The pressure on executives and professionals is enormous — whether you’re leading a traditional business or an enterprising start-up, whether you’re already earning millions of dollars a year or building your revenue stream, whether you’ve come from humble beginnings or inherited the family business, or whether you’re some place in-between. Professionals can easily fall into situations that they believe they can fix on their own. Too often, however, those situations don’t have a quick fix, and they spiral out of control. These community leaders can suddenly find their hard-earned professional and personal reputations at risk as they encounter the criminal justice system. Colette has defended business people facing investigations and criminal charges related to allegations of conspiracy, RICO, tax disputes and tax fraud, accounting fraud, insurance fraud, Medicare and Medicaid fraud, and wire fraud, as well as charges stemming from domestic relationships, personal relationships, and accusations of sexual misconduct.

Additionally, Colette can counsel and defend you against related or stand-alone charges that can stem from contentious divorces and ugly breakups — including allegations and accusations of assault or sexual assault crimes—that can be devastating. Through frank and open conversations protected by attorney-client privilege, Colette helps her clients move from their initial shock to drawing up a plan of action. Among the issues she explores with her clients are self-defense, undue influence of well-meaning counselors or other authority figures, mitigating circumstances, and concerns regarding partner mental health and substance abuse. In these situations, one of her additional goals is to help protect the reputations and privacy of her clients’ loved ones — so that all involved can move forward.

Colette’s goal is to:

• Protect your standing in the community, your professional licenses, and your ability to support your family
• Reduce risk to your business, firm, or professional practice’s operations, to your partners, and to your employees
• Preserve your relationship with your children and extended family, and reduce the impact of an investigation or arrest on them
• Help you understand how the criminal justice system works and to evaluate options — and their ramifications — realistically
• Seek dismissal of charges or negotiate alternative sentencing options, including house arrest, probation, rehab, and medical care
• Ensure your individual background — like medical and psychology history, character, contributions to your your community and your profession, and circumstances — are heard
• Seek the best, quickest, and least damaging way out of the criminal justice system

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury, concussive injuries, and other traumas and injuries are not manifestations of weakness. They are real medical conditions with real world repercussions for both veterans and their families.But not all returning veterans have been able to access the care they need, a situation that can lead to interactions with the criminal justice system. In some cases, veterans who have witnessed the horrors of war and who have suffered brain or other injury are not always aware of how those experiences and injuries manifest themselves — including anger management, substance abuse, depression, suicidal thoughts, and problems with decision-making. In these cases, trauma can lead to criminal charges related to domestic disturbances, violent crime, or other crimes.

In addition to defending veterans against criminal charges, Colette Tvedt has worked with world-renowned experts whose focus is helping veterans and studying the challenges those veterans face as they return to the U.S. and try to integrate back into lives they once knew. She helps veterans in the criminal justice system get access to medical evaluations and treatment, as well as access national, state, and local resources.

Colette’s goal is to:

• Get veterans out of jail and reunited with parents, family, and other support systems
• Help veterans and their loved ones understand how the criminal justice system works and to evaluate options — and their ramifications — realistically
• Seek dismissal of charges or negotiate alternative sentencing options, including house arrest, probation, rehabilitation, and medical care
• Ensure veterans’ individual needs and background — like medical and psychology history, character, military service record, and other circumstances — are heard
• Seek the best, quickest, and least damaging way out of the criminal justice system

Receiving a call from a child in distress in one of every parent’s greatest fears. Colette Tvedt understands that college-aged children and young adults should not be written off as bad kids. These are young people who are in trouble, who need help, and who need that help now.

As a parent, Colette understands that every parent wants the best for his or her child — a sentiment that doesn’t change as those children grow into adulthood. She works with both parents and their young adult children to do everything necessary to protect the child’s future, including their ability to complete schooling or vocational training, and to pursue career goals. Colette has helped young people with escalating or repeated incidents, as well as those whose families are facing the criminal justice system for the first time. In some cases, parents face the additional challenge of being out of state and far away from young adults in college or employed in Colorado.

Young adults in trouble may have mental health issues that are a contributing factor. As a lawyer who has partnered for decades with mental health professionals and experts, Colette also knows the struggles and decision-making that families face when the signs and symptoms of mental health issues emerge — often suddenly appearing in promising young men and women aged 18 to 24. Many of her clients have symptoms of depression, gambling or other addictions, substance abuse, bipolar disorder, decision-making disabilities, or other mental and emotional health issues. For young people with mental health issues or suspected mental health issues, she assists parents in working with doctors to get proper diagnoses and practical treatment plans.

Colette’s goal is to:

• Get your adult child out of jail and reunited with parents, family, and other support systems
• Help you and your adult child understand how the criminal justice system works and to evaluate options — and their ramifications — realistically
• Seek dismissal of charges or negotiate alternative sentencing options, including house arrest, probation, rehab, and medical care
• Ensure your adult child’s individual needs and background — like medical and psychology history, character, academic performance, and other circumstances — are heard
• Preserve your adult child’s ability to remain in or return to school, as well as to build a productive life with as much independence as possible
• Seek the best, quickest, and least damaging way out of the criminal justice system and university disciplinary proceedings