Annual Report of the President: 1972-1973 Term
| Jurisdiction | Colorado,United States |
| Citation | Vol. 3 No. 2 Pg. 45 |
| Pages | 45 |
| Publication year | 1973 |
With each year that passes, the complexity of our problems seems to become more apparent, and the need for increased effort and ingenuity to meet these problems becomes more real.
Fortunately, those who serve their profession in Colorado have inherited a long-established tradition for hard work and a progressive attitude towards professional responsibility. This year's committees and sections—where the actual work of the Association is performed-have upheld that tradition, with great credit to themselves and to the Association.
The purpose of this report is to give you a summary of the activity in this year so that you may better understand what has been accomplished and what remains to be done.
The broad goals of the Colorado Bar Association are the improvement, where needed, of the courts, the lawyers, and the law itself, the expansion of the availability of legal services, and the restoration of confidence in the administration of justice. Our specific programs include:
1. Improvement of the judicial system.
2. Legislation to simplify and improve the law.
3. Improvement in competence and efficiency of lawyers.
4. Maintenance of high ethical standards.
5. Improvement of availability of legal services.
6. Education of the public concerning the law and the legal system.
7. Efforts to deal with social problems.
8. Effective administration of the affairs of the Association.
Improvement of the Judicial System
The primary effort for improvement of the judiciary was directed toward judicial salaries. Through past reforms, Colorado has been provided with a court structure and a means of selection and tenure which allows one of the finest judicial systems in the United States. The compensation of Colorado judges remained seriously inadequate.
The effort to correct that deficiency was adopted as the most important legislative goal of the Colorado Bar Association in the 1973 session of the General Assembly, and was given the highest priority accorded to any legislative undertaking since the adoption of the merit judicial selection plan in 1966. The Board of Governors at the January 1973 meeting endorsed the report of the committee, appointed by Governor John A. Love and chaired by former Chancellor Chester M. Alter, calling for substantial salary increases for all levels of the Colorado judiciary and for the establishment of a salary commission, which would make recommendations thereafter for adjustment of salaries in all three branches of the state government.
A major legislative campaign to secure adoption of the full increases recommended by the Alter Committee was successfully carried out. It was not possible to obtain consideration of the separate salary commission bill at this session, and it is hoped that that proposal can be introduced in the 1974 session.
The other legislation vitally affecting the courts was the perennial Burns amendment, which would emasculate the merit selection and tenure system. That resolution was handily defeated in the House Judiciary Committee, under the able chairmanship of Representative Ronald Strahle.
After the close of the session, the Legislative Council authorized the study of the Colorado court system by a committee also chaired by Rep. Strahle. That committee is considering a constitutional amendment which would eliminate part-time county judges, would permit more efficient use of county and district judges through redrawing of judicial district boundaries and other means, and would consolidate the Juvenile, Probate, and Superior Courts in Denver with the Denver District Court.
The Judiciary Section, headed by the Hon. George M. Gibson, has undertaken a study of those proposals and will submit its recommendations to the Board of Governors, which will in turn make its conclusions available to Rep. Strahle's committee.
Legislation to Simplify and Improve the Law
The Association's proposal for statutory reform met with a high degree of success. Probably foremost was the adoption of the Uniform Probate Code, the most complete revision and simplification of probate law ever enacted in Colorado. Over a period of several years, the leaders of the Probate and Trust Law Section spent countless hours of time in reviewing and drafting this bill and in supporting its passage. Bill McGehee, the present chairman, Bill Huff, the immediate past chairman, and Norman Markman played prominent roles in that effort.
Other major Bar-sponsored or approved legislation included:
S.B. 349, completely rewriting civil commitment procedures. This was prepared by the Mental Health Committee, while chaired by Wes Miller, and pushed through the legislature with the strong help of Ed Kahn.
S.B. 225, making major changes in the Colorado inheritance tax and gift tax law.
S.B. 143, relating to the governing instruments of charitable trusts. This and S.B. 225 above were also the products of the Probate and Trust Law Section.
H.B. 1235, amending the Uniform Dissolution of Marriage Act.
H.B. 1259, the Uniform Marriage Act.
These last two bills were recommended by the Family Law Section.
Mention should also be made of the no-fault bill adopted in this session. While the final draft of this legislation did not receive Bar Association sponsorship, the greater part of its draftsmanship came from our Auto Reparations Committee led by Bill Steele and Dan Hoffman in the last two years. Also, much of the impetus for enactment came from the Colorado Bar endorsement of the no-fault concept in the last two years.
There may be a number of reasons for our success with the legislature. It could...
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