Our Team

Michael is a partner at Relman Colfax PLLC, a civil rights law firm that uses litigation to combat systemic discrimination and segregation on the basis of race, disability and other protected classes and that seeks remedies for individuals and organizations that have been harmed by those forces. His civil rights litigation practice focuses on the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and related civil rights laws, with an emphasis on dismantling barriers to integration on the basis of disability and of race. Michael has also used litigation and administrative complaints to challenge policies that perpetuate racial and ethnic segregation.

Alan is a professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and his research includes federal remedies for civil rights violations, free speech doctrine and theory, and lawyering for social change. He is a past chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Civil Rights. He has litigated several high-profile, pro bono civil rights cases in the federal courts, including two suits challenging so-called Ag Gag laws that criminalize efforts of activists and journalists to expose misconduct on factory farms, an excessive force case against law enforcement officers who used pepper spray to subdue peaceful environmental protesters, and a successful facial challenge to a Colorado law mandating that all students and teachers recite the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools. Before entering teaching, Alan was a civil liberties litigator with the ACLU’s Chicago office, focusing primarily on cases concerning the First Amendment, police misconduct, and privacy rights. 

Brian is a Senior Attorney at Disability Rights Texas. Brian’s work focuses on the varied needs of people with disabilities in Texas. The scope of his work includes issues like accessibility, employment, housing, civil rights, transportation, and voting rights.

Karla is the Deputy Director of Public Citizen Litigation Group and has spent her career seeking to protect civil rights and hold powerful corporations accountable. Karla was formerly general counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), nominated by President Biden and confirmed by the Senate in October 2023. Prior to her time at EEOC, Karla worked as an attorney at Public Justice, where her litigation focused on preserving individuals’ access to the civil justice system.

Darold is a founding member of Killmer, Lane & Newman, LLP, a Denver law firm emphasizing civil rights, employment discrimination litigation, and criminal defense. Killmer has been selected for The Best Lawyers in America®, Labor and Employment Law from 1995 to the present. He was the recipient of the American Civil Liberties Union – Colorado Chapter’s Carl E. Whitehead Civil Rights Award in September 2010.  Mr. Killmer was named “Denver’s Best Civil Rights Lawyer – 2013” and “Best Plaintiff’s Employment Lawyer – 2014” by The Best Lawyers in America®, and was selected as Law Week Colorado’s “Barrister’s Best Plaintiff’s Employment Lawyer” in 2014 . He was an Adjunct Professor of Law at The University of Denver College of Law from 1990 to 2004.

David is currently a partner at Killmer, Lane & Newman, LLP.  He has been in private practice since 1987 both practicing criminal defense and civil rights litigation.  Over the course of his career, he has taken approximately 200 cases through jury trials in state and federal courts, ranging in length from two-days through months-long complex trials including white collar crimes and death penalty cases. He is also very experienced in the appellate arena, including arguing the First Amendment case of Reichle v. Howards in the United States Supreme Court. His civil rights practice includes many lawsuits against the police, prisons and jails alleging police brutality, lack of medical care and other constitutional violations of human rights. David is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.

Tony is the owner and founder of the Lawson Law Offices in Oakland, CA. He has litigated numerous discrimination class actions in state and federal trial courts. Mr. Lawson specializes in the representation of plaintiffs in individual and class employment/civil rights cases. His practice centers on representing plaintiffs and/or classes in civil rights actions.

Mari is a Partner at Newman | McNulty, where her practice emphasizes Civil Rights and Employment Law. She has consistently been voted among the Top 100 Lawyers in Colorado and Top 50 Women Lawyers in Colorado and has repeatedly been designated as a Colorado Super Lawyer. Mari has been recognized as the Lawyer of the Year in Denver for Employment Law – Individuals for both 2017 and 2014 by The Best Lawyers in America®. Mari is a 2016 recipient of the Colorado Women’s Bar Association Foundation’s “Raising the Bar” award honoring women lawyers who have made a difference and raised the bar for other women. In 2015, Mari received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Business Award celebrating “Content of Character,” the GLBT Bar Association Foundation’s Attorney of the Year award, and the Shorter Community AME Shoes of Justice Award honoring those who have “walked the walk of justice.” In 2014, Mari was named as a Lawyer of the Year by Law Week Colorado, and as a Top Lawyer in the areas of Civil Rights and Labor and Employment Law by 5280 Publishing. She was twice voted Law Week Colorado’s “Barrister’s Best” Plaintiff’s Employment Lawyer, and was recognized as one of 7 Top Women Attorneys in 2013 by Law Week Colorado. She was honored with the Denver Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce’s 2012 Entrepreneurial Woman of the year award.

Mari was honored with the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado’s 2010 Carle E. Whitehead Award, celebrating those individuals who “stand on principle to defend our civil liberties.” Mari was also recognized with the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association’s 2010 Access to Justice Award, honoring “perseverance, courage and character shown over and over in cases of extraordinary circumstances.” Mari was a recipient of the Southern Center for Human Rights’ 2007 Frederick Douglass Human Rights Award for her representation of persons detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She was also recognized as the Colorado Legal Initiatives Project’s 2007 Barrister of the Year. Mari received the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association’s 2009 Case of the Year Award for leading her team in a case against the Colorado Department of Corrections on behalf of a female inmate who had been raped by a prison guard. Mari was also named as one of the Denver Business Journal’s 2009 “Forty Under Forty,” recognizing forty outstanding professionals under age 40 for their business success and community contributions. She received the Denver Bar Foundation’s 2008 Richard Marden Davis Award, presented to a Denver lawyer under the age of 40 who combines excellence as a lawyer with creative civic, cultural, educational and charitable leadership. She was recognized as the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association’s 2008 Outstanding Young Trial Lawyer of the Year. Mari has also been honored as a Fellow of the Colorado Bar Foundation, a designation bestowed upon no more than five percent of the lawyers in Colorado for “outstanding dedication to the welfare of the community, the traditions of the profession and the maintenance and advancement of the objectives of the Colorado Bar Association.”

Ed, attorney at Tierney Lawrence Stiles, is widely recognized for his work in constitutional and public interest litigation. Ed has represented Colorado businesses, government agencies, and public interest groups in state, federal and administrative trials and appeals. His work has ranged from civil rights litigation to environmental protection and conservation issues, academic freedom and education law, governmental processes, election and campaign finance law, animal protection, disability and employment discrimination matters, and private law.

Laura, a professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, teaches at Denver Law’s Civil Rights Clinic where she also represents clients in cases involving prisoners’ rights, disability rights, and employment discrimination. Prior to joining DU’s faculty, she was the Director of Clinical Education and founder of the Civil Rights Project at the University of North Dakota School of Law. She also served as the Director of the Public Interest Law Firm at Syracuse University College of Law.