The University of Colorado School of Law paid homage to the monumental career and exemplary public service of Peter C. Dietze on Thursday evening, March 8, 2018, at a gala celebration at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. The dinner-and-cocktail event was attended by over 600 lawyers from across Colorado, most of whom are alumni of CU Law. The award bestowed upon Peter Dietze, who co-founded our firm with the late Joel C. Davis in 1972, is entitled the William Lee Knous Award. It is the highest tribute paid to CU Law alumni by the law school. Knous served as Governor of Colorado, Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court and as President Pro Tem of the Colorado State Senate. Knous also served as a state representative, district attorney and, as the capstone of his career, was a federal District Court Judge for Colorado. The Knous family was in attendance at the event, and other honorees included retiring Colorado Supreme Court Chief Justice Nancy E. Rice.
Dietze’s public sector service is only slightly less dazzling (on the surface) than that of Governor Knous. Peter was the City Attorney for the City of Boulder, and was elected statewide three successive times to the Board of Regents of the University of Colorado, serving terms as Chair of the Regents, as well. Peter’s private sector legal career was august by any standard. His name appears as counsel of record on over forty reported appellate decisions from the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Federal Circuits, as well as state courts in Colorado, Ohio and Kansas. Peter has been widely acknowledged as an expert in real estate title law, and authored chapters in legal texts about that subject.
Peter’s expertise and service had previously been recognized by the Boulder County Bar Association Lifetime Achievement Award (2007), the Norlin Award given by the University of Colorado Alumni Association (1998), and the Distinguished Achievement Award from University of Colorado Law School (2009).
Now fully retired from the practice of law, Peter resides near family in Eugene, Oregon. However, he is actively involved in matters at the law firm which bears his name, and he continues to ‘bleed black and gold’ for his beloved University of Colorado.
