From Salvation Army Shelter to Christian Lawyer: Meet Doug Romero

Law Practice Management

From Salvation Army Shelter to Christian Lawyer: Meet Doug Romero

Posted Aug 25, 2008, 10:49 am CST
By Martha Neil

Doug Romero. Photo courtesy of
the Law Office of Douglas Romero.

The Law Office of Douglas Romero in Denver has a pastor on staff and a plaque on the wall that says "Jesus Christ is Lord."

Every Wednesday, the staff meets for a Bible session. When Romero hires new associates, he asks them, "Tell me, how is your walk with God?' " reports the Rocky Mountain News.

The self-described Colorado Christian defense counsel, who is now 52, didn't find the path to becoming a lawyer an easy one. He began law school in 1979, at the University of Denver. But wine, women and song were then his downfall, and he dropped out in his second year, the newspaper reports. He hit a low point in his life in 1991, when he found himself living at a Salvation Army shelter.

"I stayed there a couple of nights, and I thought, 'These guys are all bums and drunks,' " he recounts. "And I realized I was a bum and a drunk, and I asked God to come into my heart."

He applied five times for readmission to DU's law school, without success. In 1996, it sent him a letter "telling him essentially to stop applying," the newspaper writes. He now keeps it on the wall of his law office, as a reminder.

When he applied to Thomas M. Cooley Law School, in Lansing, Mich., however, he was accepted. He graduated at age 45, got married and, after three tries, passed the bar exam.

Christianity is not only compatible with his law practice but enhances it, Romero says. "I'm probably more ferocious as a Christian attorney. I pray for my enemies, but I can't let them take advantage over my client."

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