Meet your Denver Bar Association Young Lawyer’s Division Executive Council
Kevin McReynolds is an Assistant Attorney General in Colorado’s criminal appellate division. Before this, he clerked for a federal trial judge and spent five years in private practice splitting his time between a national firm in Los Angeles and a small firm in Denver. Kevin moved to Denver after enduring years of poor access to skiing and subpar local breweries in Phoenix, San Antonio and Los Angeles. He married his college/law school girlfriend who stopped practicing law to become a novelist and raise their daughter Emmy.
Dear DBA Young Lawyers,
For the next few months we are going to spotlight a member of the DBA-YLD Executive Council every other week. We have a wonderful dedicated group this year, as each year, and we would like to introduce ourselves to you all. Please feel free to contact us with comments or concerns and please do come up and introduce yourselves at any of our events, we are always happy to chat.
Where are you from?
Tempe, Arizona
Where did you go to undergrad and law school?
Trinity University (San Antonio, TX) and UCLA School of Law
Where are you working and what is your practice area?
Colorado Attorney General’s Office
I am a prosecutor in in the Appellate Division where I represent the People in criminal appeals. My division handles the direct and post-conviction appeals for all felonies in Colorado.
What led you to that practice area?
While in private practice I volunteered to take a pro bono case for the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (FYI – they are always looking for attorney volunteers). After an unsuccessful administrative hearing left my client facing deportation, I appealed to the Tenth Circuit and won in a unanimous published decision. I realized that I had found my niche and decided to focus exclusively on appellate practice.
What do you like best about that practice area?
This might sound strange, but the thing I like best about appellate practice is the purity of it. Both sides start with the same closed record and then try to persuade a panel of judges on how the law applies or if the law should change.
Outside of the law, what are your hobbies?
I have pretty standard Colorado hobbies. I ski and I homebrew. I’m convinced that everyone in Denver is no more than three degrees of separation from a homebrewer. At least ten people have told me some variation of “Oh yeah? My brother-in-law does that.”
Advice for other, young lawyers?
Try things. Especially if they make you uncomfortable.
If you weren’t a lawyer, you’d be?
More fun to talk to at happy hour.
Describe yourself in three words.
creative, meticulous, determined
Favorite book:
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
Favorite Denver restaurant:
Hops and Pies on Tennyson. First place I think to take friends when visiting.
Favorite Spot in Colorado
Did I already say Hops and Pies?
Last movie you watched:
Gravity
Favorite month:
October for the start of fall and (most years) the Great American Beer Festival.
Goal for next year:
Same as last year, try to take over the world.
Best life advice you’ve ever been given:
Nobody cares what kind of car you drive.
Favorite movie quote:
“It’s a trap!” – Admiral Ackbar
Most random job you have ever had.
Hard to pick one. I spent one summer in Arizona swinging a sledgehammer on a demolition crew and the next selling Pokémon cards at the mall.
Want to know more about Kevin? Contact him at kevin.mcreynolds@state.co.us.
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