I can scarcely believe that I am approaching a year since I became the dean of the University of Colorado Law School. They say that time flies when you’re having fun. While that adage seems a bit too flippant to describe what has been a year of both triumphs and challenges, still, it offers some descriptive value.
I have indeed enjoyed my role as dean. That enjoyment has often occurred during moments of joy in the accomplishments of members of the Colorado Law community, especially our students, who have logged successes in their classroom studies, in internships, and in arguments before the courts. That enjoyment has also occurred in more trying times as I took pride in the way that members of our community came together to face difficulties such as the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and the Marshall Fire. It is apt to say of my time thus far as dean, paraphrasing an old Peace Corps service advertisement, “This is the toughest job I have ever loved.”
Service is at the center of my work, and of the work of many of our faculty, our staff members, and our alumni. Service is also at the heart of our institutional mission, and it factors into how we define and refine notions of excellence. This culture of service and excellence is nowhere better seen than in our alumni engaged in government service work.
In this issue you will see how some Colorado Law graduates have, via government service, been able to challenge some of the taken-for-granted patterns in legal and other realms. These law graduates exemplify the importance of being not just careful and prudent risk-managers, but also thoughtful and creative risk-takers and change-makers. This is how leaders are created.
Lolita Buckner Inniss
Dean and Provost's Professor of Law