Howard Rosenberg: A Champion for Legal Aid, 1017 COBJ, Vol. 46, No. 9 Pg. 58

AuthorLUCY MARSH, J.

Howard Rosenberg: A Champion for Legal Aid

Vol. 46, No. 9 [Page 58]

The Colorado Lawyer

October, 2017

PROFILES IN SUCCESS

LUCY MARSH, J.

Howard Rosenberg is one of the all-time greats in Colorado legal history. His dedication to providing legal services for the poor continues to be an inspiration, and he remains a role model for law students and lawyers alike. He has served as president of the Denver Bar Association, was a co-founder of the Thursday Night Bar (now Metro Volunteer Lawyers), and served on the board for Metro Denver Legal Services. He has also participated in many Colorado and Denver Bar Association committees and sections, as well as committees of the Colorado Supreme Court. In 1990, he was awarded the DBAs highest honor, the Award of Merit. Twelve years later, to the delight of hundreds of his students, he received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. His unwavering commitment to providing legal services to the poor has not gone unnoticed.

Early Years

Growing up, Howard had little experience with poverty, encountering it for the first time upon accepting a job as a legal aid lawyer.[1] He was raised in the Roseland section of Chicago, where his father made a good living by regularly serving the finest Canadian whiskey at a restaurant he owned throughout Prohibition. When Prohibition ended, Howard's father sold his restaurant and opened a liquor store staffed by the entire family. Howard, the youngest of four children, worked in the store from age 15 until the day he happily accepted his first job as a lawyer.

From the Military to Law School

Immediately after high school, Howard was drafted into the Army and apparently had a direct impact on World War II. On August 14, 1945—the day he was inducted and walked into Ft. Sheridan—the Japanese surrendered.

Howard's military involvement continued in Europe. Although he was trained to be an infantry soldier, he was sent to a small town in Germany, where he was immediately assigned to work in a small office in an army warehouse and depot. There, he was expected to spend his time filing an endless assortment of irrelevant bills of lading. Creative by nature, Howard soon designed his own filing system—and made extensive use of the bushes outside the office window.

After an honorable discharge on January 30, 1947, thanks to the GI Bill, Howard enrolled in a "radical" new...

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