100 Years of Justice: On your side since 1925
Colorado Legal Services is celebrating 100 years of fighting for justice for Coloradans with low incomes in 2025.
The statewide legal aid organization serves around 10,000 Coloradans each year who are facing civil legal challenges, helping people in our communities stay housed, escape domestic violence, stop unfair debt collection, undo bureaucratic public benefits mistakes, solve tax disputes, protect the rights of farmworkers, advocate for survivors of human trafficking and severe crime, and fix complicated identification document issues.
“For 100 years, we have remained true to our core values of defending the rights of low-income people and seniors,” said Matt Baca, executive director of Colorado Legal Services. “I am eternally grateful to the continued dedication of Colorado Legal Services attorneys, paralegals, intake staff, social workers, and many others who do this important work. As we look forward to the next 100 years, it is with the dogged determination, compassionate dedication, and resilience that carried us through the first century of service. While our clients face continued hardships and threats to legal aid funding are ever present, the future of legal aid is one we will meet with the conviction that civil legal representation is a vital human right.”
Colorado Legal Services began in February of 1925 when the Legal Aid Society of Denver (later called the Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Denver) was formed. Until the Legal Aid Society of Colorado Springs was founded in 1953, Denver was the only city in the state with a formal legal services program for low-income Coloradans, leaving people in other areas in civil court without representation if they could not afford it.
More legal aid organizations continued to start across the state, until several separate legal aid organizations, including the original Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Denver, consolidated in 1999 to become the cohesive, statewide legal aid program Colorado Legal Services is today.
Colorado Legal Services rings in the next century with support and collaboration from Coloradans and organizations statewide. It recently added social workers to help provide holistic services, continued to build community relationships, rebranded and built a new website to help people more easily access it and various resources, and worked to increase funding options for low-income Coloradans.
Artwork from Charlo, a Colorado artist whose work can be found at charlo.studio, highlighting Colorado Legal Services’ work and community impact. Words and images in the artwork reflect the organization and its staff’s commitment to Colorado communities.
The artwork was made possible by Charlo and a grant from the Kettering Foundation.
A Peek into the Past
Two Colorado Rural Legal Services bumper stickers. CRLS was founded in 1969.
A poster for Colorado Rural Legal Services, one of the three Colorado legal aid organizations that consolidated in 1999 to form Colorado Legal Services.
A Pikes Peak Legal Services sign. Pikes Peal Legal Services started in 1953 as the Legal Aid Society of Colorado Springs.
The original Colorado Legal Services logo.
A 1990s logo concept submitted for consideration by a staff member.
The current Colorado Legal Services logo, updated in 2024.
An Aunt’s Determination to Give Her Niece a New Life
Angela, who lives in northern Colorado, was shocked and worried when, in 2022, she learned that her young niece could be in danger. Angela, who has long acted as a caretaker and who raised children of her own, quickly reached out to her brother and asked if Lilly could visit Colorado for the summer.
When Angela flew to Tennessee to pick Lilly up, she found a 3-year-old with too-tight clothes, two stuffies, one extra outfit, and a tattered backpack.
“Throughout my career in legal aid I’ve experienced the serious challenges, from variations in funding to shifting legal landscapes and the significantly increasing number of people who need our help. Thousands of Coloradans over the last 100 years have had their legal rights asserted, defended, and, where possible, expounded, and their lives have been improved by Colorado Legal Services’ most able and important work.”
History
Colorado Legal Services began as several separate legal aid organizations, which merged in 1999 to best serve low-income Coloradans with efficiency and cohesion. Today, the organization represents thousands of Coloradans for free each year.
Years of Service
Legal Aid Society of Denver forms. In 1962, the name of the organization was changed to the Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Denver. Until the Legal Aid Society of Colorado Springs was founded in 1953, Denver was the only city in the state with a formal legal services program for low-income Coloradans.
The Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Denver eventually added services to Boulder and Jefferson counties, and in 1981, it also began a pro bono program for 11 rural counties in northwest Colorado, known as the Northwest Colorado Legal Services Project.
Pikes Peak Legal Services began as the Legal Aid Society of Colorado Springs, staffed by a part-time attorney and part-time secretary. The part time office later grew to a full time operation housed in the courthouse. The Pikes Peak Legal Services attorney also served as a half-time deputy district attorney prosecuting nonsupport cases.
In the late 1990’s, Pikes Peak Legal Services joined with Pueblo County Legal Services, which began in 1966. The combined program was renamed Pikes Peak-Arkansas River Legal Aid.
Colorado Rural Legal Services was founded and funded in 1969 by an Office of Economic Opportunity grant and began as a program designed primarily to serve migrant farm workers throughout Colorado. Colorado Rural Legal Services was run out of an office in Boulder, with regional offices originally located in La Junta, Alamosa, Grand Junction and Greeley. Offices were added in Montrose, Trinidad and Durango when the state provided funding for a short time in the early 1970’s. Later offices were added in Fort Collins and Fort Morgan.
Colorado’s three existing legal services programs, the Legal Aid Society of Metro Denver, Colorado Rural Legal Services, and Pikes Peak-Arkansas River Legal Aid consolidated to form a new statewide program: Colorado Legal Services. The consolidation was recommended by a statewide planning group that included staff and board members from the three programs and other leaders throughout Colorado.
