Kerry E. Simpson
Child Advocates of Colorado
Kerry Simpson, Esq., is a 1998 graduate of the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. She received her undergraduate degree from Baylor University. Kerry was admitted to the Arizona bar in 1999 and to the Colorado bar in 2004. Kerry's current practice includes representation of relatives, kin and foster parent placement providers in child welfare cases. Kerry represents parents and third-party nonparents in obtaining stepparent, second parent, kin/relative, and custodial adoptions. She represents nonparent caregivers in obtaining guardianship and custodial (allocation of parental responsibilities) orders. Kerry represents child placement agencies in expedited and traditional relinquishment proceedings and adoptions. Kerry also represents individuals seeking to establish parentage. Kerry began her legal career in 1999 working as a criminal prosecutor for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office in Phoenix, Arizona. For four years, she prosecuted felonies, including vehicular homicide, and personally handled approximately 30 jury trials. In 2004, Kerry and her family moved to Colorado where she began working for a general practice firm in Littleton. During her 13 years in private practice, Kerry worked primarily in the fields of family law and child welfare. Kerry represented respondent parents in child welfare cases as both court-appointed and privately retained counsel. She represented parents and/or spouses in family law cases including dissolution of marriage, allocation of parenting time and/or decision making, child support, maintenance, division of property, and modifications of parenting time and/or decision-making. Kerry handled some criminal and delinquency matters as well. From 2017 through December of 2019, Kerry served as an Assistant County Attorney litigating on behalf of the Clear Creek County Department of Human Services. She assisted the Department in obtaining emergency protective orders, filing and litigating Petitions in Dependency and Neglect, obtaining dispositional and treatment plan orders, and conducting review and permanency hearings. Kerry represented the Department in adjudicatory and termination trial proceedings. Throughout her years of practice, Kerry has litigated numerous jury trials and dozens of contested court trials. She has also handled several appeals. Kerry's litigation experience supports Grob & Eirich's niche specialty in representing and litigating on behalf of third-party family, kin and non-family in child welfare and private cases. Kerry has twice presented to the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, a multi-disciplinary world-wide group of professionals dedicated to preventing child abuse. There, she presented on humanitarian aid for orphans and on the patient-psychotherapist privilege as applied to children. She has also presented on several occasions through the Colorado Bar Association on family-law related matters such as allocation of parental rights, child support, the Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure relating to family law case management, and the intersection of family law, child welfare, and criminal law. Kerry's volunteer experience includes presenting to domestic violence victims at the Family Tree Law Clinic on topics of divorce, civil protection orders, and child-related matters. She has mediated high-conflict parenting-time disputes through the Turelli Foundation. Kerry has been an active member of the 1st Judicial District Bar Association as a former board member, former Continuing Legal Education chair, and former Membership chair. She was honored to receive the Linda T. Palmieri Award for Outstanding Service on Behalf of Children in 2010.
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