Alternate Dispute Resolution Services

Arbitration:
LRC's former judges can accept appointments as sole arbitrators or as a neutral on a multi-person panel.

Settlement Conferences:
LRC's former judges are able to provide impartial mediation of disputes between parties, including mediation pertaining to specialized industries and practice areas such as personal injury, construction defects, commercial law, domestic disputes, municipal issues, water law and railroads.

Specially Appointed Judges:
LRC has former judges available for appointment as judges pro tem pursuant to C.R.S. 13-3-111. This option allows a party a means of preserving the right to appeal which would not occur with arbitration.

Domestic Settlement Services:
LRC's former judges are available for both pre-decree and post-decree services.

Hearing Officers:
LRC's former judges are available for appointment as neutral hearing officers.

Stephen L. Carter

Westminster, Colorado
phone: (888) 881-7365
fax: (303) 426-7714

Stephen L. Carter graduated from the University of Colorado with a Bachelor's of Science in Journalism. After spending some time with the Peace Corps in Columbia, Judge Carter returned to attend the University of Colorado School of Law.

Shortly after receiving his doctorate in jurisprudence in 1971, Judge Carter was appointed as one of the Garfield County, Colorado, judges. For several years, he was also a specially appointed district judge in the Ninth Judicial District to hear and decide all juvenile delinquency cases in Garfield County. He has acted as a settlement judge for district court cases, an arbitrator, a hearing officer for local governments, and as a special master in probate matters. Judge Carter has volunteered his time to create the Garfield County Teen Court and is a licensed high-school soccer referee. In addition, he has practiced municipal, probate and real estate law, first as a sole practitioner and then as a member of Carter & Sands, P.C., Rifle, Colorado.

His law practice emphasizes municipal, real-estate and probate law; representative clients of the firm have included a local bank and title company, the towns of Eagle, Parachute, Rangely, and Dinosaur, the City of Rifle, and all of the incorporated municipalities in Mesa County except for Grand Junction. He has also been involved as a litigator in the District Court.

Current Employment Positions:

• Arbitrator/Mediator
• Member, Carter & Sands, P.C., Rifle, Colorado, since 1980

Areas of Special Expertise:

• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Municipal
• Real Estate
• Probate Law

Bar Admissions:

• Colorado
• United States District Court, District of Colorado

Education:

• University of Colorado School of Law, Boulder, Colorado, 1971
  Doctor of Jurisprudence
• University of Colorado School of Journalism, Boulder, Colorado, 1967
  Bachelor of Science, Journalism

Past Judicial Positions Held:

• Garfield County, Judge, 1972 - 2004
• Private Practice, Sole Practitioner, 1972 - 1980
• Ninth Judicial District Attorney, Deputy District Attorney, 1971 - 1972