Colorado Supreme Court

Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel

Promoting Professionalism. Protecting the Public.

 

New Leadership Takes Reins

James Coyle was named the new head of the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel as the office continues to broaden its relationship with lawyers from the bar exam to the end of their career.

By JAMES CARLSON

Summer 2013

As the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel moved into its new offices in the Ralph L. Carr Judicial Center this spring, it did so with new leadership.

James Coyle was selected as the new Regulation Counsel from a field of more than 100 applicants. His appointment was official March 1. He replaced John Gleason.

Coyle has more than 20 years of experience in the regulation office. He served as assistant regulation counsel from 1990 to 2002 when he was named deputy regulation counsel. In 2010, he was promoted to chief deputy regulation counsel. Prior to joining the regulation office, Coyle was in private practice.

Meanwhile, Coyle has made other changes to his management team. Matthew Samuelson became chief deputy regulation counsel for intake and operations, and Margaret Funk moved into deputy regulation counsel for that division. In the trial division, James Sudler is chief deputy regulation counsel, and Charles Mortimer is deputy regulation counsel.

Coyle and Sudler were with the office 15 years ago when Colorado changed the way it regulates lawyers. In the late 1990s, the state implemented a central phone intake system for disciplinary complaints, created an Office of the Presiding Disciplinary Judge, and put in place the country’s first comprehensive diversion program.

Those changes made Colorado the nation’s gold standard of disciplinary systems. The changes are only part of the office’s ongoing efforts to protect the public and nurture attorneys. The office now oversees the bar exam, admissions, registration, continuing legal education and inventory counsel. Far from being solely the disciplinary arm of the legal community, the Office of Attorney Regulation now focuses on the long-term relationship with all Colorado attorneys to help improve the practice of law experience for all participants.

James Carlson is the Information Resources Coordinator with the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel.