I am the Founder and Chief Vision Officer of The Vanguard Collective LLC, which is a law and policy innovation lab that creates and supports various projects that create the right balance of power between people and big institutions like the government and corporations.

I practice law with Vanguard Justice LLC, an anti-corruption law firm.

I am also a co-owner of Law Garden, where we help lawyers and their families thrive mentally, emotionally, physically, psychologically, and professionally.

From 2023-2024, I was the progressive candidate for Denver District Attorney. Before running, I graduated from the Emerge Colorado Signature Training 2021 cohort.

I was overwhelmed by the amount of support that I had, including receiving almost 25 percent of the delegate votes at the Denver Democrats 2024 County Assembly. As a committed political outsider, that was a big deal. But, I needed 30 percent to get on the ballot, so I had to exit the race when the Secretary of State’s Office notified me that I also didn’t get enough petition signatures to qualify for the primary ballot. 

But it was always about mission not position, and “success is final, failure isn’t fatal, [and] only courage matters.” That’s why I’m now working on projects like a campaign (including litigation) to end coercive plea bargaining and making lobbying work for the people. 

From 2022-2023, I lived in Bergen, Norway, with my two small children while I was a Guest Researcher at the University of Bergen. Officially, I studied the Norwegian prosecution system. Unofficially, I experienced firsthand what it’s like to raise children in a functional democracy that makes sure everyone’s needs are met.

When I graduated law school in 2010, I co-founded a non-profit public interest law firm called the Colorado Prison Law Project. With CPLP, I represented many prisoners in conditions of confinement cases about everything from supermax conditions to access to mail from family members. I also coordinated and maintained co-counsel relationships with many of the best lawyers in Denver.

In 2015, I left CPLP and started a law firm called the Prisoners’ Justice League of Colorado, where I did similar work. I also handled a small number criminal and post-conviction matters, with great success.

During my time with Levin Sitcoff, I helped the firm to establish a small civil rights practice, which has grown over the years.

<THIS IS MY SERIOUS LAWYER FACE> as my now six-year-old daughter would say. 

Representing people in hard cases against the government, especially people in prison, is financially and emotionally draining. So, I’ve also spent a good part of my legal career working either full-time or part-time representing policyholders in litigation against their insurance companies when they deny payment or coverage.

I owe my long-time mentor and friend, Brad Levin, the biggest debt of gratitude for offering me my first big girl job and for teaching me how to be a lawyer with a victor’s mindset. I had the pleasure of working with Brad, his law partner Jeremy Sitcoff, and the other lawyers at Levin Sitcoff PC until 2018, when Franklin D. Azar & Associates created a new position for me to handle their complex litigation and appellate work. I also advised, supported, and trained Azar lawyers on various aspects of litigation and legal strategy.

I have been selected by SuperLawyers for my insurance coverage work each year from 2018 to the present.

During my first year of law school at the University of Denver, I wrote onto the Denver Journal of International Law and Policy, where I remained a staff editor for all three years of law school. The same year, I helped two custodial workers at the law school prepare for their U.S. Citizenship exam as a volunteer with the Spanish Speaking Lawyers Association. I was also elected as Secretary of Law Students for Reproductive Justice, which was also the organization that sponsored my nationally competitive first summer internship at EnGendeRights, a non-governmental women’s rights advocacy organization in Manila, Philippines. My primary project that summary was assisting in researching and drafting a shadow report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Throughout my second year of law school, I was a student attorney in the DU Civil Rights Clinic, representing prisoners in the federal supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. Additionally, I was President of the DU Law chapter of Amnesty International and Law Students for Reproductive Justice.

I spent the second summer of law school living in New York City and interning for the Prisoners’ Rights Project at the Legal Aid Society of New York. I was awarded a Public Interest Law Group Scholarship from DU for that work.

In the fall of my third year of law school, I worked as a teaching assistant for Nancy Ehrenreich, supporting and tutoring first year students in her Torts class. I spent the spring of my third year as a visiting student at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where I volunteered with Students Against Gender Based Violence and interned with the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project.

Fulbright U.S. Scholar - Alternate (2022)

BestLawyers Ones to Watch (2022)

SuperLawyers Rising Star/SuperLawyer (2018-2026)

Pro Bono Recognition, U.S. District Court D. Colo. (2014, 2016)

American Constitution Society (Colorado Chapter) Progressive Young Leader of the Year (2013)

Linda Faye Williams Prize for Social Justice (2011)

Rice University Alumni in Law - Mentor

Girls, Inc. - After School Volunteer

Faculty of Federal Advocates - Board Member (Pro Bono Committee Chair)

Diversity on the Bench Coalition - Member

Colorado Women’s Bar Association - Member & Public Policy Committee

University of Denver Sturm College of Law - Externship Supervisor

Colorado Trial Lawyers Association - Member

Trinity United Methodist Church - Anti-Racism Allyship

Volunteer, Neil Walia for U.S. House of Representatives

Volunteer, Larry Krasner for Philadelphia District Attorney

Volunteer, Ada Edwards for Houston City Council