Two NDLA Board Members, Brian Bates, ’79 BA, ’86 J.D. and Maureen Reidy Witt, ’80 J.D. Receive Awards Presented by the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Colorado
On February, 25th, 2016, the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Colorado presented Brian Bates, ’79 BA, ’86 JD with the St. Thomas More Award and Maureen Reidy Witt, ’80 JD with the Lifetime Achievement Award. This marks the first year that both the Guild’s honorees were graduates of Notre Dame.
Brian Bates: St. Thomas More Award
Brian Bates, a partner with Antonio Bates Bernard, P.C., in Denver, received the St. Thomas More Award which honors an attorney who exemplifies the intellect, integrity and moral courage of St. Thomas More in service to God, country and profession.
Bates, who specializes in corporate counsel and commercial litigation, is a member of the American, Colorado and Denver Bar Associations, the William Doyle Inn of Court and the Colorado Judicial Institute. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America and was a Best Lawyers’ Lawyer of the Year in 2015.
His volunteer service includes work with the Colorado Lawyers Committee, Colorado Lawyers for the Arts and the Law Line 9 program with KUSA-TV (Denver). Bates served as a member of the board of directors with the Lupus Foundation of Colorado for 20 years, currently is a member of the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Colorado board of directors, and has served as president of the Guild. A member of St. Elizabeth of Hungary parish (Denver), he serves on the parish council and stewardship committee, as an extraordinary minister, a minister to the sick and homebound, and volunteer with the parish’s Soup-n-Sandwich Line. He is a member of the Denver Province review board of The Redemptorists (Denver).
Bates currently serves on the executive advisory committee of the University of Notre Dame Law Association. He has held the positions of regional director and vice president of the university’s national alumni board of directors. Locally, he has served as president of the Notre Dame Club of Denver, and as a member of its board of directors for 17 years. He is a recipient of the club’s Distinguished Service Award and Award of the Year.
Maureen Reidy Witt: Lifetime Achievement Award
Maureen Reidy Witt, a partner with Holland & Hart LLP in Denver, received the Lifetime Achievement Award which honors an attorney for his or her outstanding lifetime contribution to religion, profession and country.
Witt represents clients in complex litigation locally and nationally, with primary areas of focus in commercial litigation, product liability, and labor and employment. She has tried cases in jurisdictions across the country, and is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. Witt served as Holland & Hart’s managing partner from 1988 to 1991 and served on the firm’s management committee from 2004 to 2006.
She has served as a member of the Colorado Lawyers Committee Chair’s Roundtable since its inception, has served as a board member of the Notre Dame Law Association since 2008, teaches regularly at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, and lectures frequently on trial advocacy. A member of St. Thomas More parish (Centennial, Colo.), she has served on the board of trustees at St. Mary’s Academy (Englewood, Colo.) school’s board for 15 years, and has held the position of chairman of the board.
She has been named Denver Business Journal’s Outstanding Woman in Business, one of Law Week’s Colorado Top Litigators, and a top woman lawyer in Colorado by Colorado Super Lawyers®. Witt is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and a member of the Litigation Counsel of America, Colorado Supreme Court Commission on Jury Reform, Colorado Defense Lawyers Association, Alliance of Professional Women, and American, Colorado, Denver and Colorado Women’s Bar Associations.