Earlier this year, the Office for Victims Program (OVP), a unit of the Division of Criminal Justice within the Colorado Department of Public Safety, announced a $2 million grant to create the Colorado Civil Justice Corps (CCJC) Fellowship. The program helps Colorado nonprofits access legal resources while also launching the careers of five University of Denver Sturm College of Law class of 2019 graduates focused on public interest law.
When you ask Alison Heinen, third-year law student at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, her professional goals, working toward the public good is at the foundation of all her plans.
Catalyzed by a $414,000 grant from The Gateway Fund II of The Denver Foundation, and a subsequent $25,000 grant from The Denver Foundation’s Immigrant Legal Services Fund, the University of Denver Sturm College of Law has launched a new Immigration Justice Project designed to expand the provision of legal services to individuals facing immigration-related legal challenges, heighten awareness of issues at the intersection of immigration and criminal law, and jumpstart careers in the public interest focused on immigration law.
The University of Denver Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (DU LITC) is an all-star when it comes to helping people in dire need of help with the IRS. Putting in over 1,000 service hours and saving clients over $1.5 million a year, the student-staffed clinic takes on everything post-filing and does life-changing work for those buried in tax debt.
Thirteen University of Denver Sturm College of Law students chose to step up their spring break and take their legal skills on the road. Thanks to the Alternative Spring Break (ASB) program, they traveled to El Paso, Texas, and Las Cruces, New Mexico to provide legal support and advocacy to immigrants.
Innovative University of Denver Sturm College of Law students, Zachary Al-Tabbaa, 3L, and Desiree Palomares, 2L, are taking their education and legal responsibility to the next level. Appointed as co-presidents of the Hispanic National Bar Association – Law Student Division’s Region XIII (Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming) in October 2018, they are on a mission to create opportunities for students to thrive in law school and become successful members of the legal profession.
You don’t have to look much further than the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) at Sturm College of Law to see how the University of Denver is fulfilling its mission of being a private university dedicated to the public good. Since 1982, the clinic has been helping the low-income population dig its way out from under mountains of IRS debt.
When professors, veterans, and law students join efforts, impressive solutions are possible. In the case of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, that solution is the groundbreaking pro-bono Veterans Advocacy Project (VAP), which is making monumental strides in veteran legal services.
