform, her numerous contributions have included being the first presiding judge in the Denver Protective Orders Court and cofounding Project Safeguard. Most recently, Ms. St. Joan has turned her talents to writing, culminating with her first novel, My Sisters Made of Light. The book was an immediate success, gaining recognition as a finalist for the Colorado Book Awards in the Literary Fiction category and as a book of the month by the American Association of University Women. My Sisters Made of Light is a fictional chronicle of social, political, and religious life in Pakistan. In a review of the book, the reviewer wrote:

Traversing the diversity of Pakistan’s distinct cultures and classes, My Sisters Made of Light successfully weaves past and present, foreign and familiar, and personal and political to create a compelling account of the devastating suffering and extraordinary heroism that exists in ordinary lives. In addition to vividly illustrating the risks and successes of human rights activism in Pakistan, My Sisters Made of Light depicts the heart-wrenching complexities that rest at the core of familial allegiances and alienation.

You can also find more information at Mysistersmadeoflight.com and jacquelinestjoan.com. As part of the Literary Lawyers series, Ms. St. Joan will discuss her book at the CBA-CLE offices on November 26, 2012. Her presentation will tackle such complex issues as Shariah courts, honor crimes, and Pakistan’s legal system. Join her live or via the live webcast.

CLE Program: My Sisters Made of Light with Jacqueline St. Joan (A Literary Lawyers Program)

This CLE presentation will take place on Monday, November 26, at 12:00 p.m. Participants may attend live in our classroom or watch the live webcast.

If you can’t make the live program or webcast, the program will also be available as a homestudy in two formats: MP3 audio download or Video On-Demand.
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Professors Calhoun and Wilkinson Named Winners of Jules Milstein Scholarship Award

August 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Editor’s Note: Celebrate the opening of the Supreme Court’s next term. Details below.

The University of Colorado School of Law has announced professors Emily Calhoun and Charles Wilkinson as the 2012 winners of the Jules Milstein Scholarship Award. Prof. Calhoun is the author of Losing Twice, while Prof. Wilkinson was recognized for The People are Dancing Again. As noted on the CU Law website, the award is given to “Colorado Law faculty . . . for a substantial published work that best demonstrates excellence in legal scholarship. It is normally given once a year at the end of the spring semester for a work published at any point in the preceding two calendar years.”

Prof. Calhoun began her legal career in the early 1970s as a civil rights attorney with the Southern Regional Office of the ACLU. She has consulted with organizations and attorneys on civil rights issues, and has worked to protect faculty rights and privileges through administrative and other service at the University of Colorado. She teaches and writes in the areas of civil rights, intractable disputes, and federal jurisdiction. In addition to her faculty responsibilities, Professor Calhoun currently serves as both a mediator and an ombudsperson for faculty disputes at the University. In Losing Twice, Prof. Calhoun argues that Supreme Court decisions often inflict a second loss on the losing parties and that the outrage generated by well-known decisions such as Gonzales v. Carhart and Bowers v. Hardwick is a consequence of this second loss.

Prof. Wilkinson worked with the Native American Rights Fund and taught at the University of Oregon, the University of Michigan, and the University of Minnesota before coming to CU Law in 1987. Prof. Wilkinson’s scholarship and teaching focus on federal public land law and Indian law. He is the author of thirteen books, ranging from text books on public land law and Indian law to books aimed at a general audience. Prof. Wilkinson received the 2005 Colorado Book Award in the History category for Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations and the 2000 Colorado Book Award in the Colorado/West category for Messages From Frank’s Landing. His latest book, The People Are Dancing Again: The Siletz Tribe Of Western Oregon, explores the history of Oregon’s Siletz tribe from initial contact with Europeans through termination of the tribe and eventual restoration of the tribe’s official status.

Please join Prof. Calhoun at the CBA-CLE offices on October 1, 2012, as we celebrate the opening of the Supreme Court’s next term. Prof. Calhoun will discuss Losing Twice, and encourages participants to bring examples of U.S. Supreme Court constitutional rights decisions that they consider to be outrageous. These decisions will be used to explore Professor Calhoun’s argument about losing twice in rights disputes.

CLE Program: Losing Twice – Harms of Indifference in the Supreme Court with Emily Calhoun

This CLE presentation will take place on Monday, October 1. Participants may attend live in our classroom or watch the live webcast.

