William H. Erickson (1924–2010) One of the Greatest, 0618 COBJ, Vol. 47, No. 6 Pg. 72

• Author: TIMOTHY M. TYMKOVICH, J.
• Position: Vol. 47, 6 [Page 72]

47 Colo.Law. 72

William H. Erickson (1924–2010) One of the Greatest One of the Greatest

Vol. 47, No. 6 [Page 72]

The Colorado Lawyer

June, 2018

PROFILES IN SUCCESS

TIMOTHY M. TYMKOVICH, J.

This article is part of the “Six of the Greatest” series profiling outstanding lawyers in Colorado history.

William H. Erickson was a great lawyer, judge, and person. But not in that order. To the dozens of us who had the privilege of clerking for him, great “person” comes first. Justice Erickson treated his clerks like family—he knew us as friends, he knew about our personal lives, and he knew us as fledgling lawyers eager to learn the craft.

So when I reflect on him as “One of the Greatest” for this series, I think first of the man who indelibly shaped my life and career. He was a mentor and confidant to me for the 27 years after my clerkship on the Colorado Supreme Court ended in 1983 until his death in January 2010 at the age 85 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Like many Erickson clerks, I didn’t make a single major career or life decision without first consulting the Justice. It’s safe to say few jurists match Justice Erickson’s loyalty and dedication to his law clerk family.

Justice Erickson was a Colorado native through and through. Tough he had many offers to leave the state as his stature and reputation grew, he stayed put—first as one of our greatest advocates and then as a jurist for 25 years.

But Justice Erickson’s greatness was defined by much more than his many professional accolades. Whenever Colorado asked something of Justice Erickson—whether it was representing an unpopular defendant, leading our state Supreme Court, or chairing the Columbine Review Commission—he always delivered. What made Justice Erickson one of Colorado’s greatest, then, was not just his tremendous legal talent—it was his constant willingness to channel that talent toward the public good and our great state.

Early Years and Education

Justice Erickson was born in Denver on May 11, 1924.^[1] Lawyering was always in his blood. Erickson’s father Arthur, better known as Axe, was a leading Denver lawyer in the first half of the 20th century, partnering in law with former Governor George Carlson.²

Despite his father’s successful legal practice, Erickson followed a somewhat untraditional path into law. After graduating from Denver’s East High School in 1942, Justice Erickson enrolled at the Colorado School of Mines.³ His time at the Mines was briefly interrupted in 1943 when he served in the U.S. Army Air Force.⁴ Justice Erickson thereafter returned to Mines and graduated in 1947 with a degree in Petroleum Engineering.⁵

After graduation, Justice Erickson worked at Rangley Oil Field as a drilling engineer.⁶ He quickly rose through the ranks and found himself in charge of six oil rigs.^[7]But the lure of long, lonely nights in the oil patch quickly wore of. One night, after Justice Erickson had worked in the field until 3:00 a.m. setting casing on a new oil well, his father called him with a question: “When are you going to law school?”⁸ The story is somewhat apocryphal, however, because Justice Erickson long planned to enter law.⁹ Indeed, he attended Mines in part because he believed the analytical thinking fostered there would be an asset as a lawyer, and he knew oil and gas law would be a promising practice area in Colorado.^[10]

Justice Erickson took his father’s advice and attended the University of Virginia School of Law.¹¹ He spent his second year of law school at the University of Michigan so he could take patent law and oil and gas law courses then unavailable at UVA.¹² Justice Erickson returned to UVA for his third and final year and graduated in 1950.^[13]

Private Practice

After graduation, Justice Erickson moved back to Denver and joined his father’s law office, intent on becoming a trial lawyer.¹⁴ Practicing with his father proved immensely valuable for this, as Justice Erickson claimed to have “never learned more from anyone” than his father about how to try cases.¹⁵

Returning to Denver also led Justice Erickson to love. He met Dorothy Rogers on a double date with his roommate. Dorie lived across the street from Erickson while she began her elementary school teaching career. She grew to admire the young lawyer, who had his own car and a short-cropped, “World War II” style haircut, which was quite fashionable at the time (and which he never changed much).¹⁶ The two married in 1953.^[17]

Eager to gain trial experience and develop his skills, Justice Erickson took on as much pro bono criminal work as he could. His reputation as a tenacious advocate spread like wildfire, and before long federal judges began asking him to serve as defense counsel in important cases.

He accepted numerous appointments (many unpaid). He once received a call from Judge Alfred Arraj, who explained he had “a death penalty case” for which he wanted “to make certain the defendant had as good a defense as he could be provided.”¹⁸ Justice Erickson accepted the appointment without complaint.

Erickson founded his own firm in 1958, known as Hindry, Erickson & Meyer. His father was of counsel to the firm as well, which grew by 1969 to what then was a large size of 22 lawyers.¹⁹ Erickson left the firm in 1969 and practiced solo until his appointment to the Colorado Supreme Court in 1971.²⁰

While in private practice, Justice Erickson became a “go to” lawyer in Colorado and the region, trying a flurry of blockbuster cases. None was more notorious than his defense of Joseph Corbett, Jr., the kidnapper and killer of Adolph Coors III. Coors, a member of the legendary brewing family and then its CEO and chairman of the Board, disappeared on his way to work in February 1960 and was later found dead.²¹ A nationwide manhunt located Corbett in Vancouver, Canada.

When Corbett’s father asked Erickson to handle the defense, he initially refused because many of his friends and clients were close to the Coors family. As the case proceeded, however, the trial judge handling the case asked Erickson to reconsider, because the solo defense attorney needed help in the high pressure glare of national attention. Erickson agreed and was appointed to the defense team. Tough the jury ultimately convicted Corbett, Justice Erickson’s defense received much well-deserved praise. And as a sign of how Erickson zealously yet fairly defended Corbett, when a seat later opened on the federal bench, Erickson’s “strongest supporter for appointment to that court was Joe Coors, the brother of Adolph Coors III.”²²

That case also shaped Erickson’s views about the rule of law. He thought Corbett was harmed by adverse pretrial publicity, a prosecution-oriented trial judge, and an unfavorable venue in Jefferson County near the Coors brewery and Coors family homes. Later, as a Bar leader, he became an advocate for numerous criminal justice reforms that advanced the co-equal roles of the prosecution, the counsel for defense, and the court. Any weakness in the three areas would impair the entire foundation of a free and fair trial.²³

Erickson also worked on a number of high-profile civil cases. He was involved in the blockbuster case concerning The Denver Post in the late 1960s, in which control of the paper and millions of dollars were at stake. In that case he worked alongside former Supreme Court Justice and Ambassador to the United Nations Arthur J. Goldberg.²⁴ After rounds of...