Photo: University of Colorado Law School. The Wolf Law Building.
The University of Colorado Law School is adding four new members to its full-time faculty this fall. The school announced the appointments on 30 June 2026. Our congratulations to the new faculty and the school.
The new faculty
- Ilan Friedmann-Grunstein joins as Associate Professor of Clinical Law, leading the Criminal Defense Clinic, from the Colorado State Public Defender's office.
- Justin Murray joins as an Associate Professor working in criminal law and procedure, from New York Law School.
- Zachary Schmook joins as an Associate Teaching Professor of Legal Writing, from the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
- Elaine Tornés-Blanco joins as an Assistant Teaching Professor and research librarian, from the University of Miami School of Law.
"We are delighted to welcome these four distinguished scholars and educators to our faculty this fall," said Lolita Buckner Inniss, the school's Dean and Provost's Professor of Law. "Each brings to Colorado Law a remarkable depth of expertise, compelling research agendas, and a steadfast commitment to developing the next generation of legal leaders."
Why it matters
Faculty hiring is where a law school quietly sets its direction for the next generation of students, in the clinics that give them hands-on practice, the courses that shape how they think, and the librarians and writing teachers who make the rest of it possible. The mix here, a clinician from a public defender's office, a criminal-law scholar, a legal-writing teacher, and a research librarian, spans exactly those roles.
For Colorado law students
University of Colorado Law students and alumni have complimentary access to LegalAlphabet, where they can search legal jobs and internships worldwide. Visit the Colorado Law campus page, browse current openings on the United States legal jobs board, or read more from our Law School News desk.
Sources
This report is based on the announcement published by the University of Colorado Law School. The quotation is drawn from that announcement.
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