Rebecca Sitterly has practiced law in New Mexico and has been licensed in New Mexico for more than 40 years, including her 22-year service as a full-time or pro tempore judge in Albuquerque, New Mexico’s court of general jurisdiction, the Second Judicial District Court. She was the Chief Judge of the Civil Division, Alternate Chief Judge of the District, Presiding Grand Jury Judge, and President and Vice-President of the New Mexico Judges’ Association for a number of years. She served by designation on the Court of Appeals. Rebecca is also a member of M-H Preeminent Women Lawyers and has been awarded the highest Martindale-Hubbell© rating of AV-Preeminent, Judicial Edition. She has served as Jury Instructions Editor, New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association; Member: NM Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism; Chairperson, Roundtable Committee for Commission on Professionalism; Member and Chairperson of the Uniform Jury Instructions Committee of the Supreme Court; and member of the NM Supreme Court Civil Trial Specialization Rules Committee.
Rebecca’s primary areas of practice have included representation of plaintiffs with brain and spinal cord injuries and representation of defendants in legal malpractice cases; as a result, she has been named in Best Lawyers in America for representation of both plaintiffs and defendants. As an attorney, Rebecca has successfully tried numerous jury and bench trials to decision and through appeal. In the past, she has served as a Special Prosecutor in a murder trial, and she has recently completed service as a Special Prosecutor in a series of rape prosecutions in Albuquerque, including a jury trial for sexual offenses against a minor in which the jury returned all verdicts in favor of the State of New Mexico. She has been Of Counsel to the Firm for more than 10 years.
Rebecca began teaching at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy in 1983, and she is the lead author of one of NITA’s foremost case files, Flinders v. Mismo. She also taught evidence and trial practice at the University of New Mexico School of Law as adjunct faculty for more than a decade; deposition strategy, trial practice, evidence, and ethics at a number of seminars and programs, developed the “Fight Well, Fight Fair” program for NITA and other providers, and developed the “Saturday Morning in Court” full trial teaching seminar for New Mexico attorneys offered by the New Mexico State Bar for many years.
Rebecca was born in Clovis, New Mexico, to parents who ran the locally famous Silver Grill restaurant. After Hurricane Katrina, she got deeply involved in health care and disaster response: In addition to her continuing full-time work as an attorney, she obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and worked the night-shift as a critical care nurse for several years and as a member of the Hospital Emergency/Disaster Response Team; obtained her license as a paramedic and worked until 2023 as a paramedic on a volunteer ambulance service covering 400 square miles in Michigan; she has been a member of the Red Cross national disaster response team. She earned a Masters Degree in Public Health in 2023.
Rebecca draws, paints, and works in stained glass, and several of her pieces have been used for the cover of the New Mexico Bar Bulletin and the Women’s Bar Association. She is a devoted country-western dancer, poker player, animal lover, and is involved in a number of charitable activities in her community.
EDUCATION
- University of Kentucky, J.D. 1975
- University of New Mexico, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting/Drawing, 2007
- Grand Valley University, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, 2010
- Great Lakes Academy, Paramedic License, 2013
- Columbia Southern University, Master’s Degree in Public Health, June 2023.
BAR ADMISSIONS
- New Mexico
- U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico
