Over the past year, roughly 49 partners were added to or elevated at local firms. Newly promoted attorneys practice in a wide range of areas from real estate and commercial litigation to intellectual property, securities and bankruptcy. Congratulations to all the new partners this year!
The following information was provided directly to Law Week or has been pulled from various press releases and firm websites based on announcements sent to Law Week for its annual New Partners feature.
Natalie Hausknecht – Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
Practice: litigation
Alma mater: Yale Law School
A trial and consumer protection/privacy defense attorney, Hausknecht handles high-priority investigations involving state attorneys general and/or the Federal Trade Commission. She received her law degree from Yale Law School in 2015.
Christine Ranney – Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
Practice: intellectual property
Alma mater: New York University School of Law
Ranney focuses on patent and appellate litigation and is knowledgeable across a range of arts and practices, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, consumer goods, software and telecommunications. She received her JD from New York University School of Law in 2013.
Sean Metherell – Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Practice: construction and real estate litigation
Alma mater: University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
Metherell represents clients in real estate litigation, with a particular focus on eminent domain matters. He has litigated eminent domain matters in Colorado and Minnesota state courts.
Thomas Balmat – Holland & Hart LLP
Practice: real estate and finance
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Balmat represents commercial real estate clients with acquisitions, sales, development, leasing, financing and corporate structuring. While in law school, he was a student attorney at the University of Colorado’s Entrepreneurial Law Clinic.
Jennifer Benda – Holland & Hart LLP
Practice: tax controversy and litigation
Alma mater: George Washington University Law School
A former certified public accountant, Benda counsels businesses and individuals on emerging and complex tax controversy and litigation issues. She also serves as an expert witness on complex tax issues, providing opinions in federal and state court litigation as well as arbitrations.
Abby Briggerman – Holland & Hart LLP
Practice: public utilities regulation
Alma mater: George Washington University Law School
An electric utility regulatory attorney since 2006, Briggerman counsels industrial consumers and independent power producers before state public utility commissions and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Todd Criger – Holland & Hart LLP
Practice: corporate and mergers and acquisitions
Alma mater: University of Texas School of Law
Criger has represented issuers and underwriters in initial public offerings and has helped complete organizational and ownership restructurings and joint ventures. He also counsels clients on matters concerning securities law disclosure and compliance, corporate governance and business formation matters.
Sabrina Danielson – Holland & Hart LLP
Practice: global trademark brand management
Alma mater: University of Iowa College of Law
Danielson counsels local brand owners and multinational corporations on domestic and foreign trademark portfolio development and strategic intellectual property management. Before joining Holland & Hart, she practiced at an Am Law 50 firm.
Nate Davis – Holland & Hart LLP
Practice: corporate
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Davis works with growth companies, private equity funds and venture capital and growth equity firms to complete equity and debt financings, buy and sell companies and navigate corporate governance matters. Before beginning his legal career, he was a startup founder and employee in the Denver area and a professional ice hockey player.
Kevin McAdam – Holland & Hart LLP
Practice: commercial litigation
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
McAdam assists with ownership disputes and business divorces, particularly for small-to medium-sized companies. He also litigates actions involving trade secrets, noncompetes and non-solicitation/non-circumvention agreements. He chairs Holland & Hart’s recruiting committee and the firm’s “Lions of Litigation” associate training sub-committee.
Matt Ochs – Holland & Hart LLP
Practice: bankruptcy and real estate
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Ochs works with creditors, distressed asset purchasers and parties to commercial transactions in the renewable energy, oil & gas, mining and technology industries. He is a member of the firm’s opinion committee.
Susan Ryan – Holland & Hart LLP
Practice: water resources and litigation
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
As a former water court referee with responsibility for resolving disputes in the Colorado River Basin, Ryan issued more than a thousand rulings and managed the operation of the water court. Now, she provides legal guidance on water rights, water law and related land-use matters to energy companies, municipalities, water providers, ranchers, private landowners, corporations and real estate developers.
