Jonathan Fero
 |
401 UCB
2450 Kittredge Loop Drive
Wolf Law Building
Boulder, CO 80309
E-mail: jonathan.fero@colorado.edu
As a Partner at Semple, Farrington, & Everall, P.C., Jonathan Fero represents school districts, municipalities, and other organizations in governance, employee discipline and discharge, student matters, collective bargaining, commercial agreements, compliance, and many other matters. Jon specializes in education law and complex constitutional litigation, and his practice has encompassed all aspects of civil litigation, both civil and criminal appeals, high-dollar negotiations, general counsel advising, and transactional work.
Jon clerked for Justice Nancy E. Rice of the Colorado Supreme Court, and in 2005, he joined the Colorado Attorney General's Office, specializing in appellate practice for almost five years. During that time, he completed over 150 appeals in state and federal courts, obtaining a favorable result for his clients in 97 percent of the decisions. He then joined the Office's Education Unit as a member of the trial team in the landmark Lobato v. State school finance case. After co-second chairing a five-week bench trial, Jon delivered the State's closing argument. He next led the appeal to the Supreme Court that resulted in the reversal of a more than $4 billion per year judgment against the State. Following Lobato, Jon served as the lead litigator for the Colorado Department of Education, the State's Community Colleges, and numerous institutions of higher education including Colorado State University and the Colorado School of Mines.
Jon also served as General Counsel to History Colorado. During that time, Jon continued working on major constitutional cases, including the Sheriffs' challenge to the gun magazine limits enacted after the Aurora theater shooting, and a suit claiming the TABOR Amendment violates the guarantee of a republican form of government. Jon also led the State's defense in the Dwyer case, in which the Colorado Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the negative factor, holding its annual reduction in public education funding did not violate Amendment 23. In 2016, Jon finalized recovery of over $12 million of Colorado's costs cleaning up significant environmental contamination at the former School of Mines Research Institute site.
More recently, Jon briefed and argued the Johnson case before the Colorado Supreme Court, which confirmed the ending of tenure in Colorado and held that teachers are not entitled to ongoing paid assignments.
Jon currently serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado Law School where he teaches Legal Ethics and Professionalism.
Education:
B.A., Guilford College (Greensboro, North Carolina), Integrative Studies, Magna cum Laude, with Honors, 1999
J.D., University of Colorado at Boulder, School of Law, 2004.
Courses:
| Fall 2024 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-802 |
| Fall 2023 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-802 |
| Fall 2022 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-802 |
| Fall 2021 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-802 |
| Fall 2020 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-802 |
| Fall 2019 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-803 |
| Fall 2018 | Legal Ethics and Professionalism | LAWS 6103-802 |