Outgoing Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers to join lobbying, law firm

Apr. 18—After serving for the last eight years as Colorado Springs mayor, John Suthers isn't quite hanging up his hat.

Suthers will join Denver-based lobbying and law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as a shareholder, focusing on government relations and state attorneys general matters, the firm announced in a news release this week.

"Coming to a firm like Brownstein that is a stalwart fixture in Colorado's legal industry is a great landing spot for me as I step away from public office," Suthers, who leaves office June 6, said in the release. "Brownstein has a reputation for solving clients' most challenging and complex issues and I look forward to joining the talented government relations and litigation teams."

Before he was elected Colorado Springs' second strong mayor in 2015, Suthers served from 2005 to 2015 as the Colorado attorney general. He was also appointed in 2001 by former President George W. Bush as U.S. attorney for Colorado.

He began his career as a prosecutor and in 1988 was elected district attorney of the Fourth Judicial District that includes El Paso and Teller counties. In 1999, former Colorado Gov. Bill Owens appointed Suthers as the executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections.

Suthers also spent 10 years in private practice at the law firm Sparks, Dix and Enoch.

"John intrinsically understands how Colorado politics and government works and will be an asset to our multistate approach," said Doug Friednash in the release, chair of Brownstein's State Government Relations practice.

Suthers will join Hal Stratton and former Sen. Mark Pryor in the attorney generals practice group, who are also both former state attorneys general, Friednash said in the release.

Stratton is a former New Mexico attorney general. Pryor is a former U.S. senator and Arkansas attorney general.