Emily Dryad Warren

I graduated from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley in 1994. After clerking in the Colorado Court of Appeals for a year, I became a prosecutor in Colorado’s 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. I spent most of my nearly 20 years there prosecuting persons crimes, i.e. crimes where a person was victimized, such as assault, robbery, sexual assault, child abuse, and murder. I spent nearly 10 of those years prosecuting crimes against children. I can say, unequivocally, that I am one of the most experienced trial lawyers in Colorado.

I began my private practice career in 2015 at Gutterman Griffiths (later Griffiths Law). On November 1, 2020, two of my former partners at that firm and I opened a new law firm, WZW Family Law LLC. We brought two associates, four support staff, and five full caseloads with us into our new (ad)venture.

As a family law attorney, it's been my privilege to deal with some of the most complex and interesting assets out there, including stock options, restricted stock units, other deferred compensation, a private equity fund, partnerships in national and international accounting firms, thousands of acres of farm and ranch land, an aviation business, real estate and restaurant development businesses, law firms, law suit proceeds, medical practices, and a whole host of different kinds of trusts. My clients have ranged from “captains of industry” to stay-at-home spouses.

Because of my focus on persons crimes, I spent nearly every day working with victims of violent and traumatizing crimes, who were under enormous emotional stress when they met with me. My clients, and my colleagues, have told me that they value my ability to be calm in the face of emotional upheaval.

I became involved in Collaborative Divorce early on in my private practice career. I became qualified to handle collaborative divorce cases before I’d been a family law attorney for a year, joined the Colorado Collaborative Divorce Professionals (CCDP) shortly thereafter, became a Board Member for the organization in late 2016, served as its Executive Vice President in 2017, and President in 2018.

My background and experience are rare in the family law bar. Very few lawyers spend nearly every day of their career in court. No collaborative divorce attorney in the state has the trial background and skills that I have.

I bring all of my abilities to bear in everything I do for clients, from negotiating and settling cases to presenting evidence and making argument in a courtroom.