Nicole Duncan, Esq.

Nicole Duncan is a former State Public Defender and now contracts with Alternate Defense Counsel of Colorado and other organizations. She started private practice  November 2022, and works to serve youth through direct defense, policy, and legislation.

 

Nicole's primary focus is Racial Justice and the importance of raising race and disrupting "business as usual" in all aspects of Youth Defense. Her primary concern is how to better honor her clients, their stories, and goals.  Nicole also defends youth either charged as adults or facing the threat of being charged as adults, as well as emerging adulthood cases, and also gives trainings on raising race, data, and other ways to address systemic oppression. She's trained for Colorado Alternate Defense Counsel and the Public Defender's Office, the National Association of Public Defenders, and the Colorado Office of the Child Representative.

 

She aims to use a holistic model of defense, by connecting and actively participating with local youth organizations in Denver, learning from them, and connecting her clients and their families. 

 

Nicole is a board member for Colorado Juvenile Defender Center and Bread and Roses Legal Center which supports social movements by working with activists and local community groups. She was the ACLU-CO's Youth Policy Counsel for the 2023 legislative session, Colorado Juvenile Defender Center's Juvenile Defender of the Year in 2021,  Georgetown Law Ambassador for Racial Justice Alumni, and is JTIP certified twice through the Gault Center (formerly the National Juvenile Defender Center).

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She is also a garden and plant enthusiast & recovery and mental health advocate.