Historical Profile

The profile of lawyers practicing in Colorado from the beginning in mid-nineteenth century until the late twentieth century is:

1. They were males.

2. They loved to practice law.

3. They worked extremely hard.

4. They came from poor to average economic backgrounds.

5. They managed to obtain excellent legal educations.

6. They were pragmatic, not fancy.

7. They met the needs of their day.

8. Their scope extended beyond practice into civic and social affairs and politics.

9. Their backgrounds and qualities were extremely similar to the judges.

10. They were white, mostly Anglo-Saxon.

11. They married intelligent, superior women and raised good families.

12. They earned adequate money but few became rich.

13. They treated each other with respect and formed strong friendships with each other

14. They continued practicing until their later years.

15. Except for water law and criminal law, they did not have extensive specialization.

16. They were totally dedicated to their clients.

17. Malpractice was rare.

18. They served their country magnificently in two world wars.

19. Their respect for the courts was total.

20. Their egos were huge.

21. They were indifferent to low public esteem.

22. Their alcoholism rate exceeded the norm.

The foregoing profile is a judgment based on information published as follows:

1. 160 biographies publishes in The Colorado Lawyer under the heading "Six of the Greatest" from 1983 to date.

2. 16 oral histories published in The Colorado Lawyer.

3. Oral histories conducted by Hannah Nordhaus and not published.

4. Biographies maintained in the library of the Colorado Bar Association.

5. Biographies published for the following attorneys:

James K. Logan:  An autobiography recently published tells the story of the life and professional career of a Kansas lawyer and his 20 years of service as judge of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.  The author is James K. Logan, newly elected chairman of the board of the Historical Society.  The title of the book is Grandpa’s Story since it was written for the author’s grandchildren.

John A. Love:  A biography of John A Love, written by Donald L. Walker, Jr., tells the history of Colorado’s 36th governor, the only one to be elected to three terms.  He graduated from University of Denver School of Law in 1941. It had a faculty of four.  The class of ’41 was outstanding, including Robert H. McWilliams, Leonard Sutton, Howard Jenkins and one woman, Elizabeth Koefed.  After serving with distinction as a Navy pilot in World War II, John Love began law practice in Colorado Springs where a developed a thriving corporate practice.  He got bored with the practice of law, however, in 1961, and ran for governor which led to his career as statesman, administrator and businessman.

Gerry Spence:  Gerry Spence is the most prolific lawyer author in the Tenth Circuit.  He practices law and teaches litigation in Jackson, Wyoming and has probably tried more cases than any living lawyer (without ever having lost a jury case).  Spence has a national reputation for obtaining positive verdicts in jury cases with extensive publicity such as Imelda Marcos in New York City and Karen Silkwood in Oklahoma.  The index shows a dozen books written by him, some dealing with specific cases that he tried and others dealing with his own life and career.  His path crossed with that of James K. Logan in the famous Silkwood case where Spence obtained a huge jury verdict of in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, which was reversed in the Tenth Circuit.