Over the past year, more than 50 partners were added to local firms. Newly promoted attorneys practice in a wide range of areas from healthcare, real estate and civil litigation to intellectual property, securities and financial services. Congratulations to all the new partners this year!
J. William Callison – Holland & Hart
Practice: real estate, finance, development
Alma mater: Yale Law School, University of Colorado Law School
Callison provides strategic legal solutions for affordable housing transactions and has represented clients on hundreds of low-income housing tax credit projects from Alaska to Florida. He also has substantial experience navigating New Markets Tax Credits, federal energy credits and historic rehabilitation tax credit deals.
Patrick Bernal – Holland & Hart
Practice: business litigation, trade secrets and noncompetes
Alma mater: Boston College Law School
Bernal handles all stages of disputes, from negotiating expeditious resolutions to tendering insurance claims to litigating through trial and appeal. He regularly counsels clients on proactive measures to avoid litigation and protect their business interests.
Desta Asfaw – Holland & Hart
Practice: tax and estate planning
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Asfaw specializes in tax and estate planning and develops sophisticated estate, wealth transfer and wealth preservation planning solutions for high-net-worth individuals, families and closely held businesses.
Amos Barclay – Holland & Hart
Practice: mergers and acquisitions, venture capital
Alma mater: University of North Carolina
Barclay focuses on mergers, acquisitions, tender offers and other strategic exit opportunities. He provides insight, structural advice and negotiation strategies to businesses seeking to undergo major transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, asset purchases and dispositions and joint ventures.
Craig Beaker – Holland & Hart
Practice: trademark
Alma mater: Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Beaker is a trademark attorney who serves as the firmwide chair of Holland & Hart’s global trademark brand management group and co-leader of the outdoor recreation industry group. Beaker counsels clients on a range of brand selection, clearance, protection and enforcement issues.
Jennifer Benda – Holland & Hart
Practice: cannabis/tax
Alma mater: George Washington University School of Law
Benda is a tax controversy and cannabis law litigator who handles high-dollar value, sensitive tax matters with significant legal issues at stake for businesses and individuals.
Alex Garcia – Holland & Hart
Practice: trademark
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Garcia is a trademark attorney who counsels domestic and international clients on a broad spectrum of trademark portfolio management issues, including clearance, prosecution, enforcement and litigation. He also helps clients navigate difficult copyright, internet and advertising issues.
Finity Jernigan – Holland & Hart
Practice: food, beverage and consumer products
Alma mater: University of Texas School of Law
Jernigan works closely with funds, brands and entrepreneurs at all stages of the corporate lifecycle, from start-up to capital raising. She works with emerging growth companies and venture capital and private equity funds in the consumer products industry.
Shaun Kennedy – Holland & Hart
Practice: government contracts
Alma mater: American University, Washington College of Law
Kennedy advises clients in high-stakes bid protests and claims litigation, complex internal investigations and general government contracts counseling.
Andrew Lillie – Holland & Hart
Practice: litigation
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Lillie is a litigation and regulatory partner who handles a range of matters involving energy and natural resources, other industries and a variety of business disputes centered on contract and tort claims.
Chelsea May – Holland & Hart
Practice: tax and estate planning
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
May advises high-net-worth individuals, fiduciaries, philanthropists and entrepreneurs on issues related to estate planning, wealth transfer planning, income tax planning and business succession.
Nathan Mutter – Holland & Hart
Practice: patent prosecution, counseling and opinions
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Mutter advises on sophisticated technologies across the medical device and wireless communications industries, building deep and enduring relationships with his clients. He immerses himself in their products, business goals, industry and competitive landscape.
Jessica Smith – Holland & Hart
Practice: commercial litigation
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Smith focuses on a wide variety of matters including defamation, reporter’s privilege, free exercise and establishment clauses and other First Amendment issues.
Paul Swanson – Holland & Hart
Practice: commercial litigation, antitrust and trade regulation
Alma mater: Cornell Law School
Swanson focuses on antitrust litigation and a client base in technology and logistics. He manages state and federal lawsuits and arbitration and engages in all stages of dispute resolution, from pre-litigation assessment and negotiation to trial and appeal.
