Lauren Valastro

Lauren Valastro is a Visiting Assistant Professor of the Practice who is passionate about supporting Denver Law students as they develop and hone their professional skills through the Externship Program. 

After several years in Big Law, Valastro became a partner at a prominent litigation boutique where she litigated an array of financial, healthcare, environmental, and international complex disputes.  She has successful first chair trial and appellate experience and has represented some of the world's largest companies and state governments in high profile matters.  In her firm leadership role, Valastro developed a passion for supporting law students and young attorneys in their career development.

In 2018, Valastro was selected as a Leadership Council for Legal Diversity Pathfinder. She now proudly gives back to the legal and LCLD community as a Pathfinder Facilitator, a 1L Diverse Student Mentor, and an Advocacy Group member. 

Prior to joining Denver Law, Valastro taught law courses in the Louisiana State University - Shreveport College of Business. She was honored to be the first new professor in the university’s history to receive the campus-wide honor of Professor of the Year from the Student Government Association.

Her recent area of scholarly inquiry concerns how American policies on retirement savings inequitably impact members of underserved communities—and how to make those policies more just. 

After studying abroad in Spain for a year, Valastro graduated first in her college class from Texas Tech University with majors in Spanish and Political Science. She continued her education at Texas Tech University School of Law after receiving the Chancellor's Scholarship for full law school tuition. In law school, Valastro served as Articles Editor for the Texas Tech Law Review, a research assistant to Professor John Watts, and a judicial clerk for the Honorable Ruben Reyes. Valastro's law school comment enjoyed the unique distinction of being cited by Vernon's Annotated Statutes and Codes, the black letter law in Texas.

In addition to her work with the Externship Program, Valastro currently advises a private equity firm in her role as Investment Counsel.  

Outside of work, Valastro enjoys hiking, learning foreign languages, and photography.