“For This We Stand” Enters Second Year

The orientation event will immerse first-year law students from Colorado and Wyoming in the ideals of professionalism.

By LORENZO A. TRUJILLO

Summer 2013

More than 450 first-year students from the Colorado and Wyoming law schools will participate in a joint event in September aimed at promoting professionalism in the legal community.

The second annual “For This We Stand” orientation will engage students, practitioners, and judges in a courtroom setting for small-group discussion.

The event was created by working group A within the Chief Justice’s Commission on the Legal Profession as a recognition that the future of our way of life and the rule of law is exercised through professionalism practiced by attorneys and judges. 

In the morning, the group will hear about the gravity of a lawyer’s role from Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Bender and the deans of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, the University of Colorado Law School and the University of Wyoming College of Law. In the afternoon, students will walk to the Denver City and County Building, where they will meet in small groups of 20 to 25 and interact with a judge, a lawyer and a client to continue the discussion.

Judges will begin breakout sessions by welcoming students, giving a tour of the courtroom and touching on the importance of diversity, equal justice and access to justice for all. Attorneys and former clients will further address these themes based on experiences that focus on equality and access to justice in our legal system.

At last year’s event, approximately 350 first-year law students and 75 members of the state and federal judiciary, the state and federal bar, and the faculty of Colorado’s two law schools participated. A similar level of participation is expected this year.

 “For This We Stand” begins at 9 a.m., Sept. 21 at the Ralph L. Carr Judicial Center in downtown Denver.

The event is sponsored by the law schools, the Colorado Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association and the Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation.

For further questions, contact Lorenzo A. Trujillo, Chair of Working Group A at (303) 842-5773 or Sarah Clark, Counsel to the Chief Justice at (720) 625-5406.

A complete agenda for this event will be posted in August here.

Lorenzo A. Trujillo is chair of Working Group A, which created the “For This We Stand” event.