About
A small firm built around one constraint
The attorney you meet at the first consultation is the attorney who stands up at your hearing. Everything else about how this firm is organised follows from that.
Eleven years on the other side
Marcus Sterling spent eleven years prosecuting cases in Denver. He knows what a filing deputy is looking at when they decide what to charge, which parts of a file a supervisor actually reads before approving a plea offer, and how quickly a case that looked serious in the report falls apart once someone pulls the records.
That is not a marketing line, it is the working method. Four of the five attorneys here came from prosecutors' offices: state district attorneys in the First, Second and Eighteenth Judicial Districts, and the United States Attorney's office for the District of Colorado. The fifth came from the state public defender, which is where Colorado trial lawyers learn volume.
We stay small on purpose. Five attorneys is the largest a firm can be while still guaranteeing that the person who took the first call is the person in the courtroom, and that guarantee is worth more to most clients than a bigger letterhead.
How the firm got here
2015
The firm opens on Lincoln Street
Marcus Sterling leaves the Second Judicial District after eleven years as a prosecutor, the last four supervising the felony trial unit, and opens a two room office four blocks from the courthouse.
2017
The arrest line starts
After one too many Monday mornings spent undoing what a client said to an officer on a Saturday night, the firm puts the after hours line on an attorney rotation. It has been staffed that way ever since.
2019
Federal practice
Priya Raghunathan joins from the United States Attorney's office, and the firm begins taking cases in the District of Colorado as well as in state court.
2021
Centennial and Lakewood
Two satellite offices open, chosen entirely for drive time: ten minutes to the Arapahoe County Justice Center, twelve to the Jefferson County Courts in Golden.
2023
The DMV desk
Elena Vargas-Ortiz builds a dedicated express consent practice so that no client's seven day window is ever missed while a criminal file is being opened.
2026
Five attorneys, four former prosecutors
Deliberately small. The attorney at the first consultation is the attorney at the hearing, and that is the constraint the firm is built around.
Four rules we do not bend
Tell people the truth early
A realistic assessment in week one is worth more than optimism in month six. Sometimes that conversation costs us the engagement. It should.
Do the unglamorous work
Preservation letters, maintenance records, presentence report objections, sealing petitions. None of it makes a good story. All of it decides cases.
Never publish a number we cannot stand behind
No settlement figures, no win rates, no invented averages. Outcomes are described as problem, approach and outcome, and nothing else.
Answer the phone
The single most common thing clients tell us about the last firm they called is that nobody called back. We rotate the line among the five attorneys.
How a case is actually run here
An attorney answers the arrest line
Not a call centre, not an intake script. The five attorneys rotate the after hours line, and the person who picks up can tell you what to do in the next hour.
The DMV clock is started the same day
If there is a driving allegation, the express consent hearing request goes in before anything else. Seven days is not a suggestion and it is not extended for anyone.
Evidence is preserved before it expires
Body worn camera retention, bar and business cameras, dashcam and telematics all have short windows. Preservation letters go out in week one, not month three.
Flat fees, agreed in writing
Criminal defense in Colorado cannot be taken on contingency. You get a written fee agreement that sets out what is covered at each stage before you pay anything.
We prepare every case for trial
Most matters resolve. They resolve better when the file is genuinely trial ready, because the other side can see it is.
Consequences mapped before any plea
Immigration, professional licensing, firearms, commercial driving and future sealing eligibility, in writing, before you decide anything.
Five people
Four of them used to file these cases.
Marcus Sterling
Founding partner
Formerly: Chief Deputy District Attorney, Second Judicial District
- Felony trials
- Assault cases
- Crime of violence
Priya Raghunathan
Partner, federal practice
Formerly: Assistant United States Attorney, District of Colorado
- Federal charges
- White collar
- Guidelines
Elena Vargas-Ortiz
Partner, DUI and DMV practice
Formerly: Deputy District Attorney, Eighteenth Judicial District
- DUI and DWAI
- Express consent
- Traffic cases
Theo Okonkwo
Senior associate
Formerly: Colorado State Public Defender, Denver and Arapahoe trial offices
- Drug charges
- Suppression
- Jury trials
Hannah Lindqvist
Associate, juvenile and record sealing
Formerly: Deputy District Attorney, First Judicial District, juvenile unit
- Juvenile cases
- Record sealing
- Diversion
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Firm membership since 2015
Colorado Criminal Defense Bar
All five attorneys are members
Four former prosecutors
State, district and federal offices
NHTSA field sobriety certified
Same curriculum officers are trained on
Tenth Circuit admitted
Two attorneys, federal appellate practice
Hablamos español
Consultations, hearings and documents
An arrest is not a verdict.A charge is an accusation someone typed at the end of a long shift.Between that night and a courtroom there is a great deal of work, and almost all of it is ours.
We do not tell clients what they want to hear. We tell them what the file says, what the statute allows, and what we think will actually happen. Sometimes that conversation is short and the answer is good. Sometimes it is long.
What does not change is the standard. Every case gets the records pulled, the deadlines calendared, the motion written and the consequences mapped, whether it is a petty theft or a federal conspiracy. That is not a promise about outcomes. It is a description of the work.
Sterling Defense Attorneys, Denver
If any of this is happening to you, the first conversation is free and it is with an attorney.
Contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.