Erin Colleen Richards-Wilhelm - Glenwood Springs, CO

Erin C. Richards-Wilhelm is an experienced attorney who is enthusiastic about obtaining the best outcome possible for each of her clients. During her career, she has focused on criminal law and on immigration law. As early as her second year of law school, she practiced criminal law in the Suffolk County (Boston) District Attorney's Office Appeals unit. Here, she learned the value of not only presenting the best case possible in court, but she learned to cultivate a theme of working to develop laws through advocacy in and outside of the courtroom. Her main goal is to protect civil rights for the underrepresented in the courtroom, through her writing, and through her advocacy in the community.

Ms. Richards-Wilhelm has been practicing in Glenwood Springs since September of 2011. She decided to open her own firm in 2016 so that she could build a practice that reflects her core values- honesty, compassion, and dedication in everything she does.

Ms. Richards-Wilhelm is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Here, she has been the chair of the Benefit Committee, leading a team of fellow lawyers and activities to organize the annual Immigrant Liberty Awards. This banquet and auction benefits an immigrant advocacy group, and has been the largest fundraiser for the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) for the past several years. Ms. Richards is also a member of AILA's National Federal Litigation Committee, which chooses, researches, and advises higher courts on the legal issues that they must decide. It also supports attorneys appealing immigration issues throughout the United States by being a forum through which practitioners can cooperate and discuss issues and trends in the U.S. Federal Appeals Courts.

Ms. Richards-Wilhelm was admitted to practice by the Colorado Supreme Court in October of 2011. She is an active member of the Colorado Bar Association ("CBA"). During the 2016-2017 year, Ms. Richards is the Vice President of the CBA's Immigration Law Section. During the 2015-2016 year, she served on this group's executive committee, which allowed her to advise the Colorado Bar Association on different immigration issues pertinent to the Bar in Colorado. She was also able to assist in preparing and producing legal education seminars for other Colorado Bar Association members. Additionally, she is also a member of Family Law Section of the CBA and the Ninth Judicial District (courts in Garfield, Pitkin, and Rio Grande Counties of Colorado) section of the Bar.

Ms. Richards-Wilhelm graduated from New England Law|Boston in May of 2011. While in law school, she was the Business Editor of the New England Law Journal of International and Comparative Law for the 2010-2011 School year and an Associate Editor of the same for the 2009-2010 school year. She was the President of the Immigration Law Association for the 2009 and 2010 years. For the entire 2010-2011 school year, she served as a Student Prosecutor, where she handled her own case load of minor crimes, such as driving without a license and drug possession, from beginning to end with the supervision of licensed prosecutors in the office. In the summer of 2010, she completed a distinguished internship as a student judicial law clerk at the Miami Immigration Court in Miami Florida. In 2009, she completed a summer internship as a student prosecutor with the Middlesex County, Massachusetts District Court. Ms. Richards graduate from the University of Colorado at Boulder with her bachelors' degrees in Spanish and International Relations with a minor in business administration in August of 2005.