President
Eric Kuhn
Mr. Kuhn recently joined the Colorado Attorney General’s office. Prior to that he was an Associate at the Law Offices of Bradley J. Frigon working in all areas of the firm with a focus on probate litigation, public benefits work and corporate and small business counsel. He first began working with the firm in August 2004 while attending law school and joined the firm as an associate in 2006.
Mr. Kuhn brings more than a decade of business experience in information technology and consulting to his practice. His previous experience includes work in local government, large corporate and telecommunications sector, and small business consulting.
President Elect
Kevin Bemis
Kevin Bemis gradutated from the University of Denver College of Law in 2008. He is an Associate at the firm Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh and Jardine where his practice focuses on commercial litigation and employment law. During law school he was the DU representative to the Colorado GLBT Bar Association and Co-President of the DU Outlaws. Kevin has also worked as the legal intern for the Center’s Legal Initiatives Project and studied US GLBT law at the University of Amsterdam School of Law. Kevin is a Colorado native. Prior to law school he worked for the Department of the Interior as a policy analyst for a water conservation project.
Secretary
Spencer B. Ross
Spencer Ross is an associate at Faegre & Benson, LLP focusing his practice on intellectual property matters. He assists with legal research, motion practice, discovery, depositions, and trial preparation.
Prior to joining Faegre & Benson, Spencer served as deputy legal counsel to Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, Jr. In this role, Spencer worked with legislators to draft bills on topics ranging from campaign finance reform to Medicaid false claims. He also responded to open records requests, vetted pending legislation, and proposed legislative amendments. Spencer also gained experience with election and campaign finance law while serving as deputy Colorado voter protection director for Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential election campaign and as the interim executive director of the Colorado Democratic Party.
Treasurer
Ryann Peyton
Ryann Peyton is an Associate at The Harris Law Firm, PC focusing her practice on domestic relations law. Ryann graduated in 2008 from the University of St. Thomas School of Law where she was the co-president of the UST Out!Laws. In 2009, Ryann received her LLM in Taxation from the University of Denver. Ryann has served as secretary of Twin Cities Quorum, Minnesota’s GLBT Chamber of Commerce, and currently serves as the Budget and Legal Chair for the Denver Gay & Lesbian Flag Football League. Ryann is a Colorado native and happy to be back in south east Denver living with her partner and English bulldog.
Immediate Past President
Liz Titus
Liz Titus is an Associate at Davis Graham & Stubbs, LLP in the Trial and Litigation Group. She attended Smith College and graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Women’s Studies and psychology in 1999. In 2006, Liz received her J.D. with Order of St. Ives honors from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. While attending DU, she served as co-president of DU Outlaws, was a teaching assistant for the Lawyering Process program, and was a member of the Denver University Law Review. Liz was born in Reno, Nevada, and moved to Colorado during her elementary school years. Prior to law school she worked as a graphic designer and coached high school volleyball.
Special Events
Jason Prussman
Jason Prussman is Labor & Employment Counsel for Level 3 Communications, Inc., a leading international provider of fiber-based telecommunications services. Immediately prior to joining Level 3, Jason was in the Labor & Employment Group of Husch Blackwell, LLP. Previously, Jason clerked for the Honorable Rebecca Love Kourlis at the Colorado Supreme Court from 2003 to 2004, and worked as a litigation association at Holme Roberts & Owen until 2007. From 2007 until 2009, Jason was a Research Analyst at the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver, a think tank devoted to improving the civil litigation system. Jason is a native of Colorado, having grown up in Fort Collins, Colorado. He received is B.A. from Colorado State University in 1996 and his law degree from the University of Colorado in 2003. Jason has been active in the Colorado Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender (GLBT) Bar Association since 2002. He was president in 2006. He is also a Denver Bar representative to the Colorado Bar Association Board of Governors. In 2008, he legally married his longtime partner, with their son serving as ringbearer.
CBA Liaison/The Center Rep
Mindy Barton (ex officio)
Mindy Barton serves as the Legal Director for The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center of Colorado. Her work involves managing a legal helpline, handling a limited number of cases for direct representation on the areas of harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as doing education and outreach surrounding legal issues facing the GLBT community. Mindy has B.A. in Speech Communication from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a J.D. from the University of Denver College of Law. She is proud to have clerked for the Illinois Appellate Court for several years and practiced civil litigation in both Illinois and Colorado. Most recently, her time was spent working as a volunteer attorney for the ACLU of Colorado and teaching elementary school children in Denver Public Schools through a program called Open World Learning.
University of Denver Student Rep
Diana C. Bull
Diana C. Bull is a third year law student at Denver University, Sturm College of Law. She was born in Denver as a fifth generation native Coloradoan and has long-standing family ties to Taos, New Mexico. In high school, she attended Ponderosa High and Chaparral High in Parker, CO. She graduated from Smith College, in Northampton MA, in 2005 with a major in Government and a minor in Religion. Before law school, she worked for three years at Skadden, Arps, LLP in New York, NY as a Pro Bono Administrative Coordinator. Diana is very proud and inspired by her family and their involvement in the legal community. After an externship with the New Mexico Supreme Court this summer, Diana’s interest in appellate work has been greatly sparked as well. She is the co-president to OutLaws, the GLBTQ law student organization at Sturm College of Law and will always be dedicated to civil rights.
