Two lawyers join UCCS executive staff ranks

Two lawyers with extensive employment and finance legal experience will share duties as UCCS legal counsel.

Jennifer George and Julie Papa will each fill 60 percent appointments as members of the CU legal team assigned to UCCS. Their appointments were announced by Patrick O’Rourke, vice president, university counsel and secretary to the CU Board of Regents.

George and Papa began work July 8 and will share office space in Main Hall 414.

“Jennifer George and Julie Papa bring extensive legal experience and strong community ties to UCCS,” Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak said. “I look forward to working closely with them and encourage the university community to both welcome them and to consult with them.”

George brings to UCCS a 20 year career as a lawyer, business owner and consultant. She practiced employment and labor law with the international law firm Littler Mendelson, regional law firm Sherman & Howard, operated a human resources consulting practice, and co-owned a company that investigated workplace misconduct, conducted employment practices training, developed corporate and personnel policies and manuals.

In 2012, she was a candidate for the Colorado House of Representatives. She is a member of the board of directors for Discover Goodwill of Southern and Western Colorado and previously held positions with the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center Board of Trustees, and the Junior League of Colorado Springs.

She earned a law degree with honors from the University of Texas, Austin, and a bachelor’s degree from Texas A & M University.

Papa brings more than a decade of legal experience advising companies and investors on corporate finance transactions and general business matters, including six years as an associate of the Cooley international law firm headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif. Prior to her work at Cooley, Papa was an associate at Andrews & Kurth where she represented issuers and investment banks in public and private offerings of debt and equity securities and represented commercial real estate clients in acquisition, disposition and leasing transactions. Throughout her legal career, she has counseled start-up companies. Earlier, Papa served as an intelligence research specialist at the Central Intelligence Agency in McLean, Va.

In 2012, Papa managed George’s campaign for the Colorado State House of Representatives. Additionally, she is a school volunteer and assists non-profit organizations through the National Charity League’s Colorado Springs Chapter.

She earned bachelor’s and law degrees from Georgetown University.

George and Papa replace Dan Wilkerson who served as interim legal counsel since March.