If you can’t make the live program or webcast, the program will also be available as a homestudy in two formats: video on-demand and mp3 download.
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Local Case and Attorneys at the Supreme Court: Cheney’s Secret Service Agents Entitled to Qualified Immunity

June 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment

It isn’t often that a case rooted in Colorado reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, but on June 4, 2012, the Supreme Court announced its decision in a case with deep Colorado connections, Reichle v. Howards. The facts of the case occurred in Beaver Creek, Colorado, and the respondent, Golden resident Steven Howards, was represented by Denver attorney David Lane of Kilmer Lane & Newman LLP, while the petitioner Secret Service agents were represented by Denver lawyer Sean Gallagher of Polsinelli Shughart, PC.

The case involved Howards, who confronted Vice President Cheney at a 2006 event at a mall in Beaver Creek. According to the Court’s opinion, Howards entered the line to meet Cheney, made critical remarks regarding the administration’s policies in Iraq, and touched Cheney on the shoulder before leaving (something Howards later denied to Secret Service agents). Howards was arrested by Secret Service agents Gus Reichle and Dan Doyle. He was charged with harassment, but the charges were later dropped. Howards then brought suit against the agents, claiming that he had been arrested without probable cause, a violation of the Fourth Amendment, and in retaliation for his comments to Vice President Cheney, a violation of the First Amendment.

The Court granted certiorari on the questions of (1) whether a First Amendment retaliatory arrest claim could be brought where the arrest was supported by probable cause and (2) whether there was clearly established law at the time of Howards’s arrest as to the first question. The Court only addressed the second question, and found that the law was not clearly established at the time of the arrest, entitling the agents to qualified immunity.

Lane summarized his thoughts on the ruling in a statement to the Associated Press, “‘They broke absolutely no legal ground while managing to duck every significant issue in the case.’” However, Gallagher saw the decision differently: “‘This ruling confirms that the federal courts will not subject law enforcement officials to personal liability except when it is absolutely clear that they have no basis to make the arrest.’” While it remains an open question whether a First Amendment retaliatory arrest claim can be brought where the arrest is supported by probable cause, this case was certainly fascinating for the facts and issues involved, as well as its connections to Colorado and two of Denver’s prominent attorneys.

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University of Colorado Law School Awards Dinner Honors Alumni and David Getches

March 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The University of Colorado held its 31st Annual Law Alumni Awards Banquet last week at the Hyatt Regency Denver. The banquet was opened with remarks by CBA-CLE board member and Law Alumni Board Chair Kristin Rozansky. In addition to speeches by Dean Phil Weiser, the evening included recognition of this year’s honorees: Bill Johnson (William Lee Knous Award), Joe Blake (Distinguished Achievement in the Public Sector Award), Jane B. Korn (Distinguished Achievement in Education Award), and Joseph Neguse (Distinguished Recent Alumnus Award). For more about the nominees, click here.

The evening ended with a moving tribute to the late dean of the law school, David Getches. Dean Weiser began by noting that in the Jewish tradition of mourning for one year, he was dedicating the first year of his deanship to honoring Getches’s memory. Getches was remembered in a video that included testimonials from his widow, Ann Getches, members of the law school faculty, including Prof. Charles Wilkinson and Dean Weiser, and colleagues from his work with the Native American Rights Fund. On behalf of the Getches family, Getches’s son-in-law, Rudy Verner, thanked the CU Law community for its support, well wishes, and memories of Dean Getches.

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CLE: AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion and the Future of Class Actions

April 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Just this Wednesday, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, greatly impacting the ability of plaintiffs to pursue class proceedings. In a 5-4 decision, the Court overruled the California Supreme Court’s holding in Discover Bank v. Superior Court that class-arbitration waivers in consumer contracts were unconscionable and unenforceable.

For the majority, Justice Scalia wrote:

Because it “stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress,” Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U. S. 52, 67 (1941), California’s Discover Bank rule is preempted by the [Federal Arbitration Act].

Justice Thomas concurred, but argued that contract defenses allowed for under § 2 of the FAA should be limited to defenses related to the formation of the arbitration agreement, such as fraud, duress, or mutual mistake. Arbitration agreements should not be invalidated on the basis of defenses that do not relate to the formation of the agreement, such as public policy.

In his dissent, Justices Breyer disagreed with Justice Scalia’s assertion that Discover Bank defeated the purposes of the FAA.

[I]nsofar as we seek to implement Congress’ intent, we should think more than twice before invalidating a state law that does just what § 2 requires, namely, puts agreements to arbitrate and agreements to litigate “upon the same footing.”

CLE Program: May 10, 2011, 11:30am

Join us on Tuesday, May 10, at 11:30 am for a discussion of the case and its potentially far-reaching implications. Register for the live event or the live webcast. The program will also be available as a homestudy in two formats: MP3 download and online video.
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