CU Boulder Student Rep
Mary Donachy
Mary Donacy is a second year law student at the University of Colorado Law School. Mary is a fifth generation Coloradan with a family legacy of social justice work in Colorado, from union organizing to anti-war art installation exhibits. Mary hopes to follow this legacy, and for many years volunteered time for a number of non-profits, writing grants, doing layout and design, or just licking stamps. After finishing her undergraduate work in English poetry, she spent four years working as a Research Associate for Bardwell Consulting, a Denver statistical consulting firm focused on employment discrimination and civil rights cases. Mary is events coordinator and an active member of OUT Law, CU’s GLBT law student group.
Judicial Endorsements
Katina Banks
Katina Banks is a Partner in Dorsey’s Trademark, Copyright and Brand Management Group. Her practice is focused on trademark and copyright law, including trademark clearance searching, international and domestic trademark prosecution, protection of trade dress, U.S. and foreign customs protection and enforcement, trademark and copyright counseling and enforcement, licensing, unfair competition, rights of privacy and publicity, trade secrets and a wide variety of Internet issues, including domain name and key word acquisitions and disputes. Katina has experience assisting clients with trademark portfolio management and establishing mechanisms and strategies to exploit and enforce their trademark rights. She also has extensive experience counseling clients with respect to protecting and enforcing product design and packaging through trade dress. Katina represents clients in trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings before the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and in domain name trademark infringement matters, including UDRP proceedings before the World Intellectual Property Organization and the National Arbitration Forum. She also evaluates, negotiates and drafts settlement, co-existence and other agreements relating to trademark disputes. In addition, Katina has experience drafting and negotiating trademark and copyright license agreements as well as other IP-related agreements such as employment and confidentiality agreements.
Kyle Velte
Kyle Velte is a partner at Reilly Pozner LLP, where she represents both plaintiffs and defendants in complex civil litigation around the country. In 2005, in a pro bono representation as a cooperating attorney with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Kyle helped a non-biological mother secure visitation rights after the child’s biological mother fled to Florida with the child. This case further solidified good case law on “psychological parenthood” in Colorado. Before entering private practice, Kyle completed two judicial clerkships—for the Hon. Alex Martinez of the Colorado Supreme Court and for the Hon. Roxanne Bailin of the 20th Judicial District of Colorado. Kyle received her LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 2001 and her J.D. from American University in 1999. While at American University, she was a research assistant for Professor Nancy Polikoff, whose scholarship focuses on GLBT family law issues, she was on the editorial board of the American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law, and she received several significant awards, especially for her work in the area of civil rights and public interest law. During her 1L summer, Kyle was a law clerk at the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco, California. Her undergraduate degree is from Hamilton College. After college, and before entering law school, Kyle worked for the national office of the National Organization for Women in Washington, D.C. Kyle served on the board of directors of the GLBT Community Center of Colorado (“The Center”) from 2004-2010. Kyle lives in Stapleton with her two children, Luke and Lucy.
Website/Listserv
Jason Cobb
Jason is a past President of the Colorado GLBT Bar Association, and has been active in the organization since 2002. Jason began his career as a civil rights attorney, practicing in the area of employment discrimination. This work culminated in the favorable Colorado appellate decision establishing post-Twombly pleading standards for state claims of public policy wrongful discharge. The son of a professional land surveyor, he is presently in house Claims Counsel with First American Title Insurance Company. Jason has long held a leadership position within the Thompson B. Marsh Inn of Court, is Co-Chair of the Legal Advisory Committee of the GLBT Community Center of Colorado, a member of the Colorado Bar Association Leadership Training Class of 2010, is Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for Adoption Options, Colorado’s oldest non-sectarian private adoption agency, and is a Trustee of the Colorado Bar Association. He lives in Denver with his partner (now husband) of fourteen years, and their five year old son.
Community Outreach
Andy McCallin
Andy is a First Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection Section of the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. Andy also serves as the Colorado GLBT Bar Association’s representative on the board of directors of the Colorado Campaign for Inclusive Excellence (“CCIE”). CCIE is a nonprofit organization that promotes diversity in the legal profession. In his capacity as a CCIE board member and a member of the board of the Colorado GLBT Bar Association, Andy testified before the American Bar Association’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee in July 2009 regarding best practices for inclusion and promotion of GLBT indiviuals in the legal profession.
Andy is a 1991 graduate of the University of Denver College of Law. He is also the Commissioner of the Denver Gay and Lesbian Flag Football League (see www.denvergayflagfootball.com), which is an organization dedicated to promoting GLBT equality through involvement in sports. Andy is a third generation Denverite and lives in South Denver.
