History

Old Law School Building

Kent Hall, original location of the law school, 1892–94.
Hale Science Building, 1894–1909.
Guggenheim Law Building, 1909–59.
Fleming Law Building, located on the opposite end of campus from the previous three buildings, housed the law school from 1959 to 2006. In 1974, the West Classroom Office Tower and Rothgerber Memorial Library were added.
Wolf Law Building, 2006 to present. With state-of-the-art classrooms, two cutting-edge courtrooms, and a modern library, the Wolf Law Building is one of the most technologically advanced law schools in the nation. It received a gold rating for environmental sustainability under the United States Green Building Council’s LEED certification rating system.

The ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Colorado Law School was established in 1892. The first woman graduated with the first graduating class in 1894. The first students of color entered in 1897. The law school became a charter member of the Association of American Law Schools, organized in 1901. ÌýAnd, the school has been on the American Bar Association's list of approved law schools since its first publication in 1923.

ColoradoÌýLaw SchoolÌýDeans

1892-1902.Ìý Moses Hallett, LLD, 1893, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Colorado.Ìý Member, Territorial Council, 1863-65; Chief Justice, Supreme Court of the Territory of Colorado, 1866-76; first U.S. District Judge for the District of Colorado, 1877-1906.

1902-1907.Ìý John Campbell, AB, 1877; LLB, 1879, State ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Iowa.Ìý Private practice, 1880-89, City Attorney, Colorado Springs, 1880-83 and El Paso County Attorney, 1884-85; Member of the House (1885) and Senate (1887) of the Colorado General Assembly; Colorado District Judge, 1889-95; Justice Colorado Supreme Court, 1895-1913 and 1922-38.

1907-1927.Ìý John D. Fleming, BA, 1875; LLD, 1910, Centre College, Kentucky; LL.B., 1879, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Louisville.Ìý Financial manager, Robert E. Lee Mining Company, 1880-82; Mayor, 1882-83 and City Solicitor, 1885-86, Leadville, Colorado.Ìý U.S. Attorney for Colorado, 1889-93.Ìý Private practice, Denver, Colorado, 1893.Ìý Lecturer, Secretary and Acting Dean of the Law School, 1903-07.Ìý Appointed the first Charles Inglis Thomson Professor of Law in 1915.

1928-1931, 1933-35.Ìý James Grafton Rogers, AB,1905; MA (Hon.), 1931, Yale ³Ô¹ÏÍø; LL.B., 1908; LL.D., 1930, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Denver.Ìý Professor, 1910-27, and Dean, 1927-28, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Denver College of Law.Ìý Assistant United States Secretary of State, 1931-1933.Ìý Appointed Master of Timothy Dwight College of Yale ³Ô¹ÏÍø in 1935.

1935-1939.Ìý Robert L. Stearns, AB, 1914, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Colorado, LLB, 1916, Columbia ³Ô¹ÏÍø.Ìý Private practice, Denver, Colorado, 1920-31.Ìý Faculty member (Professor from 1924), 1920-31, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Denver College of Law; Acting Dean, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Colorado Law School, 1931-1933.Ìý President of the ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Colorado, 1939-53.

1940-1962.Ìý Edward C. King, A.B., 1919; LLB, 1922; LLM, 1952, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Denver.Ìý Private practice, Denver , Colorado, 1922-29.Ìý Trust officer, 1929-38, Executive Vice-President, 1939-40, International Trust Company.Ìý Instructor, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Denver College of Law, 1937-40.Ìý After retiring as the Law School’s longest serving Dean, continued to serve as Professor, 1963-64.Ìý President, Colorado Bar Association, 1963-64.

1964-1968.Ìý John W. Reed, AB, William Jewell College, 1939; LLB, Cornell ³Ô¹ÏÍø, 1942.Ìý Private practice, Kansas City, Missouri, 1946-49.Ìý Associate Professor, 1949-53; Professor, 1953-64, 1968-85, and Thomas M. Cooley Professor of Law, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Michigan, 1985-87.Ìý Dean and Professor of Law, Wayne State ³Ô¹ÏÍø School of Law, 1987-1992.

1968-1973.Ìý Don W. Sears, BS, 1946; JD 1948, Ohio State ³Ô¹ÏÍø.Ìý Private practice, Toledo, Ohio, 1949-50.Ìý Assistant Professor, 1950-52, Associate Professor, 1952-55, Professor 1955-88, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Colorado Law School .Ìý Professor Emeritus since 1988.

1974-1979.Ìý Courtland H. Peterson, B.A., 1951; LL.B., 1953, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Colorado.; M.C.L., 1959, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Chicago; Dr.Jur., 1963, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Freiburg.Ìý Private practice, Denver, Colorado, 1953-54.Ìý Assistant Professor, 1959-61, Associate Professor, 1961-63, Professor 1963-91, Rosenbaum Professor, 1991-94, and Doman Professor of International Law, 1994-96, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Colorado Law School.Ìý Doman Professor Emeritus since 1996.

1979-1981.Ìý Thomas G. Brown, B.S., 1956; JD, 1965, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Colorado.Ìý Private practice, Denver, 1964-79 and since 1981. Dean and Professor of Law, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Colorado Law School, 1979-81.

