Deborah L Freeman

Her practice is concentrated in the fields of water and natural resources law and environmental and regulatory compliance. She represents a number of governmental and corporate clients in the acquisition and defense of rights to surface and ground water, and assists resource users in the process of negotiating permits and securing agency approvals under a broad range of federal, state and local environmental laws. The majority of Ms. Freeman’s work involves federal permitting and compliance under the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and Clean Water Act. Ms. Freeman represented the Platte River Project water users’ coalition in negotiations that culminated in the establishment of a basin-wide Platte River Recovery Program for federally endangered species in Nebraska, signed by the Department of Interior and the States of Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming in 2007. Ms. Freeman also represented Douglas County in development of a regional habitat conservation plan that was approved as the first countywide HCP in Colorado in response to the listing of the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. She has also served as environmental and water counsel for Snowmass Water and Sanitation District in connection with its Ziegler Reservoir water storage project and mastodon dig. Member: Denver and Colorado Bar Associations (past Chair of CBA Environmental Law Section). Ms. Freeman has been awarded a Best Lawyer in Water since 2018 and Environment since 2019.