2025 DU Law Stars Honorees
The University of Denver has named its 2025 DU Law Stars honorees, who will be honored at an awards ceremony on November 12. For the third year in a row, the ceremony will be held at Denver Art Museum’s Sturm Grand Pavilion. Since 1993, DU Law Stars has recognized distinguished Sturm College of Law alumni and faculty for their outstanding achievements, and their contributions to the University of Denver and the Colorado legal community.
2025 DU Law Stars Honorees
Chad Williams, JD’99, William L. Keating Outstanding Alumni Award
Chad Williams graduated from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, Order of St. Ives, in 1999. He is co-managing partner of Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Williams practices complex civil and criminal litigation, with an emphasis on white collar defense, complex business disputes, securities and corporate governance litigation, SEC enforcement, and all cases earmarked for trial. Before starting at Davis Graham more than 25 years ago, he clerked for Michael E. Tigar in the defense of United States v. Terry Lynn Nichols. In the last decade, Williams has been involved in many of the largest lawsuits and investigations, and many of the most politically sensitive matters, in the U.S. He regularly represents sizable public and private corporations in their most important cases across the country. Williams represents high-profile individuals, including company directors, corporate officers and executives, and government figureheads and officials. He is frequently enlisted by audit and special committees to investigate company malfeasance and alleged ethical violations, to report to boards about those investigations, and to work with government enforcers to resolve potential company liability.
Hon. Sidney B. Brooks, JD’71, Robert H. McWilliams, Jr. Alumni Professionalism Award
After graduating from the Sturm College of Law, the Honorable Sidney Brooks was able to combine his professional legal interests and his passion for international relations in a career focused on public service and promoting the values of the rule of law. Between periods of private practice, Judge Brooks served as Assistant Attorney General of Colorado and then U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for 28 years. His avocation – teaching bankruptcy and business law, the rule of law, American legal practices and principles, and judicial/court administration to colleagues around the world – allowed him to share the values of the American legal system with judges, academics and government officials from over 30 countries. As a student of Professor Ved Nanda and as a representative of numerous government agencies and private NGO’s, Judge Brooks was fortunate to work with proponents of democracy and the market economy for over 30 years. In partnership with Professor Nanda, Judge Brooks along with Chuck Turner (CEO CBA ret.) and Judge David Ebel (10th Cir.) sponsored 18 graduate Russian law students to study the American legal system at the Sturm College of Law. He also has taught Ukrainian law students at the CEELI Institute in Prague for the past three years.
Elisa “Emo” Overall, JD’17, Bruce B. Johnson Outstanding Young Alumni Award
Elisa Marie Overall (known also as “Emo”), has dedicated her career to issues of equity, social justice, and inclusion. She has a decade of experience as a non-profit executive, organizational strategist, and advocate. Overall became the first-ever Executive Director to the Colorado Access to Justice Commission (ATJC) in 2021, supporting its commissioners and staff in implementing a state-wide strategic plan for expanding access, quality, and fairness in the justice system for all Coloradans. Prior to joining the ATJC, Overall worked in private practice, primarily pursuing criminal appeals for incarcerated Coloradans. During that time, she dedicated a substantial portion of her practice to pro bono work in clemency applications and record expungement. She also served as court-appointed counsel for indigent defendants through the Office of Alternate Defense Counsel. A lifelong public servant, Overall is currently a board member and officer of RISE Colorado, a nationally recognized non-profit organization for educational equity that works to educate, engage, and empower families of color as agents for change in the education system.
Professor of the Practice of Law and John C. Dwan Professor for Online Learning David Thomson, Robert B. Yegge Excellence in Teaching Award
David Thomson has taught Lawyering Process and Discovery Practicum at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law for 22 years. He also served as an adjunct professor teaching both of those courses from 1991 to 1997 and was department chair of the Lawyering Process Program from 2008-2013. Before transitioning to full-time teaching, Thomson worked in large law firms in New York and Denver and was a trial attorney at the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division in Washington, D.C. Since moving to full-time faculty in 2003, he has written extensively and presented nationally and internationally on the intersection of teaching methods, technology, and the future of legal education. He has created and/or co-chaired eleven national conferences on these topics for colleagues around the country, many of which he also hosted at the Sturm College of Law. For a decade Thomson served on the University of Denver’s Distance Learning Council and was a member of the University’s Strategic Issues Panel on the Future of Higher Education. He is the author of Law School 2.0: Legal Education for a Digital Age (LexisNexis/Matthew Bender 2009) and The Way Forward for Legal Education (Carolina Academic Press, 2023). In 2012, he was the recipient of the University of Denver’s Distinguished Teaching Award, given to one faculty member at the University each year.
For more information, including sponsorship opportunities and registration, visit the DU Law Stars page.