Michelle Seares – Holland & Hart LLP
Practice: environmental litigation
Alma mater: George Washington University Law School
Seares handles complex oil and gas litigation. Her practice includes royalty underpayment litigation, commercial disputes between industry parties, title issues, surface access problems and disputes between working interest owners.
Jessica Smith – Holland & Hart LLP
Practice: commercial litigation and appellate
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Smith leads Holland & Hart’s nationwide religious institutions and First Amendment practice group and is a member of its business litigation group. She represents businesses in state and federal court, mediation and formal arbitration proceedings.
Nik Stoffel – Holland & Hart LLP
Practice: public utilities regulation
Alma mater: Washburn University School of Law
Stoffel’s practice is focused on the federal and state regulation of electric and gas utilities, oil and gas pipelines, and electricity markets, and the nuances of administrative law and litigation.
Amy Tindell – Holland & Hart LLP
Practice: Global Trademark Brand Management
Alma mater: Boston College Law School
Tindell is an intellectual property attorney with experience in advising clients in the enforcement, prosecution and maintenance of their portfolios. Before joining Holland & Hart, she earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University of Michigan, served as a healthcare consultant at Tapestry Networks in Waltham, Massachusetts and practiced law with McCarter & English in Boston.
Maria del Rosario Oxman – Davis Graham & Stubbs
Practice: real estate
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Oxman focuses her practice on real estate law and represents investors, developers and large companies. She handles matters related to large-scale renewable energy projects, leasing, acquisition, dispositions and hospitality.
Alexandra Katich – Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP
Practice: business and corporate finance
Alma mater: Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University
Katich is a business law attorney with a focus on corporate finance transactions. Her experience includes representing institutional banks, alternative/private credit providers and businesses. Katich also has expertise with reorganizations and restructurings, real estate transactions, real property and equipment leasing and mergers and acquisitions.
Laurie Choi – Snell & Wilmer
Practice: commercial litigation
Alma mater: University of Southern California Gould School of Law
With a background in construction management, general contracting and civil and environmental engineering, Choi counsels clients through construction contract drafting and negotiation, resolution of construction project disputes and other construction concerns.
Gary Graca – Snell & Wilmer
Practice: real estate
Alma mater: Wayne State University Law School
Graca focuses his practice on commercial finance, real estate and corporate and securities. He has represented investment groups in acquisition matters and has served as counsel to several manufacturing and service industry entities involved in bank refinancing, workouts and orderly liquidations.
Ragini Acharya – Husch Blackwell
Practice: healthcare
Alma mater: University of Virginia School of Law
Acharya is a Denver-based partner with the law firm Husch Blackwell where she helps clients navigate complex compliance and transactional matters. She focuses her practice on mergers, acquisitions and general corporate and governance matters across a range of industries and sectors, with a focus on healthcare and other highly-regulated industries.
Charlie Carlin – Fortis Law Partners LLC
Practice: complex commercial litigation
Alma mater: University of Michigan Law School
Carlin handles complex commercial litigation and internal investigations, including defending corporations and individuals in government investigations. He also has experience in securities litigation, labor and employment law and criminal law and was recently recognized in the 2024 edition of Best Lawyers Ones to Watch for commercial litigation.
Aaron Goldhamer – Keating Wagner Polidori Free, P.C.
Practice: business litigation, probate litigation, professional liability
Alma mater: Georgetown University Law Center
Goldhamer represents individuals, large and small businesses and nonprofit organizations in complex disputes. He’s been recognized by Colorado Super Lawyers, was listed in the Best Lawyers in America for Colorado commercial litigation from 2022 to 2024 and serves on the Colorado Bar Association’s board of governors and its leadership selection committee.
Darren Alberti – Messner Reeves LLP
Practice: Litigation and Appellate Law
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Alberti specializes in appellate law and complex litigation involving areas like constitutional law, corporate law, class and collective action labor disputes, employment discrimination, administrative law, intellectual property and natural resources. He has a national law practice and has worked with Fortune 500 corporations, governmental entities, public-private partnerships, nonprofit organizations, small business owners and individual clients.
