The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized hundreds of Colorado attorneys across dozens of practice areas in its 2027 edition.
Law Week Colorado is highlighting Colorado attorneys whose firms reported their recognition to LWC, including six attorneys profiled in greater depth. The entries were self-reported by participating law firms and are not intended to represent a comprehensive list of Colorado attorneys recognized in the 2027 edition.
For Deva Solomon, litigation means never resolving the same problem twice.
As a trial lawyer at Steptoe & Johnson, Solomon works across energy and health care litigation, with stakes that can exceed $100 million.
“I had the luxury of being able to try lots of different things as a young lawyer,” he recalled. “That eventually balanced into being able to split time between doing the energy litigation work, which is really fun and intellectually stimulating and challenging, and also some healthcare work, which is really fun and challenging but in different ways.”
Referring to the challenge, he added, “You get to put your superhero cape on and have to be a better engineer than the engineers if the case has engineering issues or be a better surgeon than the surgeons if there’s a medical issue.”
He also appreciates “being able to take the stress and worry off of people who are dealing with litigation in one way or another,” he said. “I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing.”
His strategy is straightforward: focus, prepare and examine every detail. “When the stakes get high, you just buckle down and you focus,” he said. “You have to do that for every case, whether the stakes are a lot lower or not.”
Solomon said he is “prouder of the relationships” he has built with clients than any individual trial victory.
“We truly listen to what their goals and objectives are, and we try to work together with them to achieve that,” he said.
Those relationships can be especially important when a client needs Solomon on short notice. Some of the most difficult moments of his career have come when he has been called to respond to an accident or other emergency in real time.
“It’s an opportunity to bring some calm and collectedness to a very stressful, tense situation and help a client in their darkest hour,” he said.
Solomon has been with Steptoe & Johnson since his first summer after law school at West Virginia University. He moved to Colorado in 2015 and now leads the firm’s energy litigation practice.
Solomon and his wife have two children. He recently took up taekwondo, something he promised to do with his family after his son earned a black belt.