Published: Sept. 22, 2005

Colorado Law announced today that alumnus Robert F. Hill '70 will receive its highest alumni honor during the Back-to-Boulder Homecoming celebration Saturday October 8, 2005.  Conferred annually by the Law Alumni Board of Directors, the William Lee Knous Award recognizes outstanding achievement and sustained service to the Law School.  The award will be presented by Jennifer Smith ‘00, Chair of the Law Alumni Board, and by Dean David Getches.  “Bob Hill epitomizes the ideals that are perpetuated by the Knous Award—the ideals that distinguish alumni of CU Law School,” said Getches.   “He is not only an extraordinarily accomplished antitrust lawyer but a citizen deeply engaged in the life of our community, giving his time, talents, and money to the causes he cares about.  And he is an alumnus whose commitment and loyalty is unsurpassed.” Members of the CU Law community reacted to the news of the Board’s unanimous vote with universal enthusiasm.  “In my view, we could not pick someone more deserving,” said Law Alumni Board member Larry Treece ‘67.   “He graduated number one in his class; taught at the law school; was in public service, revitalizing the state antitrust enforcement, making a name for our office nationally; has been astoundingly successful in private practice, becoming a nationally renowned securities class action and antitrust lawyer;  and gives generously of himself personally and financially to the community.  The choice could not be more fitting.”Mr. Hill is a co-founder and shareholder of Hill & Robbins, P.C., where his practice emphasizes complex commercial litigation, particularly antitrust, securities, and pension litigation and class actions.  After earning his law degree from the University of Colorado, where he was co-editor-in-chief of the Law Review and graduated first in his class, Mr. Hill served as a law clerk to the Honorable Warren J. Ferguson of the United States District Court for the Central District of California and as an associate with the law firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. before returning to Colorado as a Visiting Associate Professor of Law at CU.  From 1975 through 1978 Mr. Hill served as First Assistant Attorney General of the State of Colorado, where he established the Antitrust Section of the Colorado Attorney General’s office.  As a founding partner of Hill & Robbins in 1978 Mr. Hill has had a leading role in many Colorado’s largest civil-damage recoveries in recent years.  Listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 1991, Mr. Hill received the Award for Best of the Bar for Antitrust Law in 2004 as well as numerous awards for community service including the National Philanthropy Day Award as the Outstanding Volunteer in Colorado (2003); the Colorado Bar Association’s Hoagland Award for Public Service; and the Individual of the Year Award and Outstanding Sustained Contribution Award from the Colorado Lawyers Committee.  He recently chaired the Committee on Conduct of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado and the Board of Directors of Colorado’s Ocean Journey.  He is currently co-chair of Invest in Kids, a nonprofit children’s organization that he co-founded in 1996, and is a member of the Board of the Nurse-Family Partnership, a national nurse visitation program for low-income mothers. "It is a humbling experience to be chosen for the Knous Award by the Law Alumni Board not only because of the award's illustrious namesake but also because of the outstanding alumni who have received the award in the past," said Hill.  "And it is particularly meaningful to me because of the pivotal role the Law School has played in my life.  The Law School gave me far more than simply a professional education, it set the course for the rest of my life."