The Anti-Defamation League Mountain States Region will honor civil rights champions Steven Chavez and Vicki Cowart and Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains at its upcoming 2017 Civil Rights Awards Reception on February 8, 2017 at the Denver Art Museum.

In addition, for the first time, ADL will also recognize the outstanding work of participants in our Summer Associate Research Program (SARP). Participants are law students who, in their role as summer associates with local law firms, provide critical research on civil rights issues. Twenty-two summer associates from ten prominent law firms in Denver participated in this year’s program.  Under the direction of a supervising attorney and working individually, in pairs or in groups, each summer associate researched an assigned topic and provided a memorandum to ADL.  All of the issues researched are of utmost importance to ADL as we encounter them in our daily work of serving the community.

As part of this recognition, ADL will honor the two winners of this year’s first ever SARP Memo Competition. We are pleased to announce that this year’s winners are Erica Cook and Conor Crawford.

Ms. Cook, a second year student at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and a summer associate at Baker Hostetler, researched the question of whether bystanders have a constitutional right to take a photograph or create a video recording of police officers. Mr. Crawford, a third year student at the University of Virginia School of Law and a summer associate at Ballard Spahr, wrote his memo on the question of freedom of conscience and discrimination, especially regarding whether individuals and businesses would be permitted to discriminate based on sincerely held religious beliefs.

The memos were deemed especially superior by a team of ADL board members, Sturm Fellows and other supporters who, using a detailed rubric, judged 17 memos in two rounds of competition over the course of four weeks.

For information and to obtain tickets for the 2017 Civil Rights Awards, please visit www.adl.org/civilrights2017.  To learn more about sponsorship and tribute opportunities, please call 720-799-9678.