The Association of Corporate Counsel Colorado celebrated its 40th anniversary Sept. 28 at the Curtis Ballroom in Greenwood Village, Colorado. ACC Colorado was the first ACC chapter to form in 1983 and in the past 40 years, the Colorado chapter has grown to more than 900 members.
Now there are more than 60 ACC chapters internationally with 45,000 members representing more than 10,000 companies in 85 countries.
The Colorado chapter has been providing resources, networking, continuing education and general support for in-house counsel in the state for decades.
The Sept. 28 party opened with a short speech by current chapter president Sam Shapiro about the years of growth and success ACC Colorado has had. Board member Megan Zatz thanked the celebration sponsor Perkins Coie. Perkins Coie managing partner David St. John-Larkin and Zatz thanked the individuals and organizations who strengthen ACC Colorado and empower its members.
While guests dined, legal education singing group The Law Club gave an entertaining performance of parody songs that related to attorney ethics. The Law Club program titled “Face the Music: Ethical Issues for Corp Counsel” actually counted as a CLE ethics credit for party attendees.
As the founding chapter of a global organization, ACC Colorado has a long history of service that started with a simple conversation and an ideal shared by a handful of local attorneys. Nick Muller told Law Week in 2013 that when he and Dan Hoffman convened a meeting in Dallas in the early 1980s to talk about forming a national corporate counsel organization, they also discussed the need for local in-house counsel to have a professional group and more educational resources.
Muller was the founding board member of the American Corporate Counsel Association and ACC Colorado’s first president and Hoffman was then-dean of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. Hoffman died in 2009 at age 78 and Muller is currently practicing at Dietze and Davis.
Muller and Hoffman told Law Week in 2013 law students were largely underprepared to start careers as in-house counsel and the industry’s overall perception of corporate counsel was discouraging.
“We’re the first chapter in the U.S. and we think that’s certainly worth celebrating.” – Sam Shapiro, current ACC Colorado President
Roughly a decade before the Colorado chapter formed in 1983, regulatory landscapes for businesses were rapidly changing, necessitating in-house counsel positions. New in-house attorneys needed more educational resources to address the shifting legal environment and Muller and Hoffman teamed up to develop a seminar-style course and create an in-house internship program at one of the local law schools. Eventually, Muller would lead the local chapter of ACC and the organization would begin exclusively serving the interests and needs of corporate counsel.
While many organizations and member-based volunteer organizations struggled to maintain footing in the pandemic, Shapiro told Law Week last month that ACC Colorado thrived.
“I think we were well positioned because we already had a robust platform and experience providing online educational opportunities through webinars,” said Shapiro, who is chief legal officer at executive coaching firm Connected Executive Coaching Corp. “And we could lean on that to provide that value. And when we were working with our law firm and other legal professional service sponsors, they jumped on board with that and were able to utilize the same online platforms.”
Shapiro said the chapter rolled out unique virtual networking opportunities during the pandemic to engage members who were mostly stuck at home. From a virtual wine tasting to a cooking class, ACC Colorado stayed on its toes to adapt to new needs from in-house attorneys over the past few years, proving the vitality and adaptability of the original chapter of the ACC.
Michelle Martin, the current chapter administrator, noted last month that ACC Colorado actually grew during the pandemic. “We moved up enough that we became a large chapter and that brought us up to 850 [members],” Martin said. A decade ago, the local chapter of ACC had around 600 members.
“We’re the first chapter in the U.S. and we think that’s certainly worth celebrating,” Shapiro said.
Colorado is home to thousands of in-house attorneys. According to the last count by the Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel, roughly 3,500 of the state’s attorneys are corporate counsel.
ACC Colorado serves members through education, resource sharing and networking. Members get access to CLEs and resources applicable to a variety of industries. Local chapter members can also learn about community service and pro bono opportunities through ACC Colorado.
Shapiro said another way the local chapter serves members is by providing things that are fun and social. “The practice of law can be very stressful and time-consuming,” said Shapiro. “And it’s really important for everybody’s emotional, physical well-being to take a step back and have some fun, be social, connect with people who deal with the same issues [and stressors] that you do on a day-to-day basis.”
The chapter has even more to be proud of as a stand-out in this global organization of in-house attorneys. ACC Colorado was awarded the medium-sized Chapter of the Year in 2011 and is one of seven chapters to be awarded the Gold Distinction award every year since that award started in 2017, according to Shapiro. The Gold Distinction award recognizes chapters that stand out in service to membership, taking an overall look at the chapter and how it meets the needs of local corporate counsel.
In 2011, the global meeting for ACC was held in Denver, and Shapiro noted that at the time, it was the most attended conference they’d had. “We have a very engaged membership,” Shapiro explained. “They are really interested in what ACC brings to them. And it’s a two-way street. The ACC gives them great programming, great education, great events, and our members show up with enthusiasm, great ideas, and they participate — a lot of them will lead panels.”
It also helps that the local chapter has a dedicated backbone of leadership and sponsors, Shapiro said. “The events we put on, they cost money, doing a CLE costs money; you need space to do it and you need expertise and our sponsors help us with that. We’ve been very lucky to have really, really engaged, dedicated sponsors with us throughout the year, and we’re really, really grateful for all the people that help make ACC Colorado as good — as amazing — as it is.”