Attorney Biography
My Name is Dianne A. Van Voorhees. The last name is Dutch and it is two words like Dick Van Dyke or Amy Van Dyken or Rip Van Winkle.
I represent clients who are going through difficult times with their most personal relationships and I do it in the most cost-efficient and least adversarial way that I possibly can. I want to see my clients and their families transition into their new relationship dynamics peacefully.
I advocate for people with domestic relations matters associated with divorce and custody, foster parenting, adoption, grandparents’ rights, and other domestic relations matters. Among my previous clients are people who endured domestic violence, sexual assault, employment discrimination, immigration issues, landlord/tenant disputes, and challenges gaining advocacy for their children’s educational needs.
I received my law degree from the University of Colorado School of Law in Boulder. I received my undergraduate degree from Fort Lewis College. A third-generation Colorado Native, I was born in Leadville and raised in Durango. I have lived in the Boulder and Denver Metro areas since 1997.
I have practiced law for over 20 years and have appeared in trial courts throughout Colorado as well as the Colorado Court of Appeals, the Colorado Supreme Court, and the federal Bankruptcy and Immigration Courts. In addition to my Colorado license, I have been licensed to practice before the Hopi and the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska’s Tribal Courts. My career choices have allowed me to gain experience in several areas of legal practice including family, juvenile, consumer, bankruptcy, immigration, landlord/tenant, and Federal Indian law, among others. My knowledge and expertise as an attorney and as a former municipal court judge make me well-suited to assist my domestic relations clients with maneuvering within the multitude of intersecting legal issues that often accompany domestic relations matters.
I am a “big picture” thinker. My primary interest in life is understanding the world in which we live. I am constantly absorbing ideas and images about the situations presented in life. Using my intuition to process this information, I am usually extremely quick and accurate in my ability to size up a situation. I am curious and creative.
Not content to focus solely on my private practice, I enjoy working to improve the legal system. I helped to develop the Colorado Domestic Violence Bench Book. I volunteer to present Continuing Legal Education topics and have taught other professionals about Colorado policies concerning unbundled legal services, the Indian Child Welfare Act, the Law Student Practices Act, and the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. I am the Chair of the 1st Judicial District’s Access to Justice (ATJ) Committee and a past Chair of the 17th JD ATJ Committee. I also serve on the Colorado Supreme Court’s Lawyer Well-Being Task Force.
In 2015, I was honored with the Denver Indian Center, Inc.’s Local Community Impact Award. And, in October 2015, I received the Denver American Indian Commission Mayor’s Diversity Award for my efforts to establish a law clinic for Urban Indians in the Denver Metro Area and for assisting with the reorganization of the fund administration for Native American Scholars license plate scholarships. As a member of the 17th Judicial District ATJ, I received the Adams Broomfield Bar Association’s 2012 Citizen of the Year Award.
Other community service endeavors are important to me too. Therefore, I served on the Board of Trustees for Fort Lewis College and I am a past Chair of Colorado’s Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Council. I also volunteer with Mother Gaia Animal Rescue fostering dogs waiting to be adopted and with Extreme Community Makeover to help improve neighborhoods that struggle for resources.
Regularly volunteering to provide legal assistance and procedural advice at legal clinics and through organizations such as Metro Volunteer Lawyers, the Colorado Women’s Bar Association, Rocky Mountain Immigration Advocacy Network, and Project Safeguard reflects my commitment to always work for a better legal system and makes me a better attorney.