Andrew Roppel – Holland & Hart
Practice: trademark
Alma mater: George Mason University School of Law
Roppel is a trademark attorney who guides his clients through all phases of the trademark lifecycle, working with them to develop business-oriented strategies for the growth, maintenance and protection of their portfolios
Meghan Winokur – Holland & Hart
Practice: water law
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Winokur is part of the water team and works with water service providers, municipalities, ski areas, agricultural producers, ranchers, real estate developers and private landowners on all aspects of water supply planning, water court litigation, real estate transactions, development activities and land use planning.
Chris Boling – Holland & Hart
Practice: corporate
Alma mater: Loyola Law School
Boling assists clients with complex domestic and international business transactions and projects with a focus on mergers and acquisitions and the development of large infrastructure projects.
Todd Criger – Holland & Hart
Practice: corporate
Alma mater: University of Texas School of Law
Criger has represented issuers and underwriters in initial public offerings and has helped complete numerous organizational and ownership restructurings and joint ventures. He also counsels clients on securities law disclosure and compliance, corporate governance and business formation matters.
Byron Crowe – Holland & Hart
Practice: corporate
Alma mater: Cornell Law School
Crowe advises growing companies and venture funds in the US and abroad in connection with financings, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate matters.
Kevin Giles – Holland & Hart
Practice: real estate
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Developers appreciate Giles’ solutions-oriented approach and keen insights regarding their real estate transactions and litigation matters.
Per Larsen – Holland & Hart
Practice: patent preparation, prosecution and counseling
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Larsen’s practice focuses on patent counseling and domestic and foreign patent prosecution for the electronic and computer arts.
Ryan Nichols – Holland & Hart
Practice: corporate, funds and investment management
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Nichols’ public and private company clients rely on his pragmatic and comprehensive counsel on matters related to state and federal securities compliance, corporate governance and complex business transactions.
Helen Rogers – Holland & Hart
Practice: estate planning and wealth management
Alma mater: Harvard Law School
Rogers’ practice focuses on estate and wealth transfer tax planning for high-net-worth individuals and their families.
Lauren Schoeffler – Holland & Hart
Practice: corporate, emerging companies
Alma mater: Boston University School of Law
Schoeffler helps early-stage brands and funds in the consumer products industry to grow and achieve their goals using creativity and efficiency.
Rebecca Klock Schroer – Holland & Hart
Practice: trust and estate litigation
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Clients depend on Klock Schroer’s specialized knowledge and experience in trust and estate law to effectively achieve their wealth management goals.
Christopher Swickhamer – Holland & Hart
Practice: patent preparation, prosecution and counseling
Alma mater: George Mason University School of Law
Swickhamer has extensive patent prosecution experience, with a particular focus on the electrical and computer-related arts for clients with complex technology.
Tina Van Bockern – Holland & Hart
Practice: appellate, environmental litigation
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Van Bockern guides clients through administrative and civil appeals, developing strategies to build and preserve the record while continuing through briefing and oral argument.
Margaret Boehmer – Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP
Practice: health law, professional liability defense
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Boehmer represents healthcare providers in litigation disputes and regulatory matters, including professional liability, personal injury, fraud and abuse, employment disputes and disciplinary actions. Boehmer also has experience with a variety of transactional matters, including the areas of Stark Law, Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act.
Clarissa Collier – Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP
Practice: professional liability, personal injury, commercial litigation
Alma mater: University of Wyoming College of Law
Collier represents sophisticated clients in high-stakes professional liability, personal injury and commercial litigation matters. Collier also has extensive experience winning for clients early in litigation, having negotiated favorable settlements in at least 60 matters.
Amanda Hoberg – Woods Aitken
Practice: construction law and commercial litigation
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Hoberg represents clients in all phases of construction disputes across a variety of industries. Hoberg values being an active member of the community and currently serves on the board of directors for a Colorado-based nonprofit that supports individuals pursuing work in the trades.
Elliott Hood – Caplan & Earnest LLC
Practice: education law and litigation
Alma mater: Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law
Hood was elected as a member in January 2023. Hood regularly represents school districts in complex civil litigation before state, federal and administrative tribunals. He has a strong appellate practice and often appears on behalf of clients in both civil and administrative appeals.
Erin Locker – Koenig, Oelsner, Taylor, Schoenfeld & Gaddis PC (KO Law Firm)
Practice: data privacy and security
Alma mater: University of North Carolina School of Law
Locker is a partner whose practice focuses on privacy, cybersecurity and data protection. She helps companies structure and negotiate complex technology and data-related transactions, including the licensing, commercialization and sharing of data as well as navigating and developing strategic approaches to compliance with various global data privacy and security regulations.
