Volunteer Spotlight - August 2007, Uncompahgre Volunteer Legal Aid
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
- Organization: Uncompahgre Volunteer Legal Aid
Michael Damon Hockersmith, senior partner of the Tisdel Law Firm, P.C. in Ouray, Colorado, has contributed most all of his law career to the service of the poor. Mike was born and raised in Texas and graduated from the University of Texas in Austin in 1971 where he earned a B.A. with honors in government. Mike then attended law school, also at the University of Texas at Austin, graduating with his Doctor of Juris prudence in 1974. Mike immediately moved to the mountains of Colorado after graduation making Colorado Springs, Colorado his new home. Mike began his legal services career as a VISTA volunteer attorney and later a staff attorney at Pikes Peak Legal Services. Mike then made a move to Boulder in 1979 where he assumed the directorship of the University of Colorado Student Union Legal Services Office. In 1980, he moved over to the University of Colorado School of Law, where, until 1983, he was the director of the Institute of Law and Aging, and concurrently served as an Associate Clinical Professor of Law, teaching evidence and trial skills in the University of Colorado Legal Aid and Defender Program.
In 1983, Mike, his wife Nancy, and their one year old daughter, Coryn, headed to Ouray where he opened his own office in Montrose, Colorado. Mike then became a partner with Richard Tisdel in 1984 and has been with that Ouray-based firm ever since. Mike's second daughter, Bronwyn, came into the picture in 1987. While president of the 7th JD Bar Association, Mike was instrumental in the creation of the Uncompahgre Volunteer Legal Aid program (UVLA). UVLA has been serving indigent clients in the Montrose, Ouray and Telluride area since its inception in 1987. UVLA has one of the highest participation percentages of local attorneys due in large part to its founder, president and attorney advisor, Michael D. Hockersmith. Mike has been primarily involved in all grant writing, development of policy and procedures, presentations on behalf of the program, sitting on the local ATJ committee and taking cases. All on a pro bono basis!
Mike has a playful and resilient creativeness to the program, as well as his musical and theatrical endeavors. With the patience of a saint he has given hundreds of hours for the growth and well being of pro bono. Mike is a true legal services hero.
In 1983, Mike, his wife Nancy, and their one year old daughter, Coryn, headed to Ouray where he opened his own office in Montrose, Colorado. Mike then became a partner with Richard Tisdel in 1984 and has been with that Ouray-based firm ever since. Mike's second daughter, Bronwyn, came into the picture in 1987. While president of the 7th JD Bar Association, Mike was instrumental in the creation of the Uncompahgre Volunteer Legal Aid program (UVLA). UVLA has been serving indigent clients in the Montrose, Ouray and Telluride area since its inception in 1987. UVLA has one of the highest participation percentages of local attorneys due in large part to its founder, president and attorney advisor, Michael D. Hockersmith. Mike has been primarily involved in all grant writing, development of policy and procedures, presentations on behalf of the program, sitting on the local ATJ committee and taking cases. All on a pro bono basis!
Mike has a playful and resilient creativeness to the program, as well as his musical and theatrical endeavors. With the patience of a saint he has given hundreds of hours for the growth and well being of pro bono. Mike is a true legal services hero.
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