Sam Maynes*

• Publication year: 2004
• Pages: 71

33 Colo.Law. 71 Colorado Lawyer 2004.

2004, August, Pg. 71. Sam Maynes*

Vol. 33, No. 8, Pg. 71

The Colorado Lawyer
August 2004
Vol. 33, No. 8 [Page 71]

Features
Profiles of Success
Sam Maynes*
by Sam D. Starritt

The Colorado Lawyer publishes profiles of practicing lawyers on a quarterly basis. The CBA Profiles Committee selects Colorado Bar Association members who are nominated as outstanding lawyers by their peers. With these profiles, the CBA hopes to: promote the image of lawyers by emphasizing qualities that should be emulated; show the benefits of public service to both the lawyer who serves and the community; emphasize professionalism; provide role models for new lawyers; manifest ways of becoming successful and respected; and reward deserving lawyers for their contributions to the profession. Please send your suggestions, comments, or questions about this ongoing feature to: Arlene Abady, Managing Editor, 1900 Grant St Suite 900, Denver, CO 80203; (303) 824-5325; fax: (303) 830-3990; e-mail: aabady@cobar.org

Sam D. Starritt, Grand Junction, is a partner with the firm of Dufford, Waldeck, Milburn & Krohn LLP - (970) 241-5500. He also is a member of The Colorado Lawyer Board of Editors

*Several weeks before publication, Sam Maynes told us he was honored to be chosen to be profiled in The Colorado Lawyer and enjoyed the interview process. Sam died July 25 after a long battle with cancer.

Sam Maynes
Courtesy of Laurie E. Dickson Photography C 2004

Frank E. "Sam" Maynes was accepted to law school at the University of Colorado in 1955. To help with expenses, he applied for a scholarship with the El Pomar Foundation, a charity that had been established by Spencer Penrose and Charles L. Tutt, Jr. to administer Penrose's estate.1 Penrose died in 1939, and when Sam applied for the scholarship, Charles Tutt was still interviewing scholarship applicants personally.

At Tutt's request, Sam traveled from Durango to the Broadmoor Hotel for the interview.2 After dispensing with pleasantries about the trip, Tutt said, "I have a letter here from Judge Noland, who thinks you're going to make a good lawyer."3 Sam said, "I hope so." Tutt continued, "Well, I'm going to give you a scholarship for law school at CU. There are only two conditions: First, that you maintain at least a C grade-point average, and second, you must never do anything to embarrass your mother or your father."4 Given Sam's personal and professional success, he evidently complied with Tutt's conditions.

Background

Sam Maynes was born in Silverton, Colorado in 1933. His father was a hard-rock miner, and his mother was educated at the University of Colorado as a teacher. Later, the family managed a bar in Durango. Sam received his undergraduate degree from Colorado College in 1955 and his L.L.B. from the University of Colorado in 1958. He was a member of the Colorado Supreme Court Nominating Commission, the Chairperson for the Legal Committee of the Upper Colorado River Commission, Chairperson of the Upper Colorado River Commission, and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. In 1994, he was awarded an honorary Order of the Coif, which, according to Sam, is the best way to achieve the award (there is no class rank requirement and people say wonderful things about you). Sam and his wife of forty-five years had four children: Sam W. (who practices law with him in Durango), Mark E. (who practices law in Seattle, Washington), Michele (who works in the pharmaceutical industry outside of Colorado Springs), and Mindy (who is a schoolteacher on the big island of Hawaii).

Learning hard work and humility from his parents, Sam credits everyone and everything but himself for his professional accomplishments: "[I]t isn't I'm a good guy or a smart lawyer as much as the people I've had the good fortune to deal with." First on his list (and judging by his description of her, rightfully so) is his wife, Jacqueline, whom he described as his "rudder" and an "amazing lady."5 Jacqueline Maynes died in 2003 after a valiant decades-long battle with multiple sclerosis. Second are his law partners. He has been with Tom Shipps for twenty-five years, had a long association with Byron Bradford and Larry McDaniel, and never had any kind of serious blow-up or fight with any of them: "They've all been wonderful people." Third, Sam credits "being in the right place at the right time."

Add a razor-sharp wit, a twinkle in the eye, hard work, and a genuine love for your profession, and you have Sam Maynes's formula for success. When asked if he liked being a lawyer, Sam's smile foretold his response: "Loved it. Loved it. I've been very lucky."

Water Law and Water Projects

Sam was in the right place at the right time in 1964 when Bill Eakes,6 the attorney for the Southwestern Water...