Matthew Chudacoff – Coan, Payton & Payne, LLC (CP2)
Practice: general commercial litigation, business and corporate law
Alma mater: University of Wyoming College of Law
Chudacoff supports clients throughout Northern Colorado as part of CP2’s litigation team. He is admitted to practice before all courts in Colorado and Wyoming, as well as the U.S. Federal District Court for the Districts of Colorado and Wyoming. Chudacoff is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Wyoming College of Law.
Jody Duvall – Coan, Payton & Payne, LLC (CP2)
Practice: business and corporate law, employment law
Alma mater: University of Oregon
Duvall collaborates with clients from a variety of industries throughout Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming to resolve labor and employment issues. He represents employers before federal and state labor and employment agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board, U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission, U.S. Department of Labor and their state-level counterparts. He’s successfully defended employers in agency actions and lawsuits that include allegations of wrongful termination, unlawful discharge, discrimination and retaliation.
Ricardo Vasquez – Peek Family Law
Practice: domestic relations, family law
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Having represented parents as court-appointed counsel in dependency and neglect proceedings, Vasquez brings an array of experience into domestic relations practice. He is a native of Wyoming and has interned for a judicial officer with a domestic relations docket as well as for an entire juvenile court. Prior to joining the firm, Vasquez practiced domestic relations and parent defense at two other Denver metro area law firms.
Ashley Dennis – Kutak Rock
Practice: finance
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Dennis primarily acts as bond counsel and disclosure counsel to municipal issuers in connection with the issuance of municipal bonds. She regularly advises issuers on continuing disclosure obligations and related annual filing requirements. To date, Dennis has assisted in closing public finance transactions in an aggregate principal amount exceeding $2 billion.
Betsy Bengtson – Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton
Practice: trademark and copyright law
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Bengston counsels clients on a range of trademark matters including domestic and international trademark clearance, prosecution, portfolio management and enforcement. She also has experience developing and executing global trademark protection and enforcement strategies and reviewing product packaging and advertisements for proper trademark use.
David Kuosman – Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP
Practice: real estate
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Kuosman handles a wide variety of commercial real estate matters. He has an extensive portfolio of experience advising clients to achieve business goals in commercial real estate areas, including development, leasing, lending, land use and government entitlements, brokerage issues, foreclosures and purchase and sales transactions.
Andrea Bronson – Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP
Practice: water, natural resources, environmental law, litigation
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Bronson has represented government entities, corporations, individuals and other water users in water court and transactions, including water rights due diligence in property acquisitions. Her practice also encompasses environmental litigation, permitting and regulatory compliance and site cleanup.
Nathan Goergen – Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP
Practice: mergers and acquisitions
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Goergen focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures in a broad range of industries, including private equity, hospitality, mining, energy, real estate and manufacturing. He also advises private equity and venture capital firms on equity financing transactions and private equity portfolio and venture-backed companies on general corporate matters, fiduciary duties and commercial contracts.
Jonathan Goldstein – Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP
Practice: real estate, mergers and acquisitions
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Goldstein specializes in real estate law and represents clients in acquisitions, dispositions, construction and development, financing and leasing of real property interests nationwide in a range of industries, including hospitality, technology and energy. He also advises private companies in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, debt and equity financings and commercial contracts.
Almira Moronne – Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP
Practice: mergers and acquisitions
Alma mater: Duke University School of Law
Moronne specializes in M&A and financing transactions for companies involved in natural resources, specialty metals and advanced manufacturing. She represents junior, mid-level and major mining companies, as well as the investors and lenders that finance mining projects and the strategic minerals supply chain. She also works with clients in cross-border transactions and joint ventures, with particular expertise in navigating the national security screening process under the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
Alena Prokop – Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP
Practice: executive compensation, mergers and acquisitions
Alma mater: Charles University School of Law
Prokop focuses her practice on the design, administration and tax attributes of all types of executive compensation arrangements and equity compensation plans, as well as on the executive compensation issues arising out of mergers, acquisitions and public offerings. She also assists clients with private asset fund formations.
