Colorado Lawyers’ Committee (CLC)

Colorado Lawyers' Committee (CLC)

1700 Lincoln Street, Suite 4100

Denver, CO 80203
Phone: 303-866-0274
Fax: 303-866-0200



Established in 1978 "by a number of prominent Denver-area attorneys," the Colorado Lawyers' Committee is an affiliate of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (LCCRUL).* Like some other LCCRUL affiliates, the CLC is financially supported by member firms; in this instance, it receives assistance from 21 Colorado-based private law firms, who make contributions at the rate of $50.00 per lawyer. Such contributions comprise the committee's sole source of income.

In addition to relying on this support, the CLC functions like other LCCRUL affiliates. Today it acts primarily as a "clearinghouse for the placement of cases and matters which [it] feels have a law reform potential or are otherwise likely to have widespread beneficial impact." Procedurally, its Executive Director initially screens all requests for assistance. The actual representation of clients, however, is provided on a pro bono basis by volunteer member firms, with its Board of Directors having power over final case selection.

Like the LCCRUL and its other affiliates, the CLC "retains a central, although not exclusive, interest in civil rights issues." In particular, the CLC has demonstrated a keen interest in housing cases and issues involving poor and minority interests. In Lindsay v. Westmor Investment Corporation (1985), the CLC challenged housing transactions, which it contended resulted in its clients losing "title to their home and facing imminent eviction." In another instance, the CLC provides legal assistance to the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, an organization attempting "to provide services and assistance to the homeless in the Denver metropolitan area."

The CLC is also concerned with more general issues of age, race, and sex discrimination. In Brawson v. City and County of Denver (1985), it challenged the distinction made by the city's Firefighter's Pension Fund "between widows of firefighters whose marriages occurred after retirement and who are therefore denied pension rights, and those dated to the fireman's activity duty."

In addition to its own litigation docket, the CLC provides a variety of backup services for other legal services and pro bono attorneys. In a case challenging a HUD-supported housing project's requirement that senior-citizen occupants eat "some of their meals communally and pay for that often unwanted privilege," CLC attorneys helped the Denver Legal Aid Society prepare a petition for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court. Other organizations to which the CLC has provided aid include: the Colorado Coalition of Legal Service Programs, Colorado Rural Legal Services, and Northwest Legal Services.