University of Colorado Law School
Office of Admissions, UCB 403, Wolf Law Building, Boulder, CO 80309-0403, USA
Phone: 303.492.7203
Email: law.admissions@colorado.edu | Website: www.colorado.edu/law
Does your law school have a nondiscrimination policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation?
The University of Colorado does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, creed, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status in admission and access to, and treatment and employment in, its educational programs and activities. The university takes action to increase ethnic, cultural, and gender diversity, to employ qualified disabled individuals, and to provide equal opportunity to all students and employees.
Qualification for the position and institutional need shall be the only bases for hiring employees, and the criteria for retaining employees shall be related to performance evaluation, assessment of institutional need, fiscal constraints, and/or, in the case of exempt professionals, the rational exercise of administrative prerogative.
All students shall have the same fundamental rights to equal respect, due process, and judgment of them based solely on factors demonstrably related to performance and expectations as students. All students share equally the obligations to perform their duties and exercise judgments of others in accordance with the basic standards of fairness, equity, and inquiry that should always guide education.
Does your law school have a nondiscrimination policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity?
The University of Colorado does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, creed, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status in admission and access to, and treatment and employment in, its educational programs and activities. The university takes action to increase ethnic, cultural, and gender diversity, to employ qualified disabled individuals, and to provide equal opportunity to all students and employees.
Qualification for the position and institutional need shall be the only bases for hiring employees, and the criteria for retaining employees shall be related to performance evaluation, assessment of institutional need, fiscal constraints, and/or, in the case of exempt professionals, the rational exercise of administrative prerogative.
All students shall have the same fundamental rights to equal respect, due process, and judgment of them based solely on factors demonstrably related to performance and expectations as students. All students share equally the obligations to perform their duties and exercise judgments of others in accordance with the basic standards of fairness, equity, and inquiry that should always guide education.
Does your law school provide gender-neutral restrooms?
Yes
Does your law school have a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender student organization?
OUTlaw
Copresident: Whitney House
Email: whitney.house@colorado.edu
Copresident: Tessa Carberry
Email: tessa.carberry@colorado.edu
Does your law school have any openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender faculty members?
Name: Lisa Schultz
Title: Instructional Services and Research Librarian
Email: lisa.schultz@colorado.edu
Name: Scott Skinner-Thompson
Title: Associate Professor of Law
Email: scott.skinnerthompson@colorado.edu
Name: Craig Konnoth
Title: Associate Professor of Law
Email: N/A
Does your law school have any openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender administrators?
Alan Schieve
Assistant Director of Admissions
Email: alan.schieve@colorado.edu
Does your law school offer any academic courses primarily focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender legal issues?
- Adv Constitutional Law Equality and Privacy (LAWS 8005)
Addresses "Equal Protection" rights under the Fourteenth Amendment and "privacy" rights to personal autonomy. Analyzes varied constitutional grounds for recognizing or rejecting abortion rights; limits on Congressional power to pass civil rights laws granting broader rights than the Fourteenth Amendment does; treatment of sexual orientation-related laws and government actions as "privacy" versus "equality" matters; and "benign"/"remedial" race- and sex-based government decisions such as affirmative action and same-sex schools. - Civil Liberties Litigation (LAWS 8613)
In-depth case studies of issues and litigation strategies relevant to the prosecution and defense of civil liberties cases. Focus is on significant historical and contemporary lawsuits. - Comparative Family Law (LAWS 7145)
Examines and critiques law, legal institutions, and traditions of the country of focus and the US as they affect children, families, and work. Enhances research and writing skills, including field and international research. Contributes to host country through scholarship and service. Increases cultural competence through active engagement with peers and with social justice issues in another country. Includes required field study component and service learning project over spring break. - Employment Discrimination (LAWS 7541)
Examines statutory and constitutional prohibitions of discrimination in employment on the basis of race, gender, age, religion, national origin, and disability. - Family Law (LAWS 7105)
