Colorado Law is proud to announce Marla Lien (’82) as the school’s September Alum of the Month. Lien is currently the general counsel for the Regional Transportation Department. RTD serves the eight county Denver Metropolitan area with bus and light rail service. Lien has been working at RTD for the past 25 years and has worked on real estate negotiations, property acquisitions, compliance, and funding on most of the department’s major lines.
A native New Yorker, Lien was born in Brooklyn but has always had a desire to travel and a love for the mountains. After attending her first two years of college at Lafayette University, Lien decided to attend the University of Colorado in Boulder for a semester. After a single semester in Colorado, she was hooked and knew she would never leave.
Lien completed her degree from the University of Colorado in 1979 with a degree in history and began her legal education that fall at Colorado Law. Lien has always known that she would be a lawyer. Since she was 12 years old, Lien has had a love for politics. This passion stemmed from her eighth grade studies of the Bill of Rights and a desire to do civil rights work in the public sector.
During law school, Lien became immediately hooked on her legal education. She relished the atmosphere of her smaller classes. During her time at Colorado Law, Lien was always around the building, absorbing the culture. Her studies focused mostly on business law classes, such as corporations, securities, real estate, and tax.
After graduating from law school, Lien clerked for a Denver District Court judge and then joined White and Steele, P.C. and Cooper and Kelley P.C. before going to work for RTD as an associate general counsel in 1990. She has been with RTD ever since. As associate counsel, she worked on the development of three light rail lines, including the Southwest Corridor, the Central Corridor, and the recently opened TREX project. Lien has considered her time at RTD to be a blessing. Throughout her career, Lien has had a seat at the table to negotiate landmark deals like the line to the airport and the acquisition of Denver Union Station. In recent years, Lien has hired several new attorneys from Colorado Law and each of whom, according to Lien, thrived at RTD and performed very well on the job. They all displayed a deep understanding of technology and innovation, and had an acute ability to look at the big picture and the high level aspects of projects.
When Lien is not working, she continues to travel as much as possible, a passion she shares with her husband and son. The family owns a condo in Frisco and skis at Breckenridge, Copper, and Keystone as much as possible. Additionally, over this past summer, Lien and her husband completed the Copper Triangle bike ride that covers 79 miles and 6,500 feet of elevation.
What is your fondest memory of being a student at Colorado Law?
The people. CU was very much a full time school and most students didn't work their first year, so they stayed at the school most of the day and many lived nearby. The atmosphere was supportive and collegial. I still see a number of the people I went to school with 30 years ago, some professionally and some socially.
What do you know now that you wish you had known in law school?
The things you want, or think you want out of a law degree, may change. Career paths may change. The value of critical thinking skills, ability to read, and seeing a variety of possible situations and outcomes will be useful no matter what you do. Professor Ted Fiflis, on the first day of securities law, said that if he did nothing else that semester he would teach us how to read. That was priceless.
What advice would you give to current students as they are preparing to graduate?
Family is the most important thing in your life.
Who was the biggest influence on your career?
Phil Washington and Cal Marsella. They were both general managers at RTD during the development of FasTracks. They told me what they wanted me to do and let me figure out how.
Of what accomplishment are you most proud?
Denver Union Station and the line to Denver International Airport, which will be named the University of Colorado A Line. It has been a great privilege to work on projects that are important to the entire region.