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Frances KonciljaFrances A. Koncilja, a Colorado native, has been a trial lawyer in the Denver area since 1972. She has handled a broad range of criminal, commercial, civil and bankruptcy disputes for clients ranging from the indigent to Fortune 500 companies. She is a past-President of the Colorado Bar Association and has served on a number of bar, judicial and civic boards and commissions. Frances has been lead counsel in trials and arbitrations involving complex commercial litigation matters for corporations, individuals and partnerships which have required her to deal with complex accounting matters, and public as well as private financings. She has handled civil and criminal matters for individuals and professional service corporations. She has represented equity holders and debtors in bankruptcy cases, including airline and steel company bankruptcies. Frances grew up in Pueblo, Colorado and was first member of her extended Italian and Slavic family to graduate from college. She has two brothers, Joseph and James, who are both attorneys practicing in Pueblo. She attributes her extended Italian and Slavic family with having blessed her with a work ethic, compassion for the underdog, and a willingness to engage in a good fight when necessary.
Frances received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Southern Colorado in 1969 at the age of 20, and was honored as an outstanding alumnus. She attended the University of Colorado School of Law on scholarships. She received her Juris Doctor Degree in 1972 and was honored by the University of Colorado as their outstanding alumnus in private practice. Frances began her career in the Denver Public Defender's Office, where she spent five years trying criminal cases. She was an Assistant United States Attorney in Denver before entering private practice in 1978. She took a brief maternity leave after the birth of her first son and has been in the active full-time practice of law since 1982. For ten years she was a partner in the Denver office of a 640 lawyer law firm. She established this law firm in 1993. In 1997, Frances moved the law firm from a downtown high rise, to its current home--a vintage 19th Century, three-story building at 18th and Stout. It is a beautiful gray sandstone building that Frances purchased and renovated. It sits across the street from the Federal Courts. Frances served a three year term as the Tenth Circuit Representative on the Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary. This is the 14-member national committee charged by the ABA with evaluating the qualifications of persons considered for appointment to the United States Supreme Court, the Circuit Courts, the District Courts, and the Court of International Trade. The "Joke" on this committee is that membership is similar to being in the Marines. You never retire. Frances is usually drafted to do one or two judiciary investigations a year to help the Committee with its workload. Frances was appointed by the Governor of Colorado to a 3-year term on the State Fair Authority Board of Commissioners. The Governor also appointed Frances to the Colorado Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Nominating Commission. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Colorado Lawyer Trust Account Foundation and was Vice President of that Board. She was a member of and past president of the University of Colorado Law School Alumni Board. She was an organizer and a past-president of the Alfred A. Arraj Inn of Court. The Supreme Court of Colorado appointed Frances to the Colorado Supreme Court Grievance Committee. She served on that committee for seven years and also served as its Chairman. The U.S. District Court judges also named her to be a member of the Federal Grievance Committee. Frances has been elected to the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation as well as the Colorado Bar Foundation. Both of these organizations elect to membership lawyers, judges and teachers of outstanding achievement. The Foundations promote the advancement of jurisprudence and the administration of justice through grants and contributions. Frances, along with other female practitioners, was one of the founding and charter members of the Colorado Women's Bar. She served as Vice President of that organization in 1979. In addition to being a past-President of the Colorado Bar Association, she has served in various elective and appointed positions for the Colorado Bar and Denver Bar Association, as a member of the Board of Governors and the Executive Council of the Colorado Bar Association, and as Chair of the Colorado Bar Committee on the Homeless. Frances is a teacher and lecturer on law-related topics, including trial tactics, professional responsibility and ethics. She was a part-time instructor for the University of Denver School of Law teaching professional responsibility and trial tactics and an instructor for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. She has lectured for Continuing Legal Education of Denver, the National Center for Continuing Legal Education, the Becker CPA Review Course, the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, the American Trial Lawyers Association, the Colorado Practicum Institute and the American Corporate Counsel Section. Frances and a colleague developed an advocacy course specifically for women attorneys. She has also been the keynote speaker at the swearing-in of over 400 admittees to the Colorado Bar. Frances is currently a member and organizer of the Denver Rustlers; an elite group of Colorado business men and women committed to supporting the Junior Livestock Sale at the Colorado State Fair. She is a member of the National Western Club. Frances is a past member of the board of Colorado Public Radio. She is the Ex-Officio Member and Nominations Committee Chair of The City Club of Denver; the oldest public affairs forum in the State of Colorado. She also serves on the board of the Gold Crown Foundation.
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