This course will address the legal rules regulating the family, examining in detail the rules of marriage and divorce. The course will focus in particular on how these rules differ depending on whether the family is wealthy or poor, traditional or nontraditional, self-supporting or receiving public aid. This course will cut across traditional law school disciplines, such as civil, criminal, and constitutional law. We will consider some of the following important and complex questions: What is a “family”? This theme will arise throughout the course as we examine how the definition of “family” varies according to the context, reflecting society’s values and policy goals. How does, and how should, family law address nontraditional families? How do race, gender, and class affect family law? - Family Law Topics (LAWS 8235)
Explores a variety of current issues related to family law; topics will change to reflect emerging issues and will draw from legal and social science scholarship as well as relevant statutes and cases. Possible topics include reproductive technology, children’s rights, the role of religion in family law, and political theories of the family. - Gender and Criminal Justice (LAWS 8455)
Gender plays a role in many aspects of the criminal justice system—from discretionary decisions about arrest and charging to sentencing and punishment. Some offense definitions traditionally were gendered, and today, facial neutrality may mask disparate outcomes based on gender. Moreover, perceptions about the intimacy of the home and the body create tensions between privacy and government regulation in the investigative activities of law enforcement. This two-credit seminar will explore the intersection of gender and criminal justice in such areas as police and prosecutorial discretion, the investigation and prevention of crimes, the definition of offenses and defenses, factors contributing to criminality, criminal sentencing and the experience of punishment, and the societal ramifications of incarcerating children’s caregivers. Reading assignments—drawn from both classic and cutting-edge journal articles, as well as from books—will provide an overview, designed to spark ideas for legal research. The research and writing of a major paper on a relevant topic constitutes a vital aspect of the seminar. - Gender, Work, and Family (LAWS 8135)
This seminar will explore the intersections and conflicts between work and family in current U.S. law and society, and will do so with some focus on the role that gender identity and sex discrimination play in those conflicts. Readings examine and explain the current state of U.S. law—in particular the Family Medical Leave Act and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act—as well as the current social climate. We will consider a number of different perspectives on what problems are created by the work/family conflict and a range of proposed solutions to those problems. In addition to writing a paper, each student will be required to lead class for one meeting. - Gender, Law, and Public Policy (LAWS 8765)
Introduces students to various schools of feminist theory and examines the relationship between feminist theories and concrete problems in such areas as constitutional law, education law, employment discrimination, family law, and criminal law. - Parent, Child, and State (LAWS 7135)
This course will examine the legal rights of parents and children in a constitutional framework, as well as the state’s authority to define and regulate the parent-child relationship. This course will be offered every other year. - Sexuality and the Law (LAWS 7505)
This course will be a survey of the main topics that fall under the rubric of “sexuality and the law,” with hopes that we can identify persistent themes and issues. We will discuss the federal and state constitutional rights of sexual minorities (GLBTI peoples), the status of same sex marriage under statutory law (federal and state DOMAs) and federal and state constitutional law, the centrality of gendered heterosexuality to family law, other legal regulation of sexual conduct, and the legal system’s abilities/inabilities to deal with the breakdown of dichotomous sexualities (the challenges presented by transgender and intersex groups). - Women in Law and Literature (LAWS 8428)
Considers both legal and literary depictions of women and their legal and extralegal situations. Topics may include women as mothers, women as sexual beings, women’s silence, women’s violence, women as criminals, women at work, and women as the "other" in law and literature.
Does your law school offer the same benefits to faculty, staff, or student same-sex spouses as they do opposite-sex spouses?
The University of Colorado offers benefits to same-gender domestic partners (SGDP). See LGBTQ Resources for more information.
Does your law school offer any form of domestic-partner benefits to faculty, staff, or students?
The University of Colorado offers benefits to same-gender domestic partners (SGDP). See LGBTQ Resources for more information.
Additional Information
Colorado Law is proud to welcome and support LGBTQ students. And at the state level, the Colorado Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Bar Association is a voluntary professional association of LGBT attorneys, judges, paralegals, law students, and allies who provide an LGBTQ presence within Colorado's legal community.
We encourage applicants to disclose information about their sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, but only what they are comfortable disclosing. Our out students at Colorado Law are active in the community at every level of the law school student experience and are here to support admitted LGBTQ students. In evaluating applications, the Admissions Committee relies on all required application materials and considers a holistic analysis of special qualities and individual circumstances, such as diversity.