Nneka Obiokoye – Holland & Knight LLP
Practice: corporate and oil and gas
Alma mater: New York University School of Law, LL.M.; University of Nigeria, Faculty of Law, LL.B.
Obiokoye is a member of the firm’s business section in Denver. She focuses her practice on domestic and international project development and financing transactions, representing project developers, buyers, offtakers and other entities seeking to engage in commercial transactions relating to renewable electricity, renewable fuels, clean energy, sustainability and midstream and downstream oil and gas.
Pardis Farrokhyar – Kutak Rock LLP
Practice: public finance
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Farrokhyar focuses her practice on representing issuers and underwriters in tax-exempt and taxable financings for municipalities, school districts and particularly utility-related issuers (including water and wastewater) and transportation-related issuers (including ports and airports).
Gabe Pinilla – Adams and Reese LLP
Practice: construction
Alma mater: St. Thomas University School of Law
Pinilla is a construction law and litigation attorney focusing on a range of disciplines. A key member of Adams and Reese’s national construction law practice, he’s admitted to practice in Colorado, Texas, Florida and Maryland. Pinilla is also a fluent Spanish speaker.
Reid Galbraith – Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP
Practice: real estate
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Galbraith focuses primarily on the hospitality industry, representing clients in connection with acquisition, disposition, finance, management, franchising and development. He has a background in a variety of real estate asset classes.
Trayton Oakes – Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP
Practice: corporate/business and gaming
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Oakes represents clients in online gaming, sports betting, tribal gaming and other gaming-related commercial arrangements and regulatory matters. He has represented both U.S. brick-and-mortar casinos and U.S. and foreign online gaming and sports betting operators and platform providers.
Courtney Shephard – Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP
Practice: natural resources
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Shephard counsels energy, mining and recreation companies on compliance with federal environmental laws and regulations, including the National Environmental Policy Act, National Historic Preservation Act, Federal Land Policy and Management Act, Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act. She also counsels clients on methane and carbon management issues, including regulatory compliance, pore space leasing and Class VI permitting.
Chris Hand – Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP
Practice: corporate/business
Alma mater: Washington University School of Law
Hand assists clients with complex financing transactions, mergers and acquisitions and other corporate matters. In his finance practice, he represents both lenders and borrowers with acquisition financings, asset-based revolving credit facilities, project financings and other middle-market credit facilities.
Chere See – Morrison Foerster
Practice: mergers and acquisitions
Alma mater: Harvard Law School
See represents public and private companies and focuses on M&A. She advises clients in domestic, cross-border and multijurisdictional acquisitions and divestitures, joint ventures, strategic investments, securities offerings and general corporate matters.
Abby Harder – Lewis Roca
Practice: litigation
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Harder is co-lead of the class actions group at Lewis Roca. She covers class actions, real estate, employment and close corporation and partnership disputes. Harder has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in dispositive motions, discovery, jury trials, bench trials, arbitration proceedings and appeals.
Ryan Cooke – Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP
Practice: commercial litigation, antitrust and competition
Alma mater: Georgetown University Law Center
Cooke’s experience includes representing Michelin in a trade secrets case, representing a telecom provider in commercial disputes and defending law firms in professional liability cases. Prior to joining WTO, Ryan served as an associate at Davis Polk in New York City.
Daniel Guisbond – Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP
Practice: commercial litigation, securities, intellectual property
Alma mater: Fordham University School of Law
Guisbond has represented Amazon, Yahoo, Pandora and DISH in complex disputes. In addition to his broader commercial experience, he maintains a soft intellectual property practice. Prior to joining WTO, he was an associate at firms including Winston Strawn.
Melissa Romero – Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP
Practice: commercial litigation, antitrust and competition, franchise and distribution
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Romero has experience developing and implementing litigation and trial strategies and was part of a team that won a complete victory following a four-day arbitration for one of the nation’s largest beauty and wellness franchisors. Romero received a master’s degree in social work from the University of Denver and she held elementary school and college teaching positions before attending law school.
