Career Perspectives Series: Virginia Grady, Alice Norman, Mike Melito and Chris Larson

When	Friday, October 9, 2015 12:00 PM - 12:50 PM
Location	Room 204
For	Students; Career Development

Virginia (Ginny) Grady is the Federal Public Defender for the Districts of Colorado and Wyoming. Ms. Grady received her law degree from Syracuse University, where she was a member of the school's nationally recognized competitive Trial Team. She began her 31-year career in public service as a trial lawyer in the Denver Trial Office of the Colorado State Public Defender. She joined the Office of the Federal Public Defender in 1990. Ms. Grady is the founder of a bi-annual continuing legal education program for attorneys who practice under the Criminal Justice Act in the United States District Courts in Colorado and Wyoming. She has represented indigent defendants in dozens of jury trials and hundreds of motions hearings, as well as numerous appeals in the Tenth Circuit. She is a former Chair of the Committee on Conduct in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, and a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers. In September, 2013, she was appointed Interim Federal Public Defender, and sworn in as Federal Public Defender in June, 2014.

Alice Norman is the city of Denver's first Chief Municipal Public Defender. Norman opened the Municipal Public Defender's Office in January 2015 and manages a staff of six attorneys. The creation of the Municipal Public Defender's Office allows Denver to improve representation of the city's indigent citizens. Prior to opening the office, Norman worked with the Law Office of Frank Moya, during which time she was the supervising attorney for the Denver municipal public defender contract. Norman has been recognized as part of the ?Team of the Year? by the Colorado Lawyers Committee for her work on Project Homeless Connect, an annual event that provides free legal services to hundreds of individuals.

Mike Melito came to work at the Attorney General's Office in 2005. As of 2007 he started specializing in the prosecution of environmental crimes with the office's Special Prosecution Unit. Mike also routinely prosecutes large scale organized crime and white collar taxed based financial crimes. His experience in the criminal law field goes back to his service in the United States Army, Judge Advocate General's Corps since 1999 where he served as both a prosecutor and defense counsel. He has a Bachelor's degree from Boston College and a J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C. Mike is licensed to practice in the United States Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, the United States District Court of Colorado and the State of Colorado.

Chris Larson is an experienced Assistant U.S. Attorney who has served in the District of Colorado and at Main Justice. He has litigated both criminal and civil cases.

The 1L Career Perspectives Lunch Series will bring in engaging and prominent speakers to talk about the various practices of law. We strongly encourage 1Ls to attend at least three sessions of this series. Lunch will be provided.