SPRINGMAN - Key Persons
DEBORAH L. WILSON is the managing partner and shareholder with our majority woman-owned law firm. She is licensed to practice law in Colorado and Nevada, and practiced law in Nevada for four years, focusing on real estate law, before returning to Colorado in 1997. Debbie has extensive community association law experience, both as a Board member and as an Attorney, drafting and revising Declarations, Bylaws and Rules and Regulations, litigating owner assessment and developer cases, and generally advising Boards. Her undergraduate degree is from UCLA (1987), and she received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Denver School of Law (1993). Debbie is considered a leading expert on Fair Housing laws. She is an elected member of the Board of the Colorado Creditor Bar Association (CCBA), is a graduate of the Colorado Institute of Leadership Training (CILT) and is the former chairperson for the National American Bar Association (ABA) GP/Solo Real Property Group. Debbie is very active in local community affairs and testifies at the Capitol regularly on legislation related to our industry. Debbie is active in numerous trade organizations related to the services the Firm provides, including but not limited to the Community Association Institute and Colorado Creditor's Bar Association. Her focus with the firm has been in collections, district court, and appellate practice. In 2017 and 2018, Debbie was named a Top Lawyer by 5280 Magazine. In 2018, Debbie received the David Michael Award for Outstanding Creditor's Rights Attorney from the Colorado Creditor Bar Association.
JOHN D. CARVER is Of Counsel with the firm. He is licensed to practice law in Colorado, Nevada and Arizona. John graduated from the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis and served as a Marine from 1985-1991. He then attended and graduated from University of Denver College of Law in 1994. He is also a licensed real estate broker. His expertise lies in real estate, development and transactions, business law and acquisitions, corporate law, entity formation, business associations law, and estate planning. John is an experienced litigator, handling complex litigation in the District Courts of Colorado and Nevada, as well as appellate issues. John is an avid skier, enjoys most outdoor Colorado activities and loves anything to do with the mountains. John currently resides in Silverthorne, Colorado.
KAREN KELLY-BRAEM is a partner and shareholder with the firm. She has been in the legal field for over 35 years. Karen worked as a paralegal for 20 years before becoming an attorney in 2005. Her work experience includes 30+ years of consumer bankruptcy proceedings, 10 years in domestic law, more than 30 years of collections and collections litigation and more than 8 years of foreclosure litigation. Before joining the firm, Karen was general counsel for two large collection agencies and was certified by the ACA as a Credit and Collection Compliance Attorney. She was born and raised in Pittsburgh and is a lifelong Steelers fan. Karen moved to Colorado in 1983, and began her legal career a few years later. She is licensed to practice law in Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Alaska. Karen graduated from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. She has a Bachelors in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix and two Associate degrees from Arapahoe Community College (General Studies and Associate of Applied Science - Paralegal). She has been happily married for 34 years, has 2 children and 4 grandchildren.
KRISTI BUNGE is a partner and shareholder with the firm and was raised in the Denver metro area after moving here from Kansas. She graduated from the University of Denver with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication in 1997. Before beginning law school, she worked as a pre-school teacher at a private Montessori school in southwest Denver. She received her Juris Doctor in 2002 as a night student at the University of Denver College of Law, while working full time as a law clerk, primarily preparing Chapter 7 bankruptcies. Her focus with the firm is in collections, Community Associations and landlord/tenant issues. Kristi, through the Firm, maintains membership in trade organizations related to the services the Firm provides, including but not limited to the Community Association Institute and Colorado Creditor's Bar Association. Kristi has two children. In 2017, Kristi was named a Top Lawyer by 5280 Magazine.