The criminal chief in the Colorado U.S. Attorney’s Office was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers, The Denver Post reported today.

Jim Allison will become a fellow at the nation’s leading trial lawyer organization, according to the newspaper. The society has more than 5,700 fellows, who are invited to join after a rigorous investigation into their professional careers as prosecutors, civil lawyers or criminal defense attorneys, according to the group’s Web site.

“The American College of Trial Lawyers has just confirmed what we in the U.S. attorney’s Office have known for a long time,” said acting U.S. Attorney Dave Gaouette in a statement to The Post. “Jim Allison is one of the best trial lawyers in the United States.”

Allison said he was grateful. ”It is an honor to be selected as a fellow,” Allison said in the statement to The Post. “I will continue to represent the United States, being an advocate for the fair and impartial administration of justice.”