Background and Transition

  I graduated from DU law school and passed the bar exam in 1986. Both my undergraduate degree in Business Administration from CU and my JD from DU included a real estate emphasis, so real estate was always on my radar. My first job out of college was with Transamerica Title Insurance Company in Steamboat Springs. I transitioned back to Denver in 1990 for work as a landman, which led to a position with Chevron and its generous tuition reimbursement program. I spent my days determining oil and gas royalty interests and attended law school at night for four years. A grind, but nice to leave DU with no debt!

Upon graduating law school, I spent three years “in house” with Bank Western Savings & Loan, a Colorado savings and loan institution which was eventually bought out by, I believe, Bank of America. As the newbie lawyer in the BW legal department, I spent a lot of time doing collection work, which allowed me to get my feet wet in county courts around the Denver metro area.

After Bank Western, I spent 8 years with DiManna & Jackson and then 7 years with Robinson Waters & O’Dorisio. During those 15 years, I developed my real property transactional and litigation skills. I was very lucky during this time to be heavily involved in the development of both Coors Field, at DiManna & Jackson, and Invesco, now Empower, Field, at Robinson Waters & O’Dorisio.

From RWO I moved to a position as Chief Operating Officer for Alem International, a marketing/branding/event planning company, and stayed there for about a year and one-half before launching my solo practice in 2006. As a solo, the vast majority of my work was focused on real estate transactions and title insurance defense litigation. While I had some involvement with the CBA, the DBA, and, primarily, the Colorado Lawyers Committee during my initial years of practice, it was during my 14-year solo stint that I became very active, serving on the officer track for the Real Estate Section (2015 – 2016 Section Chair), serving 7 years as DBA Treasurer, and serving on the CBA Executive Council and the Joint Management Committee. I was DBA President-Elect at the time I took on my role as CBA/DBA Deputy Executive Director and CBA-CLE Executive Director.

The Decision-Making Process

There was no specific experience or moment that made me think I would make the move to the CBA/DBA/CLE ED positions. As staff leadership was experiencing some growing pains after the retirements of Chuck Turner and Gary Abrams, I saw the need for reestablishing some stability in the organization, and I thought I might be a good bridge between the “old guard” and the up-and-coming new volunteer leaders in the organization. I had some experience at managing a small staff while working at Alem, but I had some concern over taking on the management of a much larger staff at CBA/DBA/CLE. Greg Martin, recently retired CBA/DBA Deputy Executive Director at the time, was a great help to me in talking through the challenges I would be facing, and he remains a great help to me to this day. After consulting with Greg, and receiving great support from colleagues and, most importantly, my wife, Pam, when they heard of my plan, it was time to make the move.

Skills & Transferability

I believe many business-oriented lawyers recognize that a legal education is not only beneficial for becoming a practicing attorney but also for running a successful business. (The owner of Alem was a law school classmate of mine.) “Thinking like a lawyer” allows us to critically analyze all sides of a problem presented to us before making a final decision. It is certainly nice to be able to effectively review the many contracts that the organizations enter into without the need for extensive outside counsel support.

The experience of running my own law firm, however, was probably the most important background I had to support my move. Practicing law and running a business are two very different things, and the practice alone, without the 14-year business management experience, would not have been enough to give me the skills I needed to move to my new position. And, happily, my experience has been that managing a larger staff is often intuitive; you either have that skill or you don’t. That said, the support that we get from our HR contract consultant, Employers Council Services, Inc., is truly invaluable.

Current Role & Responsibilities

With Nicoal Sperrazza coming on as Executive Director and CEO of CBA and DBA last January, it is wonderful that I can now provide the much-needed focus on my role as CBA-CLE Executive Director. We have an executive team with a deep understanding of and love for all three organizations.

I can honestly say that this is not an easier job than being an attorney, nor one that requires less time and energy. It’s just different. At CBA-CLE, we run hundreds of CLE programs each year, produce numerous publications, manage thousands of volunteer faculty and authors, and serve tens of thousands of practicing attorneys. There is not a lot of downtime, and we are very deadline-driven. I am no longer resolving disputes through the litigation process or working to bring real estate transactions to a close. Rather, we are now serving a customer base, CBA and DBA members, and focusing on giving them the best products and experiences possible. Post pandemic, the need for our annual summer institutes, symposiums, and retreats has become, in my mind, literally critical for the Bars. As we have become comfortable in a world of Zoom as opposed to in-person meetings and interactions, we have lost a lot of the extremely important personal connections that the Bars facilitate. We are, at our core, member organizations that provide the opportunity to create friendships, build relationships, and establish networks. Locking lawyers away in a hotel for a couple of nights and providing receptions and functions where like-minded people can get to know each other outside of their lawyer work will help keep us strong and supportive of a new generation of practicing attorneys.

When asked now what I do for a living, my response is “I throw parties for lawyers.” This helps me remind the CBA-CLE staff that if you can’t have fun doing this job, I don’t know where you will have fun at work!

Career Satisfaction

I do sometimes miss the nerd lawyer opportunities. Writing briefs and, in particular, appellate practice was always very fulfilling for me. I still tell young attorneys that they are very lucky to be able to do this for their career. How many jobs are there where you get to learn something new every day? Not all that many, I would venture to say.

But I have absolutely no regrets about leaving my practice behind and heading down the non-profit executive director path. It is so, so rewarding to serve the members of the Bars – helping them manage their careers, providing them with the necessary and required continuing legal education and, more importantly, facilitating the development of lifelong colleagues and friendships.

Advice and Insights

For anyone considering a work life outside the practice of law I would say don’t do it because you think it will be easier. My experience has been that success does not come from not working hard. I sometimes think some Bar members may see the roles that Nicoal and I have taken on as easier than being a practicing attorney. I can assure you that is not true.

While I am generally a jump-in-and-figure-it-out-along-the-way kind of person, that may not work well for everyone. My wife has served for more than 30 years as ED of a volunteer-run non-profit she established. Having had the good fortune of being with her as she walked that road gave me a lot of insight into the role I would be stepping into. If you are not a just-jump-in-and-do-it type and think that you would like to transition into work other than practicing law, look to others in fields and positions of interest to you and connect with them. No one who likes their job has any trouble talking to you about it.

Personal Reflection and Future & Final Thoughts

When asked, I used to tell people that the main reason I was a member of CBA and DBA was to make friends. And I did make a lot of friends, particularly among real estate practitioners. I was a bit surprised and quite happy to learn that this position has allowed me to connect with many, many more attorneys and create new, and enhance old, friendships. Success as a lawyer was being good at what you do and developing a reputation for being fair and professional. Success in this position is not so different, but it is wonderful to now have as my primary job duty the task of helping others to do the same.

Taking on these roles was intended to be and is the final career move for me. After practicing law for 34 years, I saw this as a wonderful challenge and a place where I could do some good and help others. (And, boy, has it been challenging at times!) I cannot promote strongly enough the forum the Bars give all members for developing relationships and learning from others. And the platform the organizations give you for building your own reputation. As a wise mentor once told me, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know to call – somebody has the answer.” The Bars are where you will get to know the ones you will someday need to call.