Laura Harvell- Member at Large

Laura is an attorney in Grand Junction, Colorado who represents indigent clients in criminal defense and respondent parent cases. Laura was raised and educated in South Carolina moving to Denver with her husband in 2014. Before moving to the Western Slope, Laura’s legal career began as a Municipal Public Defender for the city of Denver. Later in private practice as a criminal defense attorney, she represented clients in misdemeanor and felony cases as an associate in a firm specializing in representing those with mental health diagnoses. Laura also represented client’s at Denver’s Outreach Court (an on-site court for those living on the streets of Denver.) In every stage of her legal career, Laura has advocated for many clients with mental health diagnoses and challenges, and has worked with clients and families to set up strategies as well as treatment solutions for long term success and stability. “The goals of the criminal justice system cannot be met without addressing the needs of those whose mental health brings them within the ambit of the courts…the majority of my clients first steps towards health and stability is addressing mental health diagnoses, gaining access to service and stable medication regimes, and treating the underlying trauma and stigma so often associated with mental illness.”