University Catalog

The Law School is housed in the new state-of-the-art Wolf Law building, located on the southern edge of the campus. Teaching facilities include an excellent library, classrooms, seminar rooms, a complete trial and appellate courtroom, and videotape equipment. The building also contains suites for the Clinical Education Program, the Natural Resources Law Center, the Center for Energy & Environmental Securities, the Silicon Flatirons Center, the Byron R. White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law, offices for various student organizations, the University of Colorado Law Review, the Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy, the Journal on Telecommunications & High Technology Law, the faculty and administrative offices, and a student lounge.

The law library contains one of the premier legal reference collections in the western United States. The collection consists of over 693,000 volumes and microform equivalents. Students and faculty have access to a comprehensive collection of American case law from all jurisdictions, statutes of all states (in annotated form when available), and the major digests, encyclopedias, periodicals, and texts dealing with American law. A collection of books in German, French, and other foreign languages as well as international law holdings provide a basis for comparative law studies. The Law Library offers a full range of electronic resources to law students and faculty, including a computer center.

Colorado Law students find satisfying careers after law school with the assistance of an energetic and dedicated staff in the Office of Career Development. The professional counselors advise students and alumni on decisions about career direction, professionalism, legal employers, and alternatives to traditional legal careers. Specifically, the office directly assists students in finding internships, externships, clerkships, and other job opportunities during and after law school. The office also maintains state-of-the-art career development and job search resources both online and in print to assist students in all aspects of their career development. For more information, visit www.colorado.edu/law/careers.

A sophisticated marketing plan encourages legal employers to hire students and graduates. The plan includes personal outreach through employer visits to numerous local and out-of-state employers, such as those in Washington DC, Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas, New York, and Las Vegas.

On-campus interviews in the fall and spring bring more than 60 employers to campus each year; off-campus programs urge legal employers nationwide to recruit from Colorado Law.

The office provides a wide variety of programming throughout the academic year. The office offers interactive information sessions on particular areas of practice, resumes and cover letters, alternative careers, the judicial clerkship application process, and self-directed job search strategies. The office also offers videotaped mock interviews with practicing attorneys to help students refine their interviewing skills. Finally, the office presents major annual events that expose students to a variety of career options and networking opportunities.

Regionally, the office annually co-sponsors a government and public interest career symposium. It was also instrumental in developing the Colorado Pledge to Diversity Summer Clerkship Program, which includes over 20 of Denver's most prestigious law firms and corporations. In concert with local bar associations, the office operates a mentor program aimed at providing first-year law students from diverse backgrounds with attorney mentors.

Although graduates of the Law School live and work in every state and many foreign countries, most choose to remain in the West. A majority of alumni practice law in private law firms, but Colorado Law has a long tradition of public service and many serve as judges, government attorneys and officials, public defenders and prosecutors, and legal services lawyers. A legal education is also excellent preparation for work as corporate counsel and for running businesses.

The Office of Career Development provides career services and access to the online job database to alumni. The Buffalaw, an e-mail-based job bulletin, is sent to interested alumni each month, and a quarterly newsletter highlights individual alumni achievements.

In 1955 a trust fund was established in memory of John R. Coen to bring to the Law School each year a prominent jurist, scholar, or other public figure to deliver a lecture to the law school community and the general public.

The Austin W. Scott Jr. Lecture Series was established in 1973. Lectures in this series are given by members of the faculty of the Law School, generally on research in progress. Although the topics vary with the interests of the lecturer, the talks are always topical and stimulating.

For recent lecturers and topics, visit the Law School website at www.colorado.edu/law.

Colorado Law offers a varied program of clinical experiences in which students assist and represent actual clients in cases or transactions. Typically the clinics provide legal assistance to underserved clients who are unable to find a compensated lawyer. Colorado Law developed one of the nation's first clinical programs in 1948. The Law School's commitment to clinical education has grown in size and scope, with 10 clinics available to students. Most have taken advantage of one or more of the clinical experiences, including:

