Harry Lawson, one of the main figures in reforming Colorado’s judicial system 40 years ago, died Wednesday at an Aurora care facility.
Plans for a memorial service will be announced later.
“He was a pivotal figure in bringing the Colorado courts into the modern era,” said Colorado Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey.
The reform of the state courts system had two parts: one was taking judges out of politics, so they no longer ran and campaigned for office; and the other was having state court administrators with the chief justice at the top of the system, explained senior retired District Judge Jack Smith, who serves in Arapahoe County.
Both issues were worked on by various citizens’ groups, then passed by the legislature in the mid-1960s.
Before the reform, judges had been subject to direct election and ran as Democrats or Republicans.
Now a three-member panel meets in each judicial district to nominate people for the various judge positions in all courts of the state except municipal courts, Smith said.
Voters can vote to retain or not retain judges, but no campaigning is allowed.
Before the judges were taken out of politics, there was always the chance that court employees “could be hired because they were somebody’s brother- in-law,” Mullarkey said.
Lawson “was absolutely dedicated to his work,” Smith said. “He wasn’t a lawyer, but he had an understanding of the law and a healthy disrespect for it, which is good.”
Lawson did much of the work lobbying the legislature to make the changes, Smith said. “The lawmakers listened to Harry. They respected him.”
Lawson was a stickler for detail in English usage, Smith said, adding that “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk was like a Bible to him. “He was a stickler – just awful about it.”
In 2001 Lawson was inducted into the Warren A. Burger Society because he was “an instrumental force” in judicial reform for 35 years.
He himself was state court administrator for 12 years.
Lawson and the late Bob Yegge, who was dean of the University of Denver law school, started the program at DU to train professional court managers, and Lawson was the first director of the program and taught courses at DU for 25 years. He retired from there in 1997, and Yegge became director.
Harry O. Lawson was born in New York City, earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree from the University of Colorado.
For several years he was with the Legislative Research Council, which researches bills for the General Assembly.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Marion Weaver Lawson, his daughter, Ann Lawson Ross, and his son, Jeffry Lawson.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com.
