The Anti-Defamation League Mountain States Region will honor civil rights champions Lauren Y. Casteel (President and CEO of The Women’s Foundation of Colorado), Stan Garnett (Boulder County District Attorney) and former Colorado Governor Ralph Carr (Advocate for social justice for Japanese Americans during WWII) at its 2018 Civil Rights Awards Reception on Wednesday, February 7, 2018 from 5:30-7:00 pm in Mitchell Hall at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Tickets are available at www.adl.org/civilrights2018.

In addition, for the second year, 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. Seventeen 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 the League encounters them in its daily work of serving the community. The two winning memos were deemed especially superior by a team of judges that, using a detailed rubric, judged 12 memos in two rounds of competition over the course of four weeks.

We are pleased to announce that the winners of this year’s ADL Summer Associate Research Program Memo Competition are Tony Arias, Angela Hygh, William Nobriga and David Brewster.

Mr. Arias, Ms. Hygh and Mr. Nobriga were all summer associates at Brownstein Hyatt Farber & Schreck LLP. Arias and Hygh attend the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, and Nobriga attends the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. The Brownstein team researched and wrote their winning memo about a question regarding discrimination by Uber and Lyft drivers that refused to serve minority customers. The memo analyzes how federal and state anti-discrimination laws would apply to the companies and their independent contractors operating in Colorado.

Mr. Brewster was a summer associate at Otten Johnson Robinson Neff & Ragonetti PC and attends the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. His winning memo focused on a question of social media free speech in which a California student sued his school district after being suspended for “liking” a racist Instagram post that targeted other people at the school. Brewster analyzed potential constitutional issues regarding school discipline for a student’s indirect online speech, such as “liking” an Instagram post or joining (or inviting someone to join) a Facebook group.

We offer our sincerest congratulations to this year’s winners and their firms.

For information and to obtain tickets for the 2018 Civil Rights Awards, please visit www.adl.org/civilrights2018.  To learn more about sponsorship and tribute opportunities, please call 720-799-9678.