Lance M Sears

Lance Michael Sears is a past President of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, a state–wide professional association of Colorado lawyers who practice civil trial law. After service as President of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association from 1988–1989, Lance was elected to represent Colorado as a member of the Board of Governors of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) for six years.

Lance was raised in Boulder, Colorado and received both his undergraduate degree (magna cum laude) and his law degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder. From 1975 to 1979, he was Deputy District Attorney in El Paso County (Colorado Springs), where he learned trial law on a daily basis in the courtroom. His practice since then has concentrated on civil trial law.

A significant amount of Lance’s practice is in Federal Court, and in 1992, the judges of the Federal Court in Colorado appointed him to the Federal Court Advisory Committee, where he worked with his fellow lawyers and the federal judges to make federal trial practice more efficient and cost effective. In 2002, Lance was elected as the President of the Faculty of Federal Advocates (the trial lawyers who practice in Federal Court) for the Federal District Court of Colorado.

From 2001–2006, Lance was Chair of the Colorado State Judicial Performance Commission, which evaluates the performances of the justices of the Colorado Supreme Court and the judges of the Colorado Court of Appeals for purposes of making recommendations regarding their retention by the voters of Colorado.

Lance has lectured in over forty states and at national forums, and all over Colorado, on subjects involving trial skills and tactics, personal injury law, commercial torts, and legal ethics. He is certified as a Diplomate of Trial Advocacy by the National College of Advocacy, a prestigious achievement reached only after a lawyer has accumulated over 600 hours of teaching and lecturing to other lawyers, and is on the faculty and Board of Trustees of the National College of Advocacy.

Since 1982, Lance has also been on the Colorado Bar Ethics Committee, the committee that writes ethics opinions to guide Colorado lawyers in ethical standards. Lance is an advocate representing lawyer/respondents before the Colorado Grievance Committee.

Lance has over thirty-five years of trial experience. In 2003, Mr. Sears was named a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers (ISOB), a prestigious international organization with only approximately 600 members throughout the English-speaking world. He was appointed State Chair of the ISOB for the state of Colorado in 2006 to present and was elected to the Board of Governors of the ISOB and has served in that position since 2008.

Lance is admitted to practice before all state and federal courts in Colorado and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as before the United States Supreme Court.