Laura Chartrand is a Special Counsel in the Firm's Denver office and a member of the Energy & Natural Resources practice group. Ms. Chartrand has nearly two decades of experience representing business owners, agricultural interests, trade associations, elected officials, and government agencies in energy and natural resource matters. Her clients are in various industries, including natural resources development, agriculture, oil and gas, and mining.

She is the former Regional Solicitor of the Rocky Mountain Region with the U.S. Department of Interior. She also served as a Deputy Attorney General for the Natural Resources and Environment Section with the Colorado Attorney General's Office. Her state and federal government experience includes directing litigation and providing general counsel advice for the agencies within the U.S. Department of Interior and Colorado Department of Natural Resources and the environmental divisions of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Ms. Chartrand's private practice work includes representing clients on a range of energy and natural resource matters, including public utilities, water resources and quality, public lands, energy development, and endangered species. Prior to her legal and policy work, she spent nearly fifteen years in higher education and corporate management positions.??

Education

• University of Denver Sturm College of Law, J.D.
• State University of New York, B.A., Liberal Arts and Sciences

• ​​Water and Agriculture Policy Advisor at the Western Governors' Association. She advised the governors of 19 western states and 3 U.S.-flag islands on a variety of critical natural resources issues and guided the Western Governors' positions on the U.S. Forest Service Groundwater Directive and Good Samaritan (abandoned mines) proposed legislation.
• Water resources policy advisor at Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc. She represented Tri-State Generation on the Yampa-Green-White Basin Roundtable and assisted in the design of the Basin Implementation Plan for the Colorado Water Plan.
• Service on the Nebraska Water Balance Alliance, supporting the development of tools for agricultural producers to provide increased yields and sustainable water use practices.

• Leadership Program of the Rockies, Defender of Capitalism Award, 2010

• City-County energy alliance finds legal representation
• Laura Chartrand, Presenter at University of Denver Law 2022
• Laura Chartrand, Speaker at University of Denver Law in 2020
• Laura Chartrand, Presenter at the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute/Carver Colloquium