Looking Back, Looking Forwardleadership and Beyond

• Publication year: 2007
• Pages: 5
• Citation: Vol. 36 No. 1 Pg. 5

36 Colo.Law. 5 Colorado Lawyer 2007.

2007, January, Pg. 5. Looking Back, Looking ForwardLeadership and Beyond

The Colorado Lawyer
January 2007
Vol. 36, No. 1 [Page 5]

In and Around the Bar
CBA President's Message to Members
Looking Back, Looking Forward - Leadership and Beyond
by Elizabeth A. Starrs

The second half of 2006 was a unique time for the Colorado Bar Association (CBA). Our primary focus was to defeat Amendment 40. We engaged in a political endeavor - something the CBA has not done on such a scale in its history - and, I am happy to say, we did so quite successfully. The CBA took on the task to defend Colorado courts from a direct assault on their independence, and to protect the system of merit selection that, ironically, marked its fortieth anniversary in 2006

So, what will we be doing in 2007? I would like to highlight a few of the many things we have planned for the first part of this year

Colorado's Merit Selection System of Choosing Judges

In early 2006, Governor Bill Owens signed an Honorary Proclamation announcing that, from May 1, 2006 through April 30, 2007, Colorado would celebrate forty years of having the Judicial Merit Selection System. In doing so, Governor Owens recognized that our courts are the guardians of our constitutional rights; that a sound democracy requires that all citizens have access to the courts for fair, impartial just, and timely resolution of legal disputes; and that Colorado's system of merit selection has served the state well, ensuring an independent judiciary.(fn1)

A few months before this proclamation, Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey requested that the Judicial Advisory Council (JAC) organize a celebration commemorating the 1966 passage of the amendment to Article VI of the Colorado Constitution, which enacted the system of merit selection of judges in Colorado. In keeping with this request, Justice Gregory Hobbs appointed a Fortieth Anniversary Steering Committee (Steering Committee) of JAC members and others to plan and stage a year-long celebration that started on Law Day, May 1, 2006, and will conclude on April 30, 2007.

Fortieth Anniversary Steering Committee

John T. Baker is the Chair of this Steering Committee. With the participation of the Colorado Judicial Institute, the League of Women Voters, and the CBA, John organized the celebration, which included programs and events to be presented to schools, civic groups, and other appropriate venues in every judicial district in the state. This is a nonpartisan and apolitical celebration. It has combined the efforts of judges throughout Colorado, as well as members of the legislature, officials of the executive branch of the state, members of local bar associations, and civic groups...