Peter Ortego

Peter Ortego graduated from the University of California, Berkely, in 1989 with a BA in Philosophy and the University of Colorado, Bouler, with a JD in 2003. Since graduating, Pete has been fortunate to dedicate almost his entire legal career to helping populations that have been historically under-privileged, beginning with taking court appointments in Denver to assist indigent parties in criminal and child protection cases to serving 24 years in the Justice Department of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. For the Tribe, a good deal of Peter’s work focused on water matters; after the Tribe settled its water rights in Colorado, Peter began pursuing water rights for the Tribe in New Mexico and Utah and has been representing the Tribe in discussions about the management of the Colorado River post-2026.