Center for Legal Inclusiveness Awards
In 2011, CLI established a new Inclusiveness Awards Program to recognize and honor individuals and legal organizations at the leading edge of diversity and inclusiveness efforts.
2011 CLI Inclusiveness Award Winners
2011 Leadership Award Winner - Larry Theis, Chair of the Executive Committee of Holme Roberts & Owen LLP
Other nominees included Leslie Fields, Managing Partner, Faegre & Benson LLP, and Bruce James, Managing Partner, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP.
CLI Outstanding Member Award-Law Department - Qwest Communications
Xcel Energy Inc. was also nominated.
CLI Outstanding Member Award-Law Firm - Faegre & Benson LLP
Other nominees included Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP and Holme Roberts & Owen LLP.
CLI Volunteer of the Year Award - Patricia Powell, Hummons Consulting
Other nominees included Meshach Rhoades, an attorney with Qwest Communications; Andy McCallin, First Assistant Attorney General, Colorado Attorney General's Office; and Jim Pinto, Partner, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP.
About the CLI Inclusiveness Awards
CLI Leadership Award
To be eligible for the Leadership Award, a candidate must:
- Work for a CLI member organization and be the top legal officer (manager/partner/general counsel) in the organization.
- Promote and be the driving force behind advances in diversity, and especially, inclusion, in their organization.
- Promote inclusiveness in the greater community, which may include personal involvement in the community on diversity/inclusiveness issues.
CLI Outstanding Member Award
To be eligible for the Outstanding Member Award, the organization must:
- Be a CLI member that actively promotes inclusiveness in their own organization. This may include, but is not limited to, organizations that participate in CLI’s Inclusiveness Network (pilot program), demonstrate to others what they are doing, and promote training in inclusiveness.
- Actively promote inclusiveness externally, in legal organizations or in the community as a whole.
- Measure its progress on inclusiveness.
- Have the visible, vocal, and active support of its top management.
CLI Volunteer of the Year Award
To be eligible for the Volunteer of the Year Award, an individual must:
- Be active in CLI activities.
- Be actively involved in efforts within the greater community to advance diversity and inclusiveness in the legal profession and/or advancing diversity and inclusiveness within a legal organization.
The CLI Board of Directors will nominate and select the award winners each year after conducting interviews of nominees. Award recipients for the 2010 Awards will be honored at the 2011 Legal Inclusiveness & Diversity Summit (f/k/a Rocky Mountain Legal Diversity Summit). View the Board of Directors' Inclusiveness Awards promotional material.
Diversity in the Legal Profession Committee of the Colorado and
Denver Bar Associations Annual Diversity Awards
The Diversity in the Legal Profession Committee of the CBA & DBA (DILP) created two annual awards in 2007 - the Qwest Diversity Leadership and Qwest Diversity Trailblazer Awards:
- Qwest Diversity Trailblazer Individual of the Year Award honors a Colorado attorney who has made meaningful and significant efforts to advance diversity within his or her organization and/or the legal profession.
- Qwest Diversity Leadership Award recognizes a legal organization that is a leader in diversity and demonstrating a commitment to diversity within their organization through measurable results in recruiting, retaining and promoting diverse attorneys.
These annual awards are named for Qwest Communications because it provided significant funding and support for the 2007 Diversity Summit, when the awards were first created.
The DILP awards are announced in mid-September each year at the annual Commitment to Workplace Diversity Reception in Denver. The nomination process begins in June. Contact DILP Chair Meshach Rhoades for more information.
Qwest Diversity Trailblazer Award
2010: Richard T. Baer, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel of Qwest Communications, and Michael C. Connelly, General Counsel of Xcel Energy, Inc.
2009: Chief Judge Wiley Daniel, U.S. District Court
2008: Dean Heizer, Heizer Paul LLP
2007: Judge Christine Arguello, U.S. District Court
Qwest Diversity Leadership Award
2010: Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP
2009: Denver City Attorney's Office
2008: Qwest Communications
2007: Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP
