Meet Brian

Over the last 25 years Brian has represented thousands of people in Southwest Colorado charged with crimes.

A fundamental part of Brian’s personality and his practice as an attorney is that he enjoys helping people targeted by governmental authority.  Brian thrives on challenging the status quo and questioning the way that things have always been done.  That is the place where Brian feels the most comfortable, and it is contributes to his innate sense of integrity to his clients and to doing what is right.  Often times in criminal practice and in the criminal justice system, the actors tend to get caught up in moving cases along and with “quick justice.”  Brian feels very strongly about no client ever feeling or being rubber-stamped.  If the case requires mitigation or litigation, Brian will do what is best for each client.

Brian has an unmatched experience with the district attorneys in this area, and he taps into that experience as he feels out and personally navigates each and every case.  Brian knows firsthand how it feels to have the power of the state coming at you in full force.  He experienced this personally in 2013 when he was indicted by grand jury for doing his job as a defense attorney.  He was cleared of the charges, but the experience has resonated deeply and personally for him.

Brian views being a defense attorney not as a job, but as a mission.   In providing goal-oriented, personalized representation, Brian ensures that he is not only giving clients the best attorney, but that this approach also inherently improves our system of justice.  When we demand better for one, we get better for all.

In 2003 Brian helped form  the Southwest Chapter of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar.   This group serves to empower and bring together area defense lawyers toward these common causes.

He is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar and the Colorado Bar Association.  He formerly served on the Board of Directors for Colorado NORML.

Brian was born and raised in the Southern United States which exposed him to insidious social imbalances.  He graduated from Shiloh High School in the Atlanta suburbs in 1990.  During his senior year, Brian was a proud member of the state champion Shiloh Generals Soccer Team.   He attended college at Appalachian State University, located in the North Carolina mountains at Boone.   He graduated cum laude in 1994.

Brian moved out West to attend law school at the University of Denver where he represented his first criminal clients.  He developed a strong sense of fight for basic human injustices, which has transferred into a lifelong passion for defending the criminally accused.  After graduation, Brian worked for the Colorado Public Defender in Denver and Grand Junction, and in 1999 he moved to Durango where he started his private practice.

In 2015 Brian and his wife Katie started Whitney and Schowalter, LLC where they focus their expertise on defending those accused of crimes in Southwest Colorado.