October 2006
DILP Minutes
October 3, 2006
Attendees: Cindy Hyman, Jennifer Weddle, Kathleen Nalty, Eric Bono, Rebecca Askew, Patty Powell, Sally Marsh (by phone), Antonio Gallegos (by phone), Michael Shea (by phone).
The September 2006 minutes were reviewed and approved.
“No on 40” Campaign
• Stacy Chesney updated DILP on the status of the effort to persuade voters to vote against the initiative to term-limit our state appellate court judges. If this measure passes, 5 of the 7 Supreme Court justices and 7 of the 19 Court of Appeals Judges would be leaving the two courts. The Bar Associations are opposed and are seeking DILP members’ assistance in conveying the message to voters that there would be serious consequences to the people of Colorado if the measure passes. DILP members can go to the CBA website (www.cobar.org) where there is a link to the Vote No on 40 site – voteno40.org. The website contains sample emails that can be used to encourage support and sample letters to the editor. The Bar will provide speakers for neighborhood events upon request.
Mentor/Mentee Program
• Sumaya Vanderhorst sent a draft of the Mentor/Mentee reception invitation to DILP for review. Snell & Wilmer will again host the annual Mentor/Mentee reception this year at the Chop House Restaurant on November 1st from 5:30-7:30 p.m. All mentors and mentees are invited. DILP members are also encouraged to attend.
• Damien and Cindy are working with Professor Massey at DU who tries to provide a mentor to every student in his first year legal writing classes. CU is also planning to have a 1L Mentor Program. Damian and Cindy met with Mike Massey and Dan Vigil to determine how the DU and DILP programs could mesh. It was decided that Professor Massey will contact the DILP Mentors already assigned to DU students in the four LP sections and bring them up to speed on the substantive aspects of the DU program so that the students don’t have two mentors. It was agreed that the added structure and focus on substantive skills would be very helpful to the existing DILP Program. Students are required to meet 3 times each semester with their mentor. Next year, the DILP mentors would receive training so that they could work within the law schools’ 1L mentoring programs.
State High School Diversity Conference
• Kathleen Nalty asked the Committee to donate $250 to the State High School Diversity Conference. The Committee voted to approve the request, as it has for the past two years.
Rocky Mountain Diversity Legal Career Fair
• The RMDLCF will be held on Friday, September 15th in Broomfield. Student sign-up has been strong, with 180 applications from 30 states and Canada. 31 employers are participating.
National Diversity Conference/CLE
• Patty reported on behalf of Jen Ungar regarding the Annual Awards Program. There will be two awards given next year: Diversity Leadership Award, for the law firm or corporate legal department that is a leader in diversity and Diversity Trailblazer Individual of the Year, for an individual who has made meaningful and significant efforts to advance diversity.
• Paul Chan, Judge Wiley Daniel and Dean Beto Juarez have agreed to participate on the selection committee.
• Kathleen updated DILP on the genesis of the National Diversity Conference and led a discussion regarding the Deans’ Diversity Council, which has its first meeting at DU Law School on November 8th to brainstorm ideas for meaningful workshops for the Conference. Approximately 60 managing partners, judges, corporate counsel and government officials have been invited. Professional facilitators will assist in the discussions and ideas from participants will be shared with the Programming/Speakers Committee.
• Cindy and Jennifer updated DILP on the meeting with CLE of Colorado, which seems able to provide significant help.
• Kathleen outlined the proposed committees. DILP members volunteered to Chair/Co-Chair and become members of the committees. The 5 Co-Chairs of the Conference (Kathleen, Cindy Hyman, Jennifer Weddle, Patty Powell and Eric Bono) will oversee one or more of these committees.
• Conference planning will be ongoing but will be discussed regularly at the monthly DILP meetings.
