Nicole J Ruth

     Nicole was born in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1971.  She grew up in the Orlando, Florida area and graduated from high school in 1989.  After graduating from high school, she attended TulaneUniversity in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Nicole majored in English, and received a B.A., cum laude, in 1993.  Nicole relished her time in New Orleans, enjoying the culture, music and food (which she greatly misses).  While at Tulane, Nicole was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority, holding offices such as Assistant Rush Chairman and Secretary.

     After graduating, Nicole entered law school at Wake Forest University School of Law in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, from which she received her J.D. in 1996 in the top third of her class.  After graduation, Nicole passed the North Carolina Bar exam and began working as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Ralph A. Walker of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in Raleigh, North Carolina.     During her clerkship, she focused on research and writing; specifically, researching and incorporating the law into hundreds of judicial opinions.   After her first year of clerking, in 1997, Nicole passed the Florida Bar exam.   Nicole jumped at the opportunity to work as a law clerk for the Court of Appeals for a second year, during which time she was fortunate to serve as a law clerk to two judges: the Honorable Donald L. Smith, an emergency recall judge, and the Honorable Clarence E. Horton, who filled a vacancy on the Court.  During this time, Nicole’s passion for the law grew tremendously.  Nicole left the Court of Appeals to relocate to Florida where her family remained. 

     Upon relocating to Florida, Nicole worked for Shepard, Filburn & Goodblatt, P.A., in Orlando, from 1998 to 2000.  The firm had a varied practice and Nicole worked in the area of insurance defense litigation, handling the defense of personal injury cases, but mainly focused on homeowner association litigation, representing many homeowners associations across central Florida.  During this time, she was very active in the legal community, speaking at seminars about homeowner association issues, and also speaking to paralegals at seminars about legal research.

     In early 2001, eager for adventure, Nicole moved to the Denver area.  She passed the Colorado Bar exam in 2003, and began working for Lasater & Martin, P.C., an insurance defense firm in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, in 2004.  Nicole litigated a variety of cases in the areas of personal injury, premises liability, bad faith, employment, construction defect, business, and employment law, and was successful in trying many cases.   Because of her extensive appellate experience, she also became the chairperson of the firm’s appellate department, arguing appeals before state and federal appellate courts and engaging in extensive brief writing.  Despite her varied workload, Nicole was always partial to working on personal injury cases, and worked closely with insurance adjusters from some of the country’s largest insurance companies in litigating and settling them.  Nicole had the opportunity to litigate cases from the plaintiff’s side as well, and realized that was what she really wanted to be doing:  helping bring justice to those injured through someone else’s fault.  Nicole joined the Sawaya Law Firm in September of 2012 to further that passion.

     When she’s not working, Nicole and her husband take care of their two active young children.  Nicole enjoys cooking, reading, and experiencing everything Colorado has to offer.  Nicole is also a frequent volunteer in the DouglasCountySchool system.