Associate Attorney - Family Law

Job Description

Job Description

3+ years Colorado family law experience | $120,000–$160,000 + quarterly bonus | Full-time, hybrid or in-person

Divorce and custody cases are often the hardest chapter of a person's life. Clients come to us at their most vulnerable, and they deserve a lawyer who tells them the truth, fights when it matters, and skips the legalese so they can understand what's happening in their own case.

We're hiring a family law associate who wants to do this work well: someone who can stay steady with a client who is falling apart without losing the thread on strategy, and who understands that a case isn't a docket number. It's someone's life, children, assets, and future.

If that sounds like the job you've been looking for, keep reading.

HOW WE WORK

We built this firm on one standard, and it's not negotiable: fierce, honest, compassionate advocacy, especially when the stakes are high and the situation is messy. In practice, that means:

• We tell clients the truth. Even when it's not what they want to hear.

• We fight when it counts, and we don't manufacture conflict to run up a bill.

• We keep the client's real goals as our true north, not the drama of the courtroom.

• We don't put up with toxic behavior. Not from clients, not from each other. No exceptions.

If you want to practice family law somewhere with a backbone and a heart, this is the place.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

• Salary: $120,000–$160,000 per year, based on experience

• Quarterly bonus: 10% of everything you collect above your minimum quarterly collected amount, paid the pay period after each quarter closes.

• Health, dental, and vision insurance, with the firm paying 50% of premiums, increasing to 100% starting in August 2027.

• 401(k) with a 4% firm match after 1,000 hours or one full year of employment.

• 15 days of paid time off per year, accrued from your first day, usable for vacation, personal time, or sick leave.

• Colorado bar fees and CLEs reimbursed.

• Application deadline: November 15, 2026

$120,000 - $160,000 yearly

WHAT YOU'LL DO

This is a real caseload from day one, not a training seat. You will:

• Run your own docket from intake through resolution: dissolution of marriage, allocation of parental responsibilities and parenting time, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, and post-decree modifications.
• Handle complex, high-asset cases, including business valuations, multiple properties, complicated property division, and significant marital estates.
• Own the client relationship. You're the attorney they call. You set expectations on what happens next and when, get what you need from clients well before deadlines become emergencies, and manage each client's evergreen trust-account requirements.
• Build strong cases with experts, including forensic accountants, business valuators, custody evaluators, and vocational experts.
• Negotiate, mediate, and advocate in court across the Front Range.
• Draft and review pleadings, motions, briefs, affidavits, correspondence, and settlement agreements with the precision this work demands.
• Work alongside our attorneys and paralegals, and help build the systems that give every client a consistently positive experience.

WHO YOU ARE

• Admitted to the Colorado Bar and in good standing, with a J.D. from an accredited law school.

• 3+ years of Colorado family law experience, including hearings (first chair), mediations, and trials (first chair). You can run a matter without someone checking your work.

• A clear communicator who can explain a messy legal or financial situation to a scared, overwhelmed client in language they actually understand.

• Someone with real judgment. You know when to fight and when to settle, and you make that call based on what's best for the client, not your ego.

• An owner. A file with your name on it gets done right and on time, without anyone having to chase you.

• A collaborator. You work easily with attorneys, paralegals, and outside experts, and you know good work is rarely a solo effort.

• Based in the Denver metro area and working with our team at our Lakewood office on an in-person or hybrid schedule .

The Drake Law Firm, P.C. is a full-service family law firm that focuses on divorce, child custody, child support, spousal maintenance, common law marriage, allocations of parental responsibility, post-decree modifications, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, and protection orders. We often handle high-asset divorce cases, usually with more than $1,000,000 in assets, for clients who have multiple properties, one or more businesses, and diverse portfolios.