MEET LISI
Lisi is an experienced, recognized, progressive civil rights attorney who has always been and will always be on the people's side.
My Denver Roots
My name is Lisi, and I was born and raised in Park Hill. As a 1990s Denver kid, I learned to swim at Celebrity Sports; I earned BookIt! pizza parties by spending my summers with stacks of books I borrowed from the Park Hill library; and I was the only member of the 1994 La Alma swim team.
I grew up in the D.A.R.E. generation, which meant that police were in my school, my TV, and my neighborhood warning me of everything there was to be afraid of in the world, and promising me they could keep me safe. After someone was shot three blocks from my house one Halloween, we had to trick-or-treat the next year at police cars instead of houses. I was so scared of drive-by shootings that I used to duck behind the brick wall of our small brick bungalow every time a car drove by. After a child was killed because administrators at Smiley Middle School sent him home knowing a gang was looking for him, I was constantly watching over my shoulder walking around my neighborhood.
In fourth grade I wrote a book announcing I’d grow up to be a ballerina mathematician. I never did realize that dream, so I became a lawyer instead.
Starting in law school at the University of Denver, I began a fifteen-year career of holding institutions accountable.
Representing Colorado’s most vulnerable
For over a decade I represented prisoners. The very people that I was taught to be afraid of during those D.A.R.E. years were the people who needed my help. In the thousands of hours of legal visits I conducted with prisoners, I found out they were once kids, too. I listened to people’s stories, and here’s what I learned: Before my clients ever became "offenders," they were victims--victims of child abuse, police misconduct, community violence, family separation, school discipline and mistreatment, carceral trauma, and a system that falls short in caring for families. My clients taught me that the human soul is capable of extraordinary resilience, grit, and hope.
As I matured as a prisoners’ rights attorney I recognized that the court system has given up any sense of responsibility for protecting these highly vulnerable people from even the worst kinds of treatment, like rape, torture, violent assault, and even death. I stopped taking prisoner cases when I felt that doing so would make me complicit in the very system I was trying to change.
With all that I'd learned in co-founding my non-profit organization and then starting and running my own law firm, I returned to work with my career-long mentor at his insurance litigation practice. I enthusiastically learned all I could about how to represent people and businesses whose insurance companies were refusing to pay when they were supposed to. Within a year, I was named one of Colorado's "SuperLawyers" in insurance coverage litigation, an honor I've maintained since 2018.
Taking on Institutions
In 2020, I accepted a position at one of Colorado's most well-known law firms, Franklin D. Azar & Associates, so that I could represent a diverse client base, including people without financial resources, immigration documentation, and personal networks that include lawyers. My role at that firm was to handle complex cases and provide strategic guidance in lawsuits against multi-billion dollar insurance companies that were represented by teams of lawyers at some of Denver's most expensive law firms.
Research for a safer Denver
In 2022, with my two small children in tow, I moved to Bergen, Norway, so that I could study the Norwegian prosecution system. While my career made me very familiar with all of the ways the U.S. criminal justice system is failing, I wanted to better understand what a functional system looks like, and how realistic it would be to implement a system like that in a country that was founded upon and perpetuates cultural, racial, and class-based trauma to this day.
After a year of immersive research--which included everything from sending my kids to Norwegian school; interviewing Norwegian police, prosecutors, judges, and defense attorneys; and living the Norwegian way as much as I could--I developed a comprehensive prosecutorial policy platform influenced by Norway, but tailored for my hometown of Denver.
I am proud to launch my campaign for Denver District Attorney and to make Denver a national leader in modern, innovative, research-backed prosecutorial policy.
Qualifications & Experience
Ethical, excellent practice has been my guiding principle as a lawyer since day one.
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Colorado Prison Law Project (2010-2014)
Roberts Levin Rosenberg, P.C. (2012-2014)
Prisoners’ Justice League of Colorado LLC (2015-2017)
Levin Sitcoff, P.C. (2017-2020)
Franklin D. Azar & Associates, P.C. (2020-2022)
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Fulbright U.S. Scholar - Alternate (2022)
BestLawyers Ones to Watch (2022)
SuperLawyers Rising Star (2018-2023)
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)
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Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project (2010)
Prisoners' Rights Project, Legal Aid Society NY (2009)
University of Denver Civil Rights Clinic (2008-2009)
EnGendeRights (2008)
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University of Denver Sturm College of Law Bar Success Program (2017-2018)
Haddon Morgan Foreman, P.C. (2015-2016)
Reilly Pozner, LLP (2010-2011)
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Rice University Alumni in Law - Mentor
Girls, Inc. - After School Volunteer
Faculty of Federal Advocates - Board Member
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
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I have litigated pro bono cases in partnership with many of Denver’s best law firms, including:
Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz
Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell
Holland & Hart
Bryan Cave
Appellate Decisions.
U.S. Supreme Court
Apodaca v. Raemisch, 139 S. Ct. 5 (2018)
Colorado Supreme Court
Harvey v. Centura Health, 2020 CO 18
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals
Murphy-Sims v. Owners Insurance Co., 947 F.3d 628 (10th Cir. 2020)
Vasquez v. Davis, 882 F.3d 1270 (10th Cir. 2018)
Apodaca v. Raemisch, 864 F.3d 1071 (10th Cir. 2017)
Lowe v. Raemisch, 864 F.3d 1205 (10th Cir. 2017)
Estate of James Roemer v. Shoaga, 10th Cir. Case No. 17-1418 (Mar. 7, 2019) (unpublished)
Estate of Duke v. Gunnison Cty. Sheriff’s Office, 10th Cir. Case No. 18-1076 (Nov. 29, 2018)
Sayed v. Virginia, 10th Cir. Case No. 17-1445 (Jul. 31, 2018) (unpublished)
Laratta v. Foster, 10th Cir. Case No. 16-1283 (Sept. 20, 2017) (unpublished)
Freeman v. Carroll, 10th Cir. Case No. 12-1057 (Dec. 19, 2012) (unpublished)
Colorado Court of Appeals
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Goddard, 2021 COA 15
Duke v. Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office, 2019 COA 120
Garcia v. Harms , 2014 COA 154
Toevs v. Raemisch, Colo. Ct. App. Case No. 14CA156 (Jan. 14, 2016) (unpublished)