Our Year in Review: 2020
2020 has been a busy year for the Colorado Lawyers Committee, even amid all the challenges the year has presented! Due to the tremendous support from our volunteers and contributors, the CLC has been able to respond to pressing systemic issues and to make an important difference in the lives of children and the underprivileged, even during a pandemic. Last year, more than 1,000 volunteers contributed more than 7,600 hours and almost $3.1 million worth of time to our 25 task forces and projects and enjoyed some significant successes:
Going Virtual. The Colorado Lawyers Committee staff has been at home since mid-March and has learned a lot about working remotely and how to respond to the ongoing needs in our community. We have transformed our Denver Legal Night Clinic into a virtual clinic and are now offering our interactive Hate Crimes Education Program via Zoom. We recently formed a Racial Justice Task Force to assure that the Colorado Lawyers Committee is doing all it can to promote racial justice. More than 120 small businesses have sought legal assistance through the program we created in June (CCLR) with the Colorado Attorney General and others. We hosted our Nonpartisan Election Call Center on Election Day and the day before in the Capitol Ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Denver Convention Center. More details on all these efforts are included below. We may not be in our office, but we remain busy and anticipate our virtual life continuing well into 2021.
Postponing Annual Lunch. In an effort to keep our community safe during the pandemic, Colorado Lawyers Committee made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Awards Luncheon (originally scheduled for May 12th and subsequently rescheduled for September 24th). We look forward to honoring our 2020 nominees and award recipients at the 2021 Awards Luncheon on May 19, 2021.
Statement on Racial Injustice. The last several months have been deeply unsettling. The continued violence perpetuated on Black communities by those in power is at the forefront of our hearts and minds and much work needs to be done. The challenges our communities face cannot be met with quick fixes or easy solutions. Colorado Lawyers Committee is dedicated to working through the issues to support the communities we serve. Our statement regarding this commitment is available here. We recently formed a Racial Justice Task Force to assure that we are doing all we can to promote racial justice.
Racial Justice Task Force. Colorado Lawyers Committee has formed a Racial Justice Task Force to reexamine our motivations and processes to ensure that all our actions, internally and externally, support the goal of a responsible, strong, and racially equitable community. Kenzo Kawanabe (Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP), Abby Hinchcliff (Bartlit Beck LLP) and Connie Talmage began the effort by co-chairing the initial Task Force. The team was worked for several months and made recommendations on what we can the CLC can do proactively to promote racial justice in three different areas: (1) education of the CLC contributing law firms, CLC Boards and staff; (2) diversifying leadership and membership in the CLC; and, (3) expanding our current task forces and collaborative partnerships. The Task Force will begin implementation of these recommendations in the new year.
Diversity on the Bench. The Colorado Bar Association and the Colorado Judicial Institute (spurred on by Judge Gary Jackson) have created a Diversity on the Bench Coalition whose purpose is to make sure the state court bench in Colorado reflects the diversity of the people in Colorado. The Coalition will help lead a community-wide effort to comprehensively address a lack of diversity among Colorado state court judges and has asked Colorado Lawyers Committee to participate as a Coalition Partner and designate a representative to serve on the Coalition. We are pleased that Edgar Barraza (Fox Rothschild LLP) has agreed to serve as the Colorado Lawyers Committee representative.
Helping Small Businesses through the COVID Crisis. In partnership with the Office of the Colorado Attorney General, the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, Colorado Bar and Denver Bar Associations, Colorado SEO Pros (providing digital marketing support), Wilmer Hale, and Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP, the Colorado Lawyers Committee launched its small business relief initiative in June 2020, Colorado COVID Legal Relief (CCLR). Small businesses provide half of Colorado’s jobs and they have been especially hard-hit by the COVID-19 economic crisis, with minority and women-owned small businesses being hit the hardest. The program matches small businesses that need limited legal advice regarding COVID-19 related issues with volunteer lawyers. Since June, more than 120 businesses applied for assistance and over 150 volunteer lawyers offered to provide limited legal representation to help small businesses get back on their feet. The Program also offers webinars on topics relevant to small business needs.
Engaging Young Lawyers in Pro Bono Work. The Young Lawyers Division, established in 2015, was created to “empower passionate young lawyers to make a difference for children and the underserved through education, advocacy, and systemic change.” YLD membership has increased to almost 300 members. Under the leadership of the YLD Board, the YLD has directed successful fundraising efforts, taken over leadership of Denver Legal Night, expanded and strengthened the Hate Crimes Education Program, offered a series of NITA-like CLE programs with well-respected lawyers and judges as panelists and coaches, created a grant program to provide financial support to young lawyers in their pro bono efforts, developed a series of Zoom lunch talks with local legal legends (Lunches with Legends) to help inspire young lawyers on their path to greatness, and added energy and enthusiasm to numerous other projects.
Providing Resources for the Underserved. Hundreds of volunteers provided legal information and referrals at our Legal Clinics in 2020. Due to the pandemic, Project Homeless Connect was canceled this year. To honor the many needs of our community while maintaining safety in the current times, Denver Legal Nights are now offered remotely for clients and volunteers. The virtual clinics continue to be a success and have served over 600 people since switching formats in April 2020. Instead of meeting in person at Centro San Juan Diego, volunteer lawyers consult over the phone to help determine significant legal issues, refer individuals to legal services, and answer other questions about the legal process. Interpreters are available if needed.
