Legal Recruiting · Colorado

The Colorado lateral market, in the numbers firms publish.

We track every opening Colorado law firms post publicly, and the salary ranges they publish with them. Here is what the market looks like right now, and what it means if you are weighing a move.

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Open demand

What Colorado firms are hiring for today

Openings posted publicly by law firms with Colorado offices (July 2026). Postings only show you the visible market; many searches, especially at partner level, never get posted at all.

385

Open law-firm postings

179

Attorney roles (associate)

101

Litigation openings

IP runs a strong second to litigation. Denver's market has quietly become IP-heavy: intellectual property openings run well ahead of corporate, reflecting the tech and aerospace employers pulling patent work into the region. Posted ranges span a wide band, from plaintiff-side litigation shops to national-firm deal teams.

Source: Voll Recruiting analysis of publicly posted law-firm openings, July 2026.

Practice areas

Where the demand concentrates

Posted openings by practice area. If your practice sits in a deep column, you have options; if it sits in a thin one, timing and positioning matter more, and that is exactly the situation a recruiter earns their keep in.

Litigation

101 openings

Corporate / transactional

56 openings

Intellectual property

74 openings

Source: Voll Recruiting analysis of publicly posted law-firm openings, July 2026.

Published pay

What Colorado postings are offering

Salary ranges taken directly from current public postings. Ranges like these are the floor of a negotiation, not the ceiling; knowing where a specific firm actually lands is the part we do for a living.

Role	Firm · location	Experience	Posted range
M&A associate	Foley & Lardner · Denver (multi-office)	4 to 8 years	$290,000 – $420,000
Mass tort litigation associate	Burg Simpson · Denver metro	3 to 5 years	$110,000 – $125,000

Source: Salary ranges published in public law-firm job listings, July 2026.

The part postings can't show you

The best Colorado moves are rarely the posted ones.

A posting tells you a seat exists. It does not tell you which groups are quietly building, which firms flex on class year, or where your book and background put you at the front of the line. That is the read we give every Colorado attorney we work with, confidentially, before anything is sent anywhere.

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