Juvenile and Family Law Program
Juvenile and Family Law Program
- Coordinators, Juvenile & Family Law Program: Professor Clare Huntington and Professor Colene Robinson
- Juvenile Law Clinic
- Juvenile and Family Law Club
- Certificate Program
- Student Resources: 1L Student Course Planning Guide [pdf], Certificate Application [pdf]
- Faculty
- Career Opportunities
- Events & Programs
Juvenile and family law covers a broad range of practice areas, such as marriage, divorce, custody, visitation, family support, child abuse and neglect, delinquency, adoption, estate planning, education law, and elder law. The Juvenile and Family Law Program (JFLP) provides students with opportunities to acquire specialized knowledge in this field, develop a network of, and foster collaboration between, students, academics, and practitioners, and engage in interdisciplinary work in the study and practice of the field. The Program includes specialized courses, research projects, externships, and clinical opportunities.
Certificate Program
Colorado Law offers a Juvenile and Family Law Certificate, demonstrating a student’s completion of a concentrated course of study in juvenile and family law. Certificates require at least 95 credit hours (89 are required for the JD), with at least 18 of the 95 hours in designated courses. In addition, students must maintain a 72 GPA. An 86 GPA will earn a “with honors” designation. Visit Rules of the Law School for complete details. Interested students should submit a completed Certificate Application [pdf].
Required Courses
- Family Law
- One of: Juvenile Justice, Domestic Violence, Parent, Child & State
- One Clinic: Juvenile Law or Family Law
- Additional credits from the following courses:
- Accounting for Lawyers
- Alternative Dispute Resolution
- Bankruptcy
- Comparative Law Seminar
- Domestic Violence
- Education Law
- Estate Planning
- Health Law
- Juvenile Justice
- Mediation
- Legal Negotiation
- Parent, Child & State
- Poverty Law
- Sexuality and the Law
- Spanish for Family Lawyers
- Wills and Trusts
- And/or Externship
- And/or moot court competition
Faculty
- Associate Professor Clare Huntington, Program co-coordinator, practiced as an attorney advisor in the Office of Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice and served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justices Harry A. Blackmun and Stephen Breyer.
- Associate Clinical Professor Colene Robinson, Program co-coordinator and Juvenile Law Clinic Director, represents children and parents in child abuse and neglect and delinquency cases. She was recognized as one of ten national Civitas Childlaw Scholars.
- Clinical Professor Norman Aaronson, Civil Litigation Clinic Director, is a former teacher in the U.S. Peace Corps and attorney with Colorado Rural Legal Services.
- Legal Writing Professor Alan Canner teaches Education Law and has written about hospice care.
- Director of Clinical Programs and Associate Professor Deborah Cantrell teaches the Family Law Clinic and formerly served as the executive director of the Western Center on Law and Poverty in Los Angeles.
- Associate Clinical Professor Ann England, a former public defender, oversees juvenile delinquency cases.
- Professor Wayne Gazur teaches Estate Planning and Wills & Trusts, and has published a textbook on estate planning.
- Associate Professor Miranda Fleischer specializes in tax policy and charitable giving and teaches Wills & Trusts and Federal Estate & Gift Tax.
- Associate Professor Melissa Hart specializes in employment discrimination and issues of work and family. Prof. Hart served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
- Associate Dean Dayna Matthew specializes in health and bioethics law.
- Associate Professor Carolyn Ramsey specializes in domestic violence, criminal law and procedure, and gender issues.
- Clinical Professor Jill Tompkins directs the American Indian Law Clinic and serves as Appellate Justice with the Mashantucket Pequot, Passamaquoddy, and Pokagon Band of Potawatoni courts of appeal.
Career Opportunities
Careers that focus on juvenile and family law include family law practioner (solo practice or law firm), guardian ad litem or child’s attorney, social services agency attorney, District Attorney or Public Defender specializing in juveniles, public policy-makers, and judicial clerkships in specialized juvenile or domestic courts. The Office of Career Development maintains an extensive listing of juvenile and family law career opportunities including internships, clerkships, externships, and job postings through the CDOnline. Colorado Law students have worked for many of the following organizations during or after law school.
- Government juvenile and family law offices:
- Administration for Children and Families – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Child Welfare Services Division – Colorado Department of Health and Human Services
- Colorado District Attorneys Offices [pdf]
- Denver District Court
- Denver Juvenile Court
- Family & Children's Division – Denver Department of Human Services
- Family Court Facilitator's Office
- National Clearinghouse for Child Abuse & Neglect
- Juvenile and family law organizations in Colorado:
- Colorado Court Appointed Special Advocates
- Colorado Association of Family & Children's Agencies
- Colorado Children's Campaign
- Family & Children’s Unit – Colorado Legal Services
- Colorado State Foster Parent Association
- Central Visitation Program
- Denver Children's Advocacy Center
- Mile High United Way
- National Association of Counsel for Children
- Office of the Child’s Representative
- Piton Foundation
- Rocky Mountain Children's Law Center
- Servicios de la Raza
- Urban Peak Denver
- Colorado family law firms:
- National child advocacy organizations:
- Other juvenile and family law-related organizations:
- AllergyKids
- Boulder Office of Dispute Resolution
- Bringing Justice Home Project
- Colorado Lawyers Committee
Events & Programs (including past events)
- Mentoring sessions with Juvenile and Family Law Program faculty
- Career development brown bag lunches
- “High Conflict Divorce & the Impact of Families”
- “Intersection of Education & Juvenile Law”
- “Juveniles Sentenced to Life Without Parole”
- “Surrogacy & Assisted Reproductive Technology”
- “Working in Marital Dissolution”
- “Collaborative Law and Ethics”
- Movie nights
- Crystal Darkness: Meth’s Deadly Assault on our Youth
- Losing Isaiah
- Gone Baby Gone
- I Am Sam
- Broadway Youth Shelter mentorship dinners
- Child Welfare and Adoption Law National Moot Court Competition
- National Adoption Day: The Juvenile Law Clinic and its alumni represent several clients for adoption every year. Members of the Juvenile and Family Law Club also volunteer at Adoption Day events.
- Statewide symposiums and national conferences
- "Consulting with Children on Permanency: Developing Best Practices"
- "National Association of Counsel for Children Law Office National Symposium"
- "Voice of Youth in the Courtroom: Is it Time for a Change?"
- Statewide symposium co-sponsored by Colorado Law and the Office of the Child's Representative
- "The Law and Psychology of Same-Sex Parenting"
- Co-sponsored by Colorado Women's Bar Association, OUTLaw, Federalist Society, Student Trial Lawyers Association
