The Curtis Hotel, 1405 Curtis Street – 3rd Floor Ballroom
Friday, October 11th, 2013
5:30pm to 9pm
Thank you to our generous sponsors!
Justice Council Sponsors
Freedom League Sponsors
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
Carl J. Minnig Foundation, Max Minnig, Jr. & Associates, LLC, and Donald Bounds LLC & Suzanne Greene
The Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center
Haddon, Morgan & Foreman, P.C.
Kevin Paul and Melanie Lunsford
Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains
Advocate Sponsors
Bob Connelly
Brett Family Foundation – Linda Shoemaker, President
The Colorado and Denver Bar Associations
Crane & Tejada PC
The Law Office of Karen Steinhauser LLC
Sturm College of Law, University of Denver
University of Colorado Law School
The ACLU of Colorado presented its 2013 Civil Rights Awards to State Representative Claire Levy, Kevin Paul of Heizer Paul Grueskin LLP, and Kevin Williams of the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition (CCDC) for their exemplary contributions to protecting civil rights and furthering civil liberties in Colorado.
Representative Levy, who has dedicated her career as an attorney and a legislator to advancing civil rights, received the Carle Whitehead Memorial Award. Levy has spearheaded efforts in the legislature to decrease prison populations and address a variety of juvenile justice issues, including removing juveniles from adult jails. She has worked to reform the sentencing process and reduce the use of solitary confinement, and she helped secure legislation in the last session to modernize elections and increase voter participation. Levy has argued passionately for preserving the civil rights of all Coloradoans and has been a tireless advocate for ending the death penalty.
The Edward Sherman Award, which recognizes outstanding legal work, was awarded to Kevin Paul, whose career of legal advocacy for reproductive rights has positively impacted hundreds of thousands of men, women, and teens throughout the state. Paul, now a partner at Denver-based Heizer Paul Grueskin LLP, has long served as legal counsel for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. Among his many legal and legislative achievements, Paul was instrumental in creating the “bubble law,” which is now used as a model throughout the state and country for balancing protesters’ rights with the right to privacy outside of healthcare facilities.
Kevin Williams, who directs the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition (CCDC) Legal Program, received the Ralph L. Carr Award, which recognizes an individual’s devotion to an important contemporary civil rights issue. Under Williams’ direction, the CCDC Legal Program and its cooperating attorneys have successfully litigated hundreds of disability rights cases, including a national class action settlement requiring all K-Mart stores to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
For questions about this year’s or next year's event, please contact Rachel Pryor-Lease, Development Associate, at rpryor-lease@aclu-co.org or 720-402-3105.