Helping the Nonprofits That Help Others. Since the programs began, Colorado Lawyers Committee’s two nonprofit projects have helped strengthen our community by providing limited representation to more than 600 small nonprofits: Our Nonprofit Working Group matches small nonprofits with pro bono lawyers who provide transactional-type assistance on discrete issues; the Nonprofit Legal Audit Clinic, held twice each year, matches teams of attorneys (both in-house and in firms) with representatives from small nonprofits to assess the nonprofits’ legal health. The summer Nonprofit Legal Audit Clinic was scheduled for July 22, 2020 and we planned to conduct the Clinic via Zoom. Unfortunately, due to the present environment, only a small number of nonprofits signed up for the Clinic. As a result, we made the difficult decision to cancel the July Clinic and individually match attorneys with the four nonprofits who signed up. We look forward to hosting the Clinic again in February 2021.
Educating Students About Hate Crimes. For the last 25 years, Colorado Lawyers Committee volunteers have presented fictional trials to almost 9,000 students to teach them about Colorado’s Hate/Bias-Motivated Crimes Statute, help them understand the law, and encourage them to speak out against intolerance and injustice. Schools going remote or having a hybrid learning plan since March has prevented the team from having presentations in schools. After several weeks of planning, Colorado Lawyers Committee and the Hate Crimes team created a way to hold the presentations via Zoom to accommodate schools going remote. Unfortunately, many school districts had security concerns with Zoom, so we were unable to move forward. The team is currently reaching out to schools to let them know that our program is available on various other remote learning platforms and we are ready to give presentations when they are ready.
Protecting Immigrant Rights. The Immigration Task Force has been very active this year on a number of issues: implementing a pilot program (Preparing Asylum Seekers for Success or PASS) to train non-immigration lawyers in four firms to help detainees with their “credible fear interviews” (which determine if the detainees can apply for asylum), exploring possible legislation and litigation to prohibit ICE agents from making warrant-less arrests at Colorado courthouses (a practice which adversely impacts the administration of justice by intimidating crime victims and witnesses from testifying for fear of arrest at the courthouse) and answering a new call to action in the wake of COVID-19. Volunteer lawyers from Arnold & Porter, in collaboration with RMIAN and the National Immigration Project, filed a Habeas Corpus complaint and emergency Motion for Release of fourteen medically vulnerable detainees in ICE custody at the Aurora Detention Facility.
Jail Wait Success. For more than 10 years, Colorado Lawyers Committee volunteers argued that the State mental health hospital in Pueblo failed to provide timely evaluations and treatment for individuals who are presumed incompetent. As a result of the 2019 Jail Wait Litigation Consent Decree, $3.5 million in fines paid by the Department of Human Services were donated directly to Colorado Coalition for the Homeless who used the funds to purchase a former Northeast Park Hill hotel property. Now called Fusion Studios, the property has been converted into 139 much-needed affordable studio apartments, targeted to house individuals transitioning out of homelessness. Twenty-Four studio apartments will be reserved for mental health clients from Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo who need housing over the next five years. Clients will also be offered vouchers to use in other HUD housing, if necessary.
Foster Care Challenge. Colorado Lawyers Committee volunteers are working closely with Children’s Rights, a New York advocacy organization, to explore possible litigation against the State for its failure to provide sufficient appropriate foster care placements in the state of Colorado and its failure to provide required mental health services for children in detention. Because the number of children being held in violation of court orders has remained steady, the Task Force has decided to explore litigation to force the State to create appropriate placements for these children. Tamir Goldstein (Sherman & Howard L.L.C), Michael McCarthy (Faegre Drinker) and Maureen Witt (Holland & Hart) are heading up the litigation efforts. The litigation team has reached out to the Colorado Attorney General to explore solutions.
Election Call Center. The 2020 Nonpartisan Election Call Center was a great success thanks to the wonderful volunteers who dedicated time and energy to ensuring that all Coloradans had access to a fair vote this election season. Volunteers completed trainings with Just Vote! Colorado Election Protection, navigated new software and waited on the sidelines to jump into action as replacements. On November 2nd and 3rd, we welcomed 72 volunteers to the Hyatt Regency at Denver Convention Center during 104 shifts to answer 465 calls from voters in Colorado. On the national scale, Colorado joined volunteers for the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline to answer a record 233,000 calls this year. Colorado was one of 35 states to host a Nonpartisan Election Call Center, helping to make up the 42,000 legal volunteers who staffed the hotlines.
Housing Task Force. The Housing Task Force has focused on widespread noncompliance by apartment owners with HB19-1106, which limits on landlords’ rental application fees and on which portions of a tenant’s eviction and criminal history can be considered in processing the rental application. Based on the number of non-conforming applications discovered, apartment owners are either unaware of or are ignoring the new rules. Task Force members are sending cease and desist letters to the noncompliant apartment owners and will consider further action if necessary.
One Colorado Award. One Colorado honored Colorado Lawyers Committee with their 2020 Ally Award for our work on the Anti-Bullying Subcommittee, the Hate Crimes Education Program, the Marriage Equality lawsuit and the Joint ID Task Force. The Award was presented at a virtual event in fall 2020. The Colorado Lawyers Committee is proud and grateful to be honored, and we look forward to continuing to support the important work of One Colorado.
Reinstating Wrongly Terminated Public Benefits. In 2020, the Colorado Lawyers Committee was asked to examine drastic cuts in desperately needed services for severely disabled children on Medicaid. Notices sent over a six-month period to Medicaid recipients were defective in several significant ways (in some instances they did not include information about the right to appeal) and many recipients had their benefits slashed or eliminated without explanation (no change in law; no change in condition). Thank you to Polsinelli PC for taking the lead in challenging the state’s treatment of these vulnerable children. The team met several times with representatives from the State: The State agreed to reinstate benefits until they could issue new notices to comply with statutes and due process for those whose benefits had been denied or reduced since June 1, 2019. The team worked with the State to create new notices that met due process and other requirements.
With your help, we expect to continue and expand these efforts. We look forward to another successful year in 2021!