Daniel Richards – Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP
Practice: antitrust, appellate, arbitration, IP
Alma mater: Fordham University School of Law
Richards specializes in complex civil litigation and represents domestic and international corporations in complex and consequential civil lawsuits and arbitrations. He has extensive experience representing clients in the financial services, health care, technology, construction/real estate and energy industries.
Travis Chance – Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP
Practice: commercial litigation
Alma mater: University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Chance is well-versed in the intricacies of complex commercial litigation. With a degree in the physical sciences, he brings a structured but pragmatic approach to his practice that allows him to formulate efficient solutions for his clients. Chance has handled corporate derivative actions, anti-SLAPP suits, defamation claims, complex commercial construction disputes and commercial real estate litigation.
Liz Esposito – Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP
Practice: natural resources, government relations
Alma mater: University of California Berkeley School of Law
Esposito combines a background working with and for government agencies. She leverages her diverse, hands-on natural resources experience to provide strategic counsel and advocacy on a range of natural resource matters. On behalf of private and public clients, Esposito assists in the acquisition, development, maintenance and protection of water rights and resources.
Craig Finger – Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP
Practice: employment, litigation
Alma mater: University of Nebraska College of Law
Finger has extensive experience advising on and litigating issues related to the constantly evolving legal cannabis industry. His practice includes employment, class actions, securities, general contracts, breach of fiduciary duty and other business torts, consumer protection, cannabis, administrative law and government investigations.
Justin Lerner – Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP
Practice: real estate
Alma mater: New York Law School
Lerner has experience working on some of the largest and most complex real estate transactions in New York and nationally, but also regularly acts as legal counsel to startups and small businesses. He represents landlords and tenants in complex commercial lease negotiations for office, industrial and retail space throughout the country.
Chloe Mickel – Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP
Practice: construction litigation
Alma mater: Seton Hall University School of Law
Mickel provides comprehensive counsel to real estate developers, design-builders and other construction professionals on multifamily, mixed-use, commercial and retail projects. She also has a niche practice representing interior designers. In her transactional practice, Mickel drafts and negotiates complex design and construction agreements, including AIA form agreements.
Charlotte Phelps – Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP
Practice: corporate and business
Alma mater: Columbia Law School
Phelps focuses primarily on representing private equity sponsors, individual founders and strategic companies in complex transactions. She counsels clients on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, minority investments and general corporate governance matters. Phelps represents clients in consumer products, manufacturing, hospitality, health care and media, among other industries.
Amalia Sax-Bolder – Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP
Practice: corporate and business, litigation
Alma mater: New York University School of Law, University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Sax-Bolder maintains an active Chapter 11 debtor practice and also represents lenders, purchasers, secured creditors, strategic investors and trustees in Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 bankruptcies, receiverships and foreclosures. Sax-Bolder is a skilled litigator and frequently represents clients in adversary proceedings and arbitrations, relief from stay matters and property turnover disputes.
Zach Siegel – Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP
Practice: real estate
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Siegel leverages an understanding of his clients’ businesses to achieve their strategic goals. He has specific expertise in complex acquisitions and dispositions, leasing and development projects. Siegel’s work spans asset classes and he has significant experience negotiating complex agreements, managing due diligence, assisting with corporate structuring, coordinating financing and facilitating closing.
Mike Smith – Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP
Practice: natural resources, litigation
Alma mater: Georgetown University Law Center
Smith helps clients untangle and navigate increasingly complex regulatory regimes and disputes. Clients turn to Smith for help with a range of matters that often involve water rights, water quality, solid and hazardous waste, protected species, land use, floodplains and oil and gas royalty disputes. His diverse practice spans regulatory compliance, rulemaking, enforcement actions, transactions and litigation.
Melanie Taylor – Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP
Practice: real estate
Alma mater: George Washington University Law School
Taylor advises prominent institutional real estate investors and developers as well as small businesses and nonprofit organizations in a broad range of large and complex real estate transactions in Colorado, New York and nationally. She represents both landlords and tenants in the leasing of a variety of asset classes.
Marissa Cwik – Ogletree Deakins
Practice: immigration, higher education
Alma mater: Vanderbilt University School of Law
Cwik partners with clients to create and implement strategic, innovative workforce immigration solutions. She advises companies on designing immigration programs to facilitate the hiring and retention of a foreign national workforce. Cwik counsels organizations on immigration services ranging from onboarding advanced degree students to obtaining long-term U.S. work authorization.
