Colorado Hispanic Bar Association Foundation

Background Statement

The Colorado Hispanic Bar Association established the Foundation on September 12, 2006, to address the disproportionate underrepresentation of Hispanic and Latinos in the legal profession. By way of example, as of 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanic and Latino residents in Colorado represented 21% of the Colorado population. According to the Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel, however, only about 6.5% of attorneys in Colorado identified as Hispanic or Latino. The Foundation’s mission is to narrow this gap. The Foundation operates via its volunteer Board of Directors, which is comprised of Colorado Hispanic and Latino attorneys who have beaten the odds.

In 2007, the Foundation endowed the Louis Romero Scholarship Fund at the University of Colorado School of Law and the Lawrence Manzanares Scholarship Fund at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. Students may apply for these scholarships directly through CU and DU. These endowments address the main obstacle to Hispanic and Latino students attending law school – the exorbitant cost.

Since creating the Louis Romero Scholarship Fund and the Lawrence Manzanares Scholarship Fund, the Foundation has awarded over 90 scholarships to Colorado’s Hispanic and Latino law students.

In addition to the scholarships available from CU and DU, the Foundation is now providing direct scholarships to students outside these endowments. The Foundation’s direct scholarships are available to Hispanic and Latino students in need who attend law school anywhere in the nation as part of the Foundation’s Circle of Giving and the Ellen Alires-Trujillo & Lorenzo Trujillo Scholarship. Students may apply for the Foundation’s direct scholarships through the buttons at the top of this page.