Allison Ulmer provides general counsel representation for special districts, municipalities, and local government authorities.  She has a broad background in local government law with particular experience in real estate, contracts, employment, open records, and construction law.

Allison is the Executive Vice President of the Special District Association of Colorado (SDA).  She is heavily involved with the SDA’s efforts to provide educational and training opportunities for its members and to develop legislation that is beneficial to special districts.

Allison was previously a partner at Collins Cockrel & Cole, where she primarily represented special districts.

Prior to entering the special district world, Allison represented developers, individuals, and land trusts on matters of real estate, land use, public finance and conservation law at a downtown Denver law firm, and she was also in-house counsel for a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., where she managed the leasing of field offices nationwide.

Allison is a presenter at the SDA Board Member Workshops that take place every June throughout Colorado, and she is also a regular speaker at the annual SDA Conference.  A partial list of presentations she has given and articles she has written is as follows:

  • Playing Nice in the Sandbox: Effective Board Governance (Colorado Rural Water Association, Annual Conference, 2022).
  • Managing the Minefield: How Employers Can Navigate New Paid Sick Leave and Pay Equity Requirements (Special District Association, Annual Conference, 2021).
  • Meetings, Minutes and Everything in Between (Special District Association, Virtual Annual Conference, 2020).
  • Layman’s Roadmap to Real Estate Transactions: Getting from Contract to Closing (Special District Association, Annual Conference, 2019).
  • Dress and Personal Appearance Policies: The Do’s and Don’ts (Special District Association Newsletter, May 2019).
  • Attention All Units: Standby for a Social Media Emergency (Emergency Services Public Information Officers, Annual Conference, 2016).
  • Build First, Call Your Lawyer Later: How Not to Do a Construction Project (Special District Association, Annual Conference, 2013).
  • Construction Contracting and Integrated Project Delivery (Special District Association, Annual Conference, 2012).
  • Health Service Districts: How They Differ from Private Providers and from other Special Districts (Special District Association, Annual Conference, 2012).

Allison received a Bachelor of Arts with honors in Government from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts in 2001 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 2006.

Allison is licensed to practice law in Colorado and Texas.

Outside of work, Allison is a hockey and choir mom — a rare breed.  Her two kids play hockey and her son also sings with the Colorado Children’s Chorale.  Allison’s husband, Keith, is a physics professor at the University of Colorado; they met playing Ultimate Frisbee in college and the rest is history.  Allison is an experienced cyclist.  She rode her bike across the United States when she was in high school but now most of her miles are logged on a Peloton.  Either way, cycling helps clear her mind of legal conundrums.