The Colorado Supreme Court and Court of Appeals provide an educational outreach program for high schools, and sometimes universities, which introduces students to the state’s appellate process. In the program, Courts in the Community, each court travels at least once a year to a different high school to hear oral arguments in two actual cases at each location. In spring 2022, the Colorado Supreme Court was scheduled to visit Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction (though the pandemic forced a cancellation), and a division of the Colorado Court of Appeals heard arguments at STRIVE Prep-RISE in Denver.

Courts in the Community began on Law Day in 1986. The program gives students hands-on experience in how the Colorado judicial system works and illustrates how disputes are resolved in a democratic society. These are not mock proceedings. They are oral arguments in actual cases from which official opinions are issued. Cases are chosen by specifically considering the interests of students.

Colorado Supreme Court
May 5, 2022, Colorado Mesa University
20SC717: Timothy Robert McBride v. People of the State of Colorado
Opening brief
Answer brief
Reply brief

21SC119: People of the State of Colorado v. Charles Raider Jr.
Opening brief
Answer brief

Colorado Court of Appeals
April 19, 2022, STRIVE Prep-RISE
21CA172: Rebecca Hogan and Betty Medina v. City of Englewood
Trial court order on motion to dismiss
Opening brief
Answer brief
Reply brief

20CA711, The People of the State of Colorado v. David Joseph Chapel
Opening brief
Answer brief
Reply brief