Denver, CO, July 29, 2014 …

Former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter was the keynote speaker at a reception on July 16, 2014 to thank the participants of the 2014 Mountain States Anti-Defamation League Summer Associate Research Program. Governor Ritter shared his personal story and insights into his remarkable career in law and public service.

“The great thing about being a lawyer is that you learn how to learn,” Ritter told those gathered. “The training that lawyers receive can lead to abundant opportunities, and the lawyers I meet tell me that they are most fulfilled by the things they do on the service side of the law, which they often find the most meaningful.”

The reception took place at the law offices of Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe, PC in Denver, CO. ADL thanks the law firm for hosting and for providing refreshments and a beautiful space to gather. ADL is grateful to Mountain States Board Members Elisa Moran and Steve Shapiro who chaired the Summer Associate Research Program, the goals of which are to provide ADL’s regional and national staff with cutting-edge legal research on civil rights issues and to expose rising attorneys to ADL’s mission and to the importance of pro bono work. The Mountain States Region is one of several ADL offices throughout the country involved in the annual program.

In his remarks, ADL Mountain States Regional Director Scott Levin thanked the participating summer associates: “The research you undertook is important to the work that ADL does every day. We at ADL will rely on the memos you prepared as we advocate for justice and fair treatment to all.”

2014 marks the seventh year for the ADL Summer Associate Research Program in Denver, and twenty summer associates from eight prominent law firms participated in this year’s program.  Under the direction of a supervising attorney, each summer associate researched an assigned topic and provided a memorandum to ADL.  Topics researched in Colorado this summer involved issues of free speech, religious freedom, discrimination, reproductive health care, the right to vote, and bullying.

ADL appreciates the participation of the following law firms this year:

•           Baker & Hostetler LLP

•           Ballard Spahr LLP

•           Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP

•           Dorsey & Whitney LLP

•           Foster Graham Milstein & Calisher LLP

•           Greenberg Traurig LLP

•           Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe PC

•           Kutak Rock LLP

 

For more information or to sign up to participate next summer, please contact Associate Regional Director Sue Parker Gerson at 303-830-7177 or sparkergerson@adl.org.