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Under Oath

Zachary Roeling

Member Spotlight

September/October 2024

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Zac Roeling is an attorney and mediator practicing family law and estate planning, including prenups and postnups. He opened his own firm, YouLaw Colorado, LLC, in early 2022.

Hometown: Fort Collins
Law School: University of Denver
Lives in: Denver
Works at: YouLaw Colorado, LLC
Practice Areas: Family Law, Mediation, Marital Agreements, Arbitration, Estate Planning, Collaborative Law, Unbundled/Consulting Work
CBA Member Since: 2013
Pronouns: He/Him/His

Describe yourself in five words.

Curious. Humorous. Dedicated. Humanist. Sentimental.

Why did you become a lawyer?

I can’t say for sure—it always felt like the right path. I’m able to help people, embrace challenges, and avoid boredom. Though it’s worked out so far, sometimes I daydream about owning a B&B full of books in a small town!

What do you like the most about your practice area?

Seeing clients embrace freedom and new opportunities they didn’t think were possible—and that frankly wouldn’t have been possible if they’d stayed in a relationship that had run its course.

What are the greatest challenges you face in your practice?

Helping clients internalize the reality that the law is organic, unevenly applied, and doesn’t typically punish people or dole out consequences like most people think it does. I’m typically trying to encourage settlement with this, but clients have to trust me first. I try to listen more than I talk.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

How you make people feel matters more than what you do for them.

What’s the worst advice you’ve ever been given?

Don’t start your own law firm.

If you weren’t a lawyer, you’d be?

Lazier.

Outside of work, how do you like to spend your time?

Reading anything and everything, listening to podcasts and audiobooks, playing on the floor with Zelda (our Golden), playing piano, and watching old movies and series with my family.

Who’s your favorite writer and why?

Gustave Flaubert. He writes meticulously yet beautifully, making even misplaced reality seem better than cynicism, even if ultimately tragic. Imagination matters—Madame Bovary should be required reading!

What’s your favorite place to escape to in Colorado?

Georgetown—mountains, lakes, trails, all without the expense and bustle of ski towns. And it’s not too far up I-70.

Who is your hero and why?

There are too many from history and my life to name. My everyday heroes are drag queens—think of all the skills they have to possess (artistry, acting, comedy, wigs, makeup, fashion, sewing, singing, dancing, public speaking), often while risking their safety in public. Some days, I wish I could channel that kind of confidence!

What is one thing you know now that you wish you would have known in your first year of practice?

That similar cases can end up so differently based on variables like the lawyers/firms involved, psychology, communication, the judge’s mood, the client’s mood, my mood, the weather. The law is less about satisfying clashing perceptions of fairness and more about facilitating disputes to a conclusion, which doesn’t mean “resolution” in a layman’s parlance. This is hard to learn when, as lawyers, our values and instincts about justice often come from a good place.

How has the CBA impacted your career?

I’m able to meet many devoted, fun, and generous people in law, despite a lack of professionalism endemic to legal culture. Even when we disagree, I always learn something new from other lawyers. There’s little incentive for lawyers to share tips or collaborate, and the CBA provides a great forum for that.

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