Cba-cle Turns 50: Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future of Continuing Legal Education in Colorado

• Publication year: 2023
• Pages: 42

CBA-CLE Turns 50: Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future of Continuing Legal Education in Colorado Vol. 52, No. 5 [Page 42] Colorado Lawyer June, 2023

BAR NEWS HIGHLIGHT

On November 5, 1965, representatives of the Colorado Bar Association, the Denver Bar Association, and the University of Denver College of Law (now, the Sturm College of Law) met and initiated a Joint Committee for Continuing Legal Education in Colorado. This gathering, spearheaded by Robert Yegge, dean of the College of Law, constituted the first organized effort to establish continuing legal education in the state of Colorado. Six years later, on November 1, 1971, Articles of Incorporation for Continuing Legal Education in Colorado, Inc., a Colorado nonprofit corporation, were filed with the Colorado Secretary of State, and CBA-CLE was born.^[1] In 1977, the University of Colorado School of Law joined as a sponsor, but by 1989 the law schools had dropped out of the mix. On August 31, 1989, Restated and Amended Articles of Incorporation were filed with the Secretary of State, establishing CBA-CLE as a tax exempt, 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. CBA-CLE's 501(c)(3) status was obtained by virtue of its stated purpose of providing continuing legal education programs and publications for CBA and DBA.

For its first 25 years, CBA-CLE's operations were handled by a staff of approximately 10 employees as it worked to build education programs and develop publications for the Colorado legal community. Then, and throughout its existence, the mission of CBA-CLE has been to educate, improve, and continually develop the professional competency and capabilities of all members of the Colorado legal profession by providing high-quality continuing legal education in a wide range of substantive areas (and, consistent with its starting purposes, at a reasonable and competitive cost for CBA and DBA members).

Gary Abrams was brought on as CBA-CLE's executive director in 1996 and embarked on a 22-year mission of building its programs and publications to the gold standard that continues to this day. Gary increased CBA-CLE's staff to 20 and dramatically grew the educational offerings and speaking and authorship opportunities for Colorado attorneys. Thousands of prominent speakers and authors were able to bring their expertise to the legal community under Gary's

watch. Over the last 25 years, CBA-CLE has attracted the best and brightest attorney volunteers to share their...