1981-1987.Ìý Betsy Levin, AB, 1956, Bryn Mawr College; LLB, 1966; LLD, 1992, Yale ³Ô¹ÏÍø.Ìý Director of Education Studies, The Urban Institute, Washington, D.C., 1968-73; Associate Professor, 1973-76, Professor, 1976-79, Duke ³Ô¹ÏÍø School of Law; General Counsel, U.S. Department of Education, 1980-81.Ìý Executive Director, Association of American Law Schools, 1987-92; Visiting Professor, Nova Southeastern ³Ô¹ÏÍø, since 2001.

1988-1995.Ìý Gene R. Nichol, Jr., BA, 1973, Oklahoma State ³Ô¹ÏÍø; JD, 1976, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Texas.Ìý Assistant Professor, 1978-81, Associate Professor, 1981-83, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of West Virginia.Ìý Visiting Associate Professor, 1983-84, College of William and Mary; Professor, 1984-85, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Florida; Cutler Professor of Law, 1985-88, College of William and Mary School of Law; Dean and Professor of Law, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of North Carolina, 1999-2005.Ìý President, College of William & Mary since 2005.

1996-2003.Ìý HaroldÌý H. Bruff, BA, 1965, Williams College; JD, 1968, Harvard.Ìý Assistant Professor, 1971-72, Associate Professor, 1973-76, Professor, 1977-79, Arizona State ³Ô¹ÏÍø.Ìý Senior Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel, 1979-81; Reddit Professor of Law, 1983-92, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Texas; Rothschild Research Professor, 1992-96, George Washington ³Ô¹ÏÍø; Charles Inglis Thomson Professor of Law, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Colorado, 1996-2011; Rosenbaum Chair since 2011.

2003-2011.Ìý David H. Getches, AB, 1964, Occidental College; JD, 1967, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Southern California.Ìý Private practice, San Diego, California, 1968-70.Ìý Founding Executive Director, Native American Rights Fund, 1970-77; Private practice, Boulder, Colorado, 1978-79. Visiting Associate Professor, 1978-79, Associate Professor, 1979-87, Professor, 1987, Raphael J. Moses Professor of Natural Resources Law since 1994. Executive Director, Colorado Department of Natural Resources, 1983-87.

2011-2016.Ìý Philip J. Weiser, BA, 1990, Swarthmore College; JD, 1994, New York ³Ô¹ÏÍø School of Law. Thomson Professor of Law, and Executive Director and Founder of the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship at the ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Colorado. Associate Professor, 1999-2006, Professor, 2006-present, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Colorado Law School; Visiting Professor, 2006, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Pennsylvania School of Law; Visiting Professor, 2008, New York ³Ô¹ÏÍø School of Law;Ìý2009-2010,ÌýDeputy Assistant Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice, Antitrust Division;Ìý2010-2011,ÌýSenior Advisor for Technology and Innovation to the National Economic Council Director at the White House.

2016-2021.Ìý S. James Anaya, 1980, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of New Mexico; JD, 1983, Harvard Law. Regents’ Professor and James J. Lenoir Professor of Human Rights Law and Policy, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Arizona, Rogers College of Law 1999-2016. ProfessorÌý ofÌý Law,Ìý ³Ô¹ÏÍøÌý ofÌý IowaÌý CollegeÌý ofÌý Law, 1988-1999. United Nations SpecialÌý RapporteurÌý onÌý the rightsÌý ofÌý indigenousÌý peoples–AppointedÌý byÌý theÌý UN HumanÌý RightsÌý CouncilÌý (theÌý 47-memberÌý inter-governmentalÌý body), 2008-2014. Duties included monitoring conditions of indigenous peoples worldwide; investigating allegations of human rights violations againstÌýÌý them,ÌýÌý includingÌýÌý throughÌýÌý countryÌýÌý visits;ÌýÌý andÌýÌý makingÌýÌý appropriate recommendations to the Council, governments, and others. For his work, Anaya was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

2021-present. Lolita Buckner Inniss, AB, 1996, Princeton ³Ô¹ÏÍø; JD, 2000, ³Ô¹ÏÍø of California, Los Angeles School of Law; LLM, 2006, Osgoode Hall Law School of York ³Ô¹ÏÍø; PhD, 2011, York ³Ô¹ÏÍø. ³Ô¹ÏÍø Distinguished Professor, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Professor of Law, and Robert G. Storey Distinguished Faculty Fellow, Southern Methodist ³Ô¹ÏÍø Dedman School of Law, 2017-2021. Professor of Law, Cleveland State ³Ô¹ÏÍø, 1998-2017. Elihu Root Visiting Professor of Women’s Studies, Hamilton College, 2012-2014. Visiting Associate Professor, Pace Law, 2009. Adjunct Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School of York ³Ô¹ÏÍø, 2006-2007. Martin Luther King Jr./Cesar Chavez/Rosa Parks Visiting Associate Professor, Wayne State ³Ô¹ÏÍø Law School, 1997-1998. Visiting Associate Professor, Widener ³Ô¹ÏÍø Law School, 1995-1997. Immigration Clinic Director and Clinical Associate Professor, Adjunct Professor, Seton Hall ³Ô¹ÏÍø Law School, 1993-1995.