Familiar Face - Hannah Valadez

This week's familiar face is Hannah Valadez, a paralegal at the Niwot law offices of Warren, Carlson, & Moore, LLP. You might know her as the friendly person who greets you whether you are there for legal services, a Left Hand Valley Courier matter, volunteer efforts, or youth sports sign-ups.

Valadez first moved to Longmont from Michigan during her junior year of high school and ended up in the new Skyline High School's second graduating class. "I thought my parents were horrible at the time because I had been with the same group of kids in Catholic school from kindergarten through tenth grade, and all of a sudden we moved multiple states away," said Valadez. "But it all worked out for the best because I met my husband there and we've been together since we were seventeen years old, and have two wonderful kids."

In addition to her husband and sons, Valadez has two young grandchildren as well. She said, "It is so much fun being a grandparent. I absolutely love it. We are spoiled, they live very close so we see them often and they can stay over so my kids can go out for date nights. We are always getting together for holidays, my grandson's first soccer league, or just no reason at all."

Valadez has had a varied and exciting career; "Right out of high school, I began working for high tech companies and was able to travel with a high powered job and have a lot of fun, but I was ready to not do that any more when I got married and had kids."

She continued, "I was a stay-at-home mom until my kids were ages two and four and then I went back to work Wednesdays only to cover that day for one of my mom's friends. When she retired, I was offered the position and accepted if I could only work during school hours to be there for my family."

Valadez stayed in her position as a paralegal at Shively, Holst & Dowling, LLP, n/k/a Holst, Boettcher & Tehrani, LLP, in Longmont for sixteen years before relocating her paralegal career to the Niwot firm of Warren, Carlson & Moore in March 2015. There she works primarily with Heather Rutherford, who handles family law matters, and with Bruce "Biff" Warren, whose wife Susan Warren previously worked with Valadez in Longmont's high tech community.

Valadez is also heavily involved in volunteer efforts for the Niwot and Longmont hockey scene. She has been the Longmont Hockey team coordinator and manager since 2007, a club hockey team consisting of students from all eight St Vrain Valley high schools. Valadez is also the current vice-president of the High Plains Hockey League, a league including Longmont Hockey and other high school teams from Fort Collins to Monument.

Valadez enjoys her position at Warren, Carlson, & Moore with her golden retriever being her loyal partner in law. "Saylor ends up being an even bigger friendly face at the law firm than I am," Valadez said. She comes every day and has her own office kennel that allows her to hang out and for me to still get work done. She loves being in there, but we let her out when some of the clients want to see her, and she has her favorites too."