Dan Hoffman was an attorney extraordinaire, but dont just take our word for it.
The adjectives used by his colleagues in the wake of his passing this week tell the story quite eloquently:
A truly gifted and extraordinary lawyer.
An icon in the legal community.
The dean of the state trial lawyers.
And this, from no less than Colorado Governor Bill Ritter: He was a remarkable attorney, a courageous leader and a dear friend. Colorado is a better place because of his countless contributions.
Attorneys, both green and experienced, express awe at Hoffmans formidable skills in the courtroom, his logical and beautifully expressed arguments, his keen sense of empathy for those he felt were victimized by circumstances, his adroit handling of evidence and witnesses, his ability to convince jurors and judges that his position was the only reasonable one to take.
Hoffmans skills were such that many high profile cases came his way. He is remembered by many inside and outside the legal community for his successful 1994 defense of Michael Jackson in a copyright infringement suit brought by a Denver songwriter and his handling of the complex merger of the old American Basketball Association into the NBA.
His client list included such corporate giants as General Electric, Lockheed Martin and Gates Corp.
His involvement in the legal community was no less stellar his service as dean of the DU College of Law, his alma mater; his active and wise leadership of such organizations as the Colorado Bar Association, Colorado Trial Lawyers Association and American College of Trial Lawyers.
Fewer people, perhaps, know of the less visible highlights of Hoffmans life that in the early 1960s he served as the youngest ever manager of public safety for Denver; that he served as an adviser to Robert Kennedys 1968 presidential campaign; that, in 1965, he marched alongside Rev. Martin Luther King from Selma to Montgomery.
These lesser-known details say a great deal about the man.
Although Hoffman often advocated for the rich and powerful, his bottom line was always truth and justice. He felt that discrimination against African Americans was wrong, hence his activism for civil rights. He felt that Michael Jackson had been wrongly accused, hence his defense of the superstar.
Such consistency of integrity was always the beacon of Hoffmans career in the courtroom, just as it served as his guiding light in his roles as a leader in the legal community and an educator of aspiring attorneys. No trial lawyer could go wrong trying to follow Dans example, one of Hoffmans colleagues and admirers told us this week.
Indeed, let the followers multiply.
