The Colorado Supreme Court and Office of the Child's Representative, in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Children's Law Center at the University of Denver College of Law and University of Colorado School of Law Juvenile Law Clinic, announced today that the second annual multi-disciplinary training program will be held on Monday, April 2, 2007.

The purpose of the collaborative effort is to cultivate well trained lawyers able to meet the complex legal needs of children and families. The collaborative effort was born from the Colorado Judicial Branch's Court Improvement Program, which recognizes the importance of family law education.

"Communities across Colorado need well trained, practice-ready lawyers able to meet the complex legal needs of children and families," said Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey. "This program draws attention to the work of local law schools to prepare attorneys, and the commitment of the courts and local organizations to support the development of new attorneys trained in the field of juvenile law."

The competition will consist of settlement conferences and a mock trial in a fictional termination of parental rights case. The training for the competition begins with mock trial settlement conferences beginning at noon on April 2, 2007. Chief Justice Mullarkey will open the event with remarks in the Supreme Court Courtroom in the Colorado Judicial Department Building at 2 E. 14th Ave. in Denver. The mock trial settlement conferences will be conducted at the Supreme Court and Denver City and County Building.

The subsequent mock trials will take place at the Adams County Courthouse on April 9-11, 2007. The settlement conferences will be conducted by court facilitators from around Colorado, and local district court judges and a magistrate will run the trials. The competition will be judged by District Court Judge Kathy Delgado and Magistrate Simon Mole.

"The Colorado judiciary has long been committed to improving the prompt handling of cases involving children," says Mullarkey. "This partnership provides us with one more opportunity to expand our efforts to better serve children and families on an annual basis through these innovative training programs."

Other events in April related child abuse prevention month include the "Colorado Summit on Disproportionate Representation: A Focus on Our Children." The summit will be held on Wednesday, April 11, 2007, and is sponsored by the Colorado Court Improvement Program, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and the Model Court Projects of the 2nd, 4th and 17th Judicial Districts. The training will be held at the Denver Grand Hyatt, 1750 Welton in downtown Denver.

For more information please contact Bill DeLisio at 303-837-3623 or bill.delisio@judicial.state.co.us.