2019 awards Luncheon
On May 2, 2019, 475 lawyers and community leaders gathered to celebrate the accomplishments of Colorado Lawyers Committee volunteer attorneys and law firms, many of which were honored at the CLC annual Awards Luncheon. During 2018, more than 1,000 volunteers donated more than 7,800 hours and $3.03 million worth of time through the Colorado Lawyers Committee’s 29 active projects in the areas of Children’s Rights & Education, Civil & Criminal Law, Poverty & Public Benefits, Community Development, and Immigration.
Keynote speaker Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser inspired the luncheon audience. He described his office’s mission and guiding principles and stressed the importance of creative problem solving with new and different approaches and the necessity of protecting the rule of law in these chaotic times. He urged the audience to work together to solve the serious problems that face us, including the opioid epidemic.
CLC announced that its Hate Crimes Education Program, which has been offered in Colorado schools for the last 25 years, will now be available to be presented in every school in the country. Due to a generous grant from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in Washington, D.C., the CLC has modified its well-respected program. The new national effort will be unveiled across the country later this year.
Another highlight of the luncheon was the announcement of this year’s award recipients:
Law Firm of the Year Award. The Board of Directors selected Snell & Wilmer as the Colorado Lawyers Committee Law Firm of the Year. Other nominees for 2019 Law Firm of the Year were Faegre Baker Daniels LLP, Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe, PC, and Polsinelli PC. The CLC appreciates the strong dedication of all these attorneys.
Outstanding Sustained Contribution Award. Daniel A. Sweetser of The Sweetser Law Firm, P.C. received the Outstanding Sustained Contribution Award for his longstanding support and extensive contributions to the work of the Colorado Lawyers Committee.
Team of the Year Award. This year’s Team of the Year Award was awarded to the Jail Wait Litigation Team of Iris Eytan (Eytan Nielsen LLC), Allison Butler (Disability Law Colorado), Sean Connelly (Connelly Law LLC), Caleb Durling (Fox Rothschild LLC), Mark Ivandick (Disability Law Colorado), Scott Llewellyn (Morrison Foerster LLP), Ellie Lockwood (Snell &Wilmer), Kathleen Mullen, Jenn Purrington (Disability Law Colorado), Tim Scalo (Snell & Wilmer) and Byeongsook Seo (Snell & Wilmer). The following teams were also nominated for Team of the Year and were honored at the luncheon: the Anti-Bullying Subcommittee of the Education Task Force of Jessica C. Collier (Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP), Sara Nicole Maeglin (Lohf Shaiman Jacobs Hyman & Feiger PC), John M. McHugh (Reilly Pozner LLP), Daniel Ramos (One Colorado), Mark A. Spitz (Spitz Legal Counsel LLC) and Denise M. Whinnen (Gill Foundation); the Hate Crimes National Team of Elizabeth Froehlke (Littler Mendelson P.C.), Beth Ann Lennon (Sherman & Howard L.L.C.), John M. McHugh (Reilly Pozner LLP), Tarek F. M. Saad (Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP), Christine Snider (Ballard Spahr LLP), Valeria Spencer (U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado), Phyllis V. Wan (Wanderful Ventures LLC) and Mark D. Wilding (Ballard Spahr LLP); and the Taylor Ranch Litigation Team of Jason C. Astle (The Law Firm of Springer & Steinberg, P.C.), Aaron A. Boschee (Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP), Stephanie Carr (Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP), Bennett L. Cohen (Polsinelli PC), Sarah Conley (Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP), Jerome A. DeHerrera , Rebecca Anderson Fischer (Sherman & Howard L.L.C.), Watson W. Galleher (Don Galleher & Saliman PC), Jeffrey A. Goldstein , Peter S. Gould (Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP), Martina Hinojosa (Butler Snow LLP), Jonathan S. King (Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP), Carolyn L. McIntosh (Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP), Laura Joan McNabb (Wheeler Trigg O’
Donnell LLP),Brent Owen (Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP) and Elizabeth Weil (Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP).
Special Recognition Awards. Special Recognition Awards were presented to: Melanie Tsuchida for her coordination and administration of the Colorado Lawyers Committee Nonprofit Legal Audit Clinics and the CLC Nonprofit Working Group, and to the Young Lawyers Division Board Members (past and present) for their contributions during the last four years.
2019 Photos
Photos courtesy of Hartmannphoto, LLC
2019 Videos
2019 Sponsors
Thank you to our many sponsors and partners who support our Awards Luncheon and help us further our mission to increase opportunities for children, the poor and other disadvantaged communities through pro bono legal advocacy, negotiation and litigation.
GOLD SPONSORS
Arnold & Porter
Bartlit Beck LLP
Faegre Baker Daniels LLP
Morrison & Foerster LLP
Polsinelli PC
Snell & Wilmer
SILVER SPONSORS
Anderson Hemmat, LLC
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP
Colorado & Denver Bar Associations/CLE in Colorado, Inc.
Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP
Dentons
Holland & Hart LLP
Husch Blackwell LLP
Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe, PC
Judicial Arbiter Group, Inc.
Lass Moses Ramp & Cooper LLC
Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.
Otten Johnson Robinson Neff + Ragonetti PC
Reilly Pozner LLP
Sherman & Howard L.L.C.
Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP
Stinson Leonard Street LLP
The Harris Law Firm P.C.
Xcel Energy Services, Inc.
FRIEND SPONSORS
Ballard Spahr LLP
Butler Snow LLP
CoBank
Colorado Bar Association-Real Estate Section
Colorado Nonprofit Association
Elkind Alterman Harston PC
Epstein Patierno, LLP
Eytan Nielsen LLC
Fox Rothschild LLP
Hernandez & Associates, P.C.
JAMS
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP
LexisNexis
Perkins Coie LLP
Tierney Lawrence LLC
University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
OTHER CONTRIBUTORS
Alyn-Weiss & Associates, Inc.
Aponte & Busam, Inc.
Asian Pacific American Bar Association
Center for Legal Inclusiveness
Colorado Hispanic Bar Association
Colorado LGBT Bar Association
Disability Law Colorado
FirstBank
Hill & Robbins, P.C.
Rule 6 Communications
Seigneur Gustafson LLP
South Asian Bar Association of Colorado
The ART, a hotel
University of Colorado Law School
A Special Thanks To
Lewan Technology for printing the 2019 Awards Luncheon program and the 2019 Annual Report
Hartmannphoto, LLC for providing pro bono photography services for the Colorado Lawyers Committee
Landlocked Films LLC for preparing the special video presentation for today’s event
Cuttlefish Arts for layout and design of the 2019 Awards Luncheon program and Annual Report