Our history

The Colorado Center on Law and Policy has more than a decade of experience as one of Colorado’s leading advocacy organizations dedicated to promoting justice, economic security, access to health care, as well as sound fiscal policies. 

CCLP is the only organization that provides the critical advocacy formerly provided by Colorado’s federally funded legal services programs.  In 1995 and 1996, Legal Services Programs suffered significant losses due to federal budget cuts. New federal laws prohibited many forms of administrative and legislative advocacy and barred legal aid programs from participating in class action litigation.  The laws severely restricted critical legal advocacy and representation of the poor by Colorado's Legal Services Programs.

The Colorado Lawyers' Trust Account Foundation provided funds to establish an independent nonprofit agency to continue the work federally funded legal services agencies could no longer do, forming CCLP in 1999. 

Since then, CCLP has become a leader in the advocacy community and in working with key policy stakeholders.  Through its work on health care, welfare reform, fiscal policy and other critical issues, CCLP has gained a strong reputation for providing litigation, research, education and advocacy services to lower-income Coloradans, policymakers, opinion-makers, nonprofit organizations and the general public.