Last month, the state’s judges and justices gathered for their annual conference to learn about updates in the law, discuss hot topics like artificial intelligence and hear people speak on this year’s theme, “dare greatly.”

“Part of it is learning new skills. Learning the nuts and bolts of what we do or improving how we do things. Looking for ways to get better,” said Justice Carlos A. Samour Jr., who led the planning of the 2023 event.

Although the Sept. 10-12 conference at The Hythe luxury resort in Vail was closed to the media, Samour agreed to speak on the record about the programming. He told Colorado Politics that 448 judges and others with judicial roles registered to attend. The theme of “dare greatly” stemmed form a Theodore Roosevelt quote Samour has framed in his chambers.

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,” Roosevelt said in 1910, “and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.”

“As the quote says, there’s no effort without error or shortcoming. But what matters is making sure that you’re giving your best to carry out our charge,” Samour recalled telling attendees during his opening remarks. “I talked about how this is not a job that we have. It’s a privilege.”

The conference featured a series of breakout sessions, with topics ranging from victim rights to the use of pronouns in the courtroom, avoiding reversal on appeal and live streaming. Lawyers also presented about changes in criminal and civil law, which Samour said was critical for both trial and appellate judges to understand the current rules of evidence.

Samour said that even if he was aware of most developments in legal interpretation from his court and the state’s Court of Appeals, it was still helpful to hear from attorneys about how appellate opinions are being applied in practice in the trial courts.

The conference included a session about artificial intelligence, which the planning committee felt was timely. Samour said he was unable to attend, but the topic will “probably get more attention” at next year’s conference.

Amy Burne, the judicial branch’s human resources director, also spoke about the supervisory duties of judges.

“I felt it was important to have one on HR matters,” Samour said.

The conference included multiple group sessions, including one featuring Jane Ginsburg and Eugene Scalia – the children of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia, respectively – and moderated by Attorney General Phil Weiser. The liberal Ginsburg and conservative Scalia famously maintained a friendship during their tenure on the nation’s highest court.

“They talked about how civil discourse can serve to unite opposing parties in acts of collaboration,” Samour said of the discussion.

The conference also heard from Father Gregory Boyle, whose nonprofit, Homeboy Industries, is the largest gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world.

“Although he’s a Catholic priest, none of these remarks had anything to do with religion,” Samour said. Instead, Boyle brought two “homies” who talked about their lives before and after rehabilitation.

“Father Boyle spoke about how initially, Homeboy Industries was job centric, focused on getting former gang members into jobs. He concluded it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t sustainable,” described Samour. “He talked about the significance of universal kinship and redemption in dismantling the barriers that exclude.”

Similarly, there were sessions about how addiction affects the brain, about how neuroscience can provide lessons in better leadership and about “courageous conversations.”

“It isn’t just about the nuts and bolts – the tangible stuff – but also the intangibles,” Samour said.

In addition to the informational sessions, which provided the opportunity to earn continuing legal education credits, the conference was a networking opportunity for the hundreds of judges, justices, magistrates and water referees to interact in one place.

After the official end of the conference, there was a full-day session about handling domestic relations cases, as Samour said not all judges who take the bench are familiar with that area of the law. There were 28 participants in the program.

Finally, attendees heard from The Law Club – Ethics Revue.

“It’s popular songs with the words changed to fit the script,” Samour described. “The script is about ethics and specifically legal ethics. Citing different rules, quoting different rules and presenting different scenarios to teach what you can do, what you can’t do, what’s against the rules, what’s in compliance with the rules.”

The Judicial Department did not immediately know the overall cost of the conference, but Samour said a small amount of funding came from the Colorado Judicial Institute, which advocates on behalf of the state’s courts.