• American Indian Law Clinic.* Students gain faculty-supervised experience providing legal assistance in a variety of matters, including tribal sovereignty, child welfare, preservation of tribal identity, employment discrimination, public benefits, preservation of Native lands, and more.
• Appellate Advocacy Clinic.* Students are responsible for completing an appellate brief for a criminal case currently on appeal in the Colorado Supreme Court or the Colorado Court of Appeals and for attending the oral argument.
• Civil Practice Clinic.* Students represent low-income clients in a variety of civil law settings, including in family court and in front of administrative law judges. Students take the lead at all hearings and trials.
• Criminal Defense Clinic.* Students are taught basic criminal practice skills and represent clients in actual cases, from beginning to end, in municipal and county courts in Boulder County.
• Entrepreneurial Law Clinic.* Students work with local entrepreneurs, providing transactional legal services for the formation and development of small businesses in Colorado.
• Federal Civil Practice Clinic.* Students participate in cases pending in the federal district court in Colorado. Students learn case strategy and federal procedures related to discovering evidence, presenting it to the court, motion practice, settlement, and trial.
• Juvenile Law Clinic.* Students represent children and youth who are abused, neglected, or accused of a crime, addressing all of the legal needs of the child client. They also represent school districts as the petitioner in truancy matters. Students focus on advance trial advocacy with a mock child welfare trial.
• Natural Resources Litigation Clinic.* Students represent public interest clients in environmental litigation related to federal public land protection. Students learn about expert testimony and witness preparation, analysis of detailed scientific and environmental data, and submission of complex legal briefs.
• Technology Law and Policy Clinic.* Students advocate in the public interest concerning technology issues in front of regulatory entities, courts, legislatures, and standard-setting bodies.
• Wrongful Convictions Clinic.* Students work with Colorado prisoners who assert that they have been wrongly convicted of a crime, review trial and hearing transcripts, read discovery, conduct research, and make recommendations as to whether the case should be pursued.

Under the Law School's extern program, students may earn up to 4 hours of credit for uncompensated legal work done for an outside employer. Interested students submit a timely application describing the proposed project. Projects must contain a substantial writing component and be under the supervision of an approved attorney. Credit is awarded based on 1 hour of credit per 50 hours of working time.

Colorado Law students are actively engaged outside the classroom, as well as inside. The Rothgerber Moot Court Competition, Carrigan Cup Competition, Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, and the Saul Lefkowitz National Moot Court Competition offer students an opportunity to refine their research skills, as well as develop skills in advocacy at the trial and appellate levels.

Fielding of teams to the various competitions varies from year to year depending on student interest. In addition to the competitions listed above, our students have recently participated in the Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) Moot Court Competition; the Pace University School of Law National Environmental Law Moot Court; the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) Moot Court; and the annual Mardi Gras National Moot Court Competition, based on a contemporary legal problem confronting the sports industry.

The University of Colorado Law Review is a journal of legal scholarship managed and edited by students and published four times a year. The student members of the law review conduct independent legal research, prepare casenotes and comments for publication, and edit the works of their fellow students as well as articles and book reviews submitted by faculty members and other scholars. New members are selected by the student Board of Editors based on the quality of student essays submitted in a writing competition, and class standing. Students receive academic credit for work on the law review. For further information, contact the law review at 401 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0401, 303-492-6145, or visit the website at www.colorado.edu/law.

The Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy provides in-depth analysis of environmental issues with international implications to a diverse audience of policymakers, scholars, and global organizations. Recent journal topics have included biodiversity, transboundary water management, indigenous peoples, wildlife, and developing countries. The journal is managed and edited by students who research and publish articles written by scholars as well as their own shorter notes. New members are selected by the student Board of Editors based predominately on the quality of written essays submitted during a competition. Students receive academic credit for work on the journal. For further information, contact the journal at 401 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0401, 303-492-2265, or visit the website at www.colorado.edu/law/cjielp.

The Journal on Telecommunications & High Technology Law (JTHTL) is the most recent addition to the school's tradition of student publications. JTHTL is sponsored by the Silicon Flatirons Center and is committed to providing a meaningful experience to students who have an interest in telecommunications, technological convergence, intellectual property, and regulatory and other aspects of high technology law. JTHTL has already published a number of leading scholars in the field and is developing a strong national reputation. For more information about JTHTL, e-mail JTHTL@colorado.edu, or visit the website at www.colorado.edu/law/jthtl.

The Student Bar Association represents the interests of law students generally. Other student organizations include: American Bar Association/Law Student Division, American Civil Liberties Union, American Constitution Society, Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, Black Law Students Association, Business Law Association, Christian Legal Society, Colorado Law Mediation Program, Construction and Real Estate Law Association, Disability Law Association, Diversity Committee, Doman International Law Society, Environmental Law Society, Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, Intellectual Property Law Society, Jewish Law Students Association, Juvenile and Family Law Club, Latino Law Students' Association, Lend-a-Law Student Association, National Lawyer's Guild, Native American Law Students Association, Non-Traditional Law Student Association, OUTlaw, Phi Alpha Delta, Phi Delta Phi, Public Interest Student Association, Republican Law Society, Reuben Clark Law Society, Sports and Entertainment Law Students Association, Student Bar Association, Student Trial Lawyers Association (or the CU chapter of the American Trial Lawyers Association), Technology Law Student Association, and Women's Law Caucus. For more information on student organizations at Colorado Law, visit lawweb.colorado.edu/students/orgs.