Denise Watson-Wesley Coleman

Denise Watson-Wesley Coleman was born and raised in Chicago. She attended St. Elizabeth High School and DePaul University. She was a high school teacher and taught at Robert Morris College. She became interested in law when she went to work as a legal secretary for the law firms of Stratford, Lafontant, Fisher, Gibson, Cousins, and Wilman, Harold, Allen, & Dixon. She realized her dream of becoming an attorney when she graduated from St. Louis University Law school and began the practice of law in 1985. She became licensed to practice in Illinois in 1986.

Denise Watson-Wesley Coleman has over 31 years of legal experience. She has represented governmental entities, financial institutions, businesses, and individuals. At the beginning of her career, she was an Assistant Public Defender and Prosecutor for the City of St. Louis as well as a Law Clerk for the Twenty-Second Judicial Circuit. Her experience expanded to municipal law. In this position as bond Counsel and General Counsel to the Comptroller, she created municipal corporations to issue bonds and created 501(c)3 corporations and handled litigation. She was red book certified. She also was an Attorney for a municipality. Mrs. Coleman has legislative experience as an Administrative Assistant to a Senator in Missouri. She drafted and reviewed legislation and met with several department heads. One major issue during this time was partial birth abortion. Ms. Coleman was a Hearing Officer (like a judge on the municipal level) for several years and heard and decided public nuisance cases.

Ms. Coleman's practice transitioned from the public sector to the private sector. She has represented clients in the areas of family law, criminal law, probate, personal injury, contracts, civil matters, real estate, traffic, tax and employment. Ms. Coleman's experience as a lawyer, law clerk, hearing officer, and legislative assistant is unparalleled and services to benefit her clients' needs from a broad perspective.

Some of the major business accomplishments Ms. Coleman has experienced during her career includes: earning a law degree over a 21 year period while married, having and raising a family (including the death of her oldest child; opening the first all woman African American law firm in St. Louis; becoming the first certified bond counsel and underwriters counsel in the red book in St. Louis; becoming the first woman and African American Clerk and Legal Counsel for the Board of Aldermen of the City of St. Louis; running for Mayor of the City of St. Louis.

Ms. Coleman is committed to providing clients with exceptional representation while preserving personalized service and responsiveness to her client's needs.