Michael Lowder – Kerrane Storz
Practice: plaintiff construction defect litigation
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Prior to law school, Lowder earned an undergraduate architecture degree. While in college, he worked at two different architecture firms, including a large international firm in New York City. Utilizing his architecture background and legal knowledge, Lowder brings a unique skill set to the firm, assisting homeowners as they seek to remedy problems resulting from deficient construction.
Danita Glenn – Kerrane Storz
Practice: plaintiff construction defect litigation
Alma mater: Texas A&M University School of Law
Glenn assists in holding developers and builders responsible for the construction defects they have caused and strives to prevent developers and builders from being repeat offenders. She’s been a featured speaker at national legal conventions where she trains attorneys regarding trial strategy and how to present a case in a relatable manner to jurors.
John Posthumus – Polsinelli
Practice: IP litigation
Alma mater: University of New Hampshire School of Law
Posthumus is a brand and technology lawyer with more than 30 years of experience litigating complex intellectual property-related disputes and providing sophisticated IP counseling. He’s ranked in the top tier for IP Litigators by Chambers USA and among the Top 100 Lawyers in Colorado by Super Lawyers. Posthumus is a lead enforcement counsel in trademark and unfair competition matters for an international real estate company.
Claire Wells Hanson – Clark Hill
Practice: cannabis, commercial, business, litigation
Alma mater: Vanderbilt University Law School
Wells Hanson is a commercial litigator by training. Having spent more than a decade practicing in the most sophisticated legal markets in the country, her practice focuses on contractual disputes, securities fraud and business torts.
Blair Will – Hall Estill
Practice: environmental, natural resources, litigation, real estate
Alma mater: University of San Diego School of Law
As both a transactional attorney and a litigator, Will assists clients with real estate development, industrial projects, state and federal environmental review, permitting and compliance and general business matters. He also represents clients in other diverse areas such as tribal law matters, ocean shipping and marine registry and offshore organization.
Michael Fox – Kalamaya | Goscha
Practice: personal injury
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Fox has recovered more than $12 million dollars for personal injury clients. He’s tried more than 30 personal injury and criminal defense cases with either a judge or jury. In early 2022, Fox took a personal injury case to trial achieving an almost $2.3 million verdict. He’s the only plaintiff’s personal injury attorney listed in Best Lawyers’ Ones to Watch list for 2023 on the Western Slope in Colorado.
Christopher Casolaro – Faegre Drinker
Practice: litigation, appellate, product liability, mass torts
Alma mater: Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Through his appellate practice, Casolaro has led appellate teams in federal courts of appeals throughout the country and state supreme courts. He is experienced in protecting and defending clients in every phase of product liability and commercial litigation — including investigation, regulatory, trial litigation and appeal.
Sari Long – Faegre Drinker
Practice: labor and employment, immigration
Alma mater: Northeastern University School of Law
Long helps companies create strategies around immigration, Form I-9 compliance and worksite enforcement. She advises on U.S. employment-based immigrant and nonimmigrant visas and labor certifications, family-based immigration and refugee and asylum issues.
Katie McDermott – Faegre Drinker
Practice: real estate, litigation, eminent domain
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
McDermott uses her substantial litigation experience to help clients navigate complex real estate disputes. She focuses on condemnation cases, litigation involving special district financing arrangements and other real estate-related matters.
Jacob Hollars – Spencer Fane
Practice: real estate, commercial, appellate
Alma mater: Saint Louis University School of Law
Hollars is a litigator specializing in real estate, special district, commercial and appellate matters. He represents companies in commercial disputes, such as breach of contract and real estate matters and assists them in protecting their business.
Nicole Peykov – Spencer Fane
Practice: special districts, governmental affairs
Alma mater: University of Wisconsin Law School
Peykov counsels developers in the creation of taxing districts for their proposed developments, which involves the use of tax revenue and municipal debt as financing vehicles. She also represents special districts such as metropolitan districts, water and sanitation districts, business improvement districts and governmental authorities throughout Colorado in the formation, operation and maintenance phases.
Kayla Scroggins-Uptigrove – Spencer Fane
Practice: litigation, dispute resolution, insurance
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Scroggins-Uptigrove helps clients navigate complex civil litigation with an emphasis on insurance, commercial and class action lawsuits at the trial and appellate levels. In her trial work, she’s gained significant experience examining expert and fact witnesses, including cross-examination of party opponents.