Hon. Lawrence A. Manzanares #1260

Brother Lawrence A. Manzanares arrived at the University of Denver after graduating Arapahoe High School in Littleton, Colorado in 1975. He was born and raised in the southwest, spending his childhood between New Mexico and Colorado. His first venture out of the area was in 1979 after he left the University of Denver and his Beta brothers in order to attend Harvard Law.

At the University of Denver, he enjoyed his times in Beta and still looks back on the days fondly, “None of us left DU the same person as when we arrived, and the Beta house played a very large part in that”. He left Denver with a Bachelors degree in Psy­chology and graduated Magna Cum Laude.

After attending law school at Harvard, Judge Manzanares entered private practice in 1982. He excelled in corporate law and commercial litigation, until 1992 when he was appointed to the Denver County Court bench. He worked there until 1998 when he was appointed to the Denver District Court where he presides as the judge of court­room one.

Throughout his career Brother Manzanares has contributed to his community, both legal and otherwise. Twice he has authored chapters of texts, Chapter 1 of The Colo­rado Attorney’s Professional Liabilility, and Chapter 56 of Colorado Civil Procedure Forms and Commentary. He currently works on the Colorado Supreme Court Ap­pellate Rules Committee, and has done so since 2003, He also is on the Bench Bar Retreat Committee. Prior to that, in the nineties, Judge Manzanares was the Co-Chair of the Colorado Bar Association Professionalism Committee and began his work for the Alfred A. Arraj Inn of Court which he continues today. In addition, he works as a mock trial judge for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, and has taught courses at the Woman’s Bar Association and the Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center, among numerous other professional outreaches. He was a delegate to the National Confer­ence of Special Court Judges, a member of the Colorado Supreme Court Grievance Committee, and on the Board of Directors of the Colorado Hispanic Bar Association. It was at the CHBA where Manzanares three times led a team in Ride the Rockies, an event mentoring and training minority children for a 400+ mile bike ride across Colorado.

For the University of Denver he has served as a Director to the board of the Alumni Association from 1995-2000. He has also been a member of the University Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series, been a member of the President’s Community Advisory Board, all in addition to his Adjunct Professorship at the College of Law.

In the Denver community, Brother Manzanares has been a member of the Denver Public Schools Citizens Bond Review Task Force, a Public Schools Facilities Review Committee member, and served on the Denver Public Schools Citizens Bond Re­view Task Force. In addition, he has been a member of the Board of Directors for the Denver I have a Dream Foundation. He was the President of the Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, and is the immediate past president of Project PAVE (Promoting Alternatives to Violence through Education). He currently is the Board President of LARASA, the Latin American Research and Service Agency.

Lawrence obtained his pilot’s license in 1994 and enjoys flying private planes. He also spends his leisure time bicycling, playing and building guitars, and woodworking.