After more than three decades working with the ACLU of Colorado, Mark Silverstein announced Wednesday he will retire as legal director of the civil liberties nonprofit.

Silverstein, 72, has worked as an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union for 31 years and was named legal director of the Colorado branch in 1996. Silverstein said he will continue to serve as legal director until the organization concludes its national search for his replacement.

“It has been a privilege and a lucky break for me to get to spend so many years working in an organization filled with so many dedicated civil libertarians and alongside some of the most talented lawyers in Colorado and in the country,” Silverstein said. “(It) is one of the very best jobs an attorney could have.”

As legal director, Silverstein oversaw hundreds of cases litigated by the ACLU legal team, including challenges to racial profiling, police brutality and abuse of government power. 

High-profile cases during Silverstein’s tenure include a $14 million lawsuit that found Denver police violated the rights of people protesting the murder of George Floyd; a class action lawsuit that resulted in banning Colorado sheriffs from refusing to release prisoners who had posted bond at the request of immigration authorities; and a class action lawsuit that ended the Denver Police Department’s practice of monitoring peaceful protestors as “criminal extremists.”

David Fathi, director of the ACLU National Prison Project, said Silverstein is “one of the most effective lawyers” in the organization. 

“He’s everything you could ever want in a colleague: smart, collaborative, hardworking and fiercely dedicated to the clients we serve,” Fathi said. “We are deeply grateful for all that he’s done to defend the rights of incarcerated people, and of all people, over the course of his long and distinguished career.”

Deborah Richardson, executive director of ACLU of Colorado, said Silverstein will continue to counsel the organization after his retirement, adding that ACLU of Colorado “would not exist as it does today” without Silverstein’s work.

Before his time with ACLU, Silverstein served as a law clerk to Judge James Moran of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and as a law clerk for Judge Harry Pregerson of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Silverstein graduated from the Illinois College of Law in 1989.