Legal Opportunities in Rural Colorado

Interested in exploring Colorado communities beyond the Boulder/Denver bubble this summer? Join the Colorado Access to Justice Commission for a Brown Bag session to learn more about two unique summer programs.

The Alternate Defense Counsel provides paid contractor opportunities for students to work as members of interdisciplinary defense teams across rural Colorado for the summer.  These paid opportunities are facilitated through our peer-to-peer mentorship program where students work with attorneys in the geographic area they seek to live in for the summer.  Our summer programming aim to increase legal services in more remote parts of the state where there is a shortage of attorneys and legal professionals.  OADC continues to partner with other state agencies as we work to build additional workforce capacity in Rural Colorado, through our paid contractor opportunities.

The Rural Justice Internship - Year 1 is a combined Judicial and Private Practice/Public Interest internship designed to expose students to the possibilities of legal practice outside of the metro area and facilitate their connections with a rural Colorado community. Interns spend 3 days a week at their site’s Judicial Branch and one day each week working with a community partner (like Colorado Legal Services, Eagle Valley Land Trust, and The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe). On Fridays, interns are free to explore their site and Greater Colorado. The 2025 GCLSE sites are Alamosa, the Central Mountain Region (Eagle, Breckenridge, and Leadville), Cortez, Northern Colorado (Greeley and Sterling/Fort Morgan), and Southeastern Colorado (La Junta and Lamar).

Lunch will not be provided, so please bring your own.