ERIC ZALE

Founding Partner

Eric was born and raised on the north side of Chicago.  After graduating from High School he attended Hampshire College in Amherst Massachusetts graduating in 1999 with a liberal arts degree.  After college Eric worked in the mountains outside of Boulder with at-risk youth running a court ordered ten day wilderness therapy program for juvenile delinquents.  Working with these children is what convinced him to attend law school and advocate for those who have been accused of crimes. Eric left Colorado and spent the next three years studying law at Vermont Law School.  Upon graduating Eric returned to Colorado to become a public defender proudly serving for ten years as a deputy state public defender in both the Denver and Boulder regional trial offices.  As a public defender Eric handled thousands of cases from traffic matters to homicides. He has taken at least a hundred cases to trial and has tried cases throughout the state.  During his time at the public defenders office Eric worked tirelessly to give a voice to those that had no one to speak for them.  In 2011 he was given the attorney of the year award for the state of Colorado and for the Denver Trial Office.  Eric has attended the National Criminal Defense College in Macon Georgia, and the Clarence Darrow Death Penalty College in Chicago Illinois.  In 2015 Eric left the Public Defenders office to enter into private practice as an attorney at the Moorhead Law Group.  In 2020 Eric left to start Emeson & Zale. He strives to provide the best possible representation for his clients and is equally skilled at litigating legal issues and negotiating a plea bargain.  He lives in Boulder with his wife and young child.  When he is not chasing his two year old down the street he is outside skiing and mountain biking.  

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