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CU Making History In Legal Education

University of Colorado Law School prepares for move to new Wolf Law Building; Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to deliver keynote address

BOULDER, Colo.-The Colorado Law School will officially dedicate the new Wolf Law Building on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus on September 8, 2006. Never before has an entire campus student body voted to tax themselves to build a new law school because of a lack of financial support from the state. The Law School announces that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will attend the dedication and deliver the keynote address.

"History is being made with the opening of the new building," said Dean David Getches. "The Wolf Law Building will be a source of pride for everyone associated with Colorado Law for generations to come. It is a monument to the determination and generosity of those who made it possible, and its technologically advanced classrooms and courtrooms, and gracious public areas will further our mission of providing the excellent legal education to our students."

In 2003, Colorado Law students successfully worked with the student government to create a $400-per-year student fee that fully replaced the $21 million that the legislature rescinded in the wake of Colorado's fiscal crisis. This fee will provide a total of $100 million for capital construction on the Boulder campus. Sixty percent of the cost of the Wolf Law Building is being provided by students.

The move to the Wolf Law Building will take place over two weeks beginning July 28, 2006. The new building will be a state-of-the art educational facility. It will foster active civic engagement with the community and will better prepare the legal community of tomorrow.

Colorado Law is among the nation's 25 top-ranked public law schools and among the 10 top-ranked law schools in the West. It is ranked 4th in the nation for environmental and natural resources law.

WOLF LAW BUILDING AT UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FACT SHEET

The students and faculty of the University of Colorado School of Law are engaged in preparing for the future through responsible involvement and participation in the real world institutions of government, law and society that impact our American way of life.

The dedication of the Wolf Law Building will occur on September 8, 2006, and will feature Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and CU Law alumnus Karen Mathis, the president of the American Bar Association.

• The total cost of Wolf Law Building is $46.3 million. Sixty percent of this cost will be paid for by students. No other known major building on the Boulder campus or at any other university has been built with this level of student support.
• In 1997, Colorado Law students voted to pay $1,000 additional tuition to be dedicated to paying for a new building.
• In 2003, Colorado Law students successfully worked with the student government in creating a $400-per-year student fee to replace the $21 million that the legislature rescinded in the wake of Colorado's fiscal crisis.
• The fee will provide a total of $100 million for capital construction on the Boulder campus and construction of the ATLAS building an addition to the Business School, a new Fine Arts Building and information technology infrastructure throughout the campus.
• The law school received nearly $18 million in private gifts, most notably a $3 million donation from the Wolf family.
• Twenty percent of the student fee will go toward financial aid to help students who would have a hard time affording increased fees. One percent of the construction funds will go toward environmentally friendly features, such as the use of renewable energy in the buildings.

About the building

• At 180,000 square feet, the Wolf Law Building will enable Colorado Law to grow, recruit top faculty and promote its nationally recognized centers and clinical programs.
• Students will benefit from a state-of-the-art classroom environment. Wireless networking, distance learning capacity, and audio-visual equipment will be available to facilitate the use of technology.
• The Wolf Law Building will house two high-tech courtrooms. The Wittemyer Courtroom will be a venue for symposia, class meetings, conferences, court proceedings of state and federal courts and large gatherings. It will also host actual sessions of state, federal, and tribal appellate courts. The Carrigan Teaching Courtroom will be used for classes, moot court competitions, and training in litigation. Both will feature leading-edge videotaping and distance-learning capabilities.
• The space dedicated to Colorado Law's centers of excellence, such as the Byron R. White Center for the Study of Constitutional Law, the Natural Resources Law Center, the Silicon Flatirons Telecommunications Program, and the Energy and Environmental Security Initiative, will double in the new building creating room for new centers and emerging programs. Space for clinical programs will grow by 40 percent. Law journal offices will double and student services space will expand by nearly 50 percent.
• The new law library will be the most comprehensive and technologically advanced in the 12-state Rocky Mountain region. Colorado Law will serve as a center for legal research at a time when many other law schools are reducing their library investment. It is also the regional archive for the United States government (making it the most complete law library in Colorado.)
• In keeping with an outstanding national reputation for environmental law, the Wolf Law building is being constructed to the exacting standards of the U.S. Green Building Council's "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" (LEED) building certification, including water conservation (39 percent less indoor water usage than a conventional building); energy efficiency (100 percent renewable energy and electricity); environmentally safe, locally produced materials; waste recycling (more than 50 percent of construction waste recycled); indoor air quality control; and multiple innovations in design.