Racial Justice Task Force

In response to events during the Summer of 2020 (read our statement on racial injustice here), the Colorado Lawyers Committee formed a Racial Justice Task Force to assess our role in addressing longstanding issues of exploitation, discrimination, brutality and intolerance affecting non-white communities and to create positive systemic change.

The work of this task force is currently focusing on strengthening the CLC’s relationships with specialty bar associations and BIPOC student organizations. The Task Force is also preparing a survey of DEI best practices that will be sent to CLC contributing firms to determine their continued commitment to DEI and to educate them on possible best practices.

On Wednesday, September 8, 2021, the Colorado Lawyers Committee Young Lawyers Division and Racial Justice Task Force, along with the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, hosted a special and empowering event focused on the Colorado criminal system. The YLD Racial Justice Summit was held virtually via Zoom. Following the programming, attendees stayed on Zoom and joined our networking event using Breakout rooms. Through breakout rooms, attendees had the opportunity to meet with representatives from a wide range of public interest organizations across the Denver Metro area. The speakers hosted their own Breakout rooms during the networking event. This was a great opportunity for both law students and practicing attorneys to network with each other and get involved with these great organizations. *If you missed the event, you can access the Zoom recording here*

The 2022 Racial Justice Summit was held on September 29, 2022 at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and focused on the issue of voting rights. Attendees heard from: Judd Choate, Director of Elections, State of Colorado; Denise S. Maes, Founder of Maes Solutions LLC; Olivia Mendoza, Deputy Director of Litigation and Policy, National Redistricting Foundation; Douglas Spencer, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research, University of Colorado Law School; and Martha Tierney (Tierney Lawrence LLC) and Richard Westfall (Westfall Law, LLC), Co-Chairs of the Colorado Lawyers Committee Election Task Force.

If you are interested in joining this task force, please contact Kristin Bronson.