Jacob Rey – Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP
Practice: commercial litigation
Alma mater: University of Colorado Law School
Rey represents clients in high-exposure cases nationwide. He defends both small and large companies in complex contract, trade secret and other commercial disputes. Rey was on the team that won a $39 million plaintiff’s jury verdict as co-trial counsel for Allergan and Duke University after a patent infringement trial.
Erin Tatman – Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP
Practice: professional liability
Alma mater: Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
Tatman defends clients against professional liability and product liability lawsuits. Her clients include individual healthcare providers, healthcare organizations, lawyers and law firms. A chemist by training, Tatman previously worked as a land assistant for a large oil and gas company in Colorado and as a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health Imaging Probe Development Center and Laboratory of Computational Biophysics. Colorado Super Lawyers has named Erin a Rising Star for five straight years.
Cassandra Foster – Polsinelli
Practice: real estate
Alma mater: University of North Carolina School of Law
Foster joined the firm from a leading health care real estate investment and development firm where she served as vice president for the transactions side of the business. Foster has both in-house and private practice experience advising real estate developers, investors, institutional lenders and private equity groups on real estate acquisition, disposition, development, finance banking and corporate law.
Patrick Akers – Moye White LLP
Practice: bankruptcy and commercial litigation
Alma mater: University of Notre Dame
Akers is a bankruptcy and commercial litigation attorney representing asset purchasers, debtors, landlords, secured and unsecured creditors and trustees in commercial bankruptcy and litigation matters involving bankruptcy, insolvency and restructuring.
Steven Gockley – Moye White LLP
Practice: construction and real estate
Alma mater: Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Gockley is a real estate attorney with expertise in the development of commercial and industrial properties and construction law. He represents a wide range of clients, including project owners, construction managers, design professionals, EPC firms and general contractors in complex transactions providing strategic counsel during the negotiation process and guidance to mitigate risks and avoid conflicts.
Chris Scolari – Moye White LLP
Practice: estate and trust planning
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Scolari is a trust and estates and corporate attorney handling business planning and property law, including Colorado land and resource ownership and conveyance. He helps individuals, multi-generational families and business owners with estate planning, estate administration and business succession matters.
Jana Willsey – Moye White LLP
Practice: commercial real estate financing
Alma mater: Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
Willsey is a finance and development attorney with experience in commercial real estate financing, including multifamily housing, office, industrial, retail and mixed-use projects. She represents regional and national financial institutions and borrowers in structuring, negotiating and documenting complex real estate-secured transactions throughout the country.
Kelly Schulten – Haddon, Morgan and Foreman, P.C.
Practice: criminal defense and civil litigation
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
In 2021, Schulten joined Haddon, Morgan and Foreman after serving in the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office and being awarded Attorney of the Year in 2018. She has now expanded her practice to include both criminal and civil matters in municipal, state and federal courts. She also defends persons accused of attorney misconduct, Title IX and other regulatory and administrative issues.
Ted Mayle – Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
Practice: patent litigation
Alma mater: Georgetown University Law Center
Mayle focuses on patent infringement litigation and appeals, and administrative actions before the Patent Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Mayle has experience representing companies accused of infringement in cases involving various industries, including telecommunication systems, semiconductor, software-related systems, electrical systems, mechanical systems and medical devices.
Torrey Spink – Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
Practice: patent prosecution
Alma mater: Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Spink focuses his practice on patent prosecution and counseling. His practice involves patents relating to a variety of technologies including electrical devices, computer hardware, software, mechanical and medical devices.
Hannah McCalla – Spencer Fane
Practice: litigation and dispute resolution
Alma mater: University of Montana Blewett School of Law
McCalla represents clients in Colorado, Montana and other states in complex commercial litigation matters from intake and through to trial and appeal when necessary. Her practice focuses on defense of insurance bad faith claims and class actions.
Jared Ertle – Stinson LLP
Practice: corporate finance and M&A
Alma mater: University of Miami School of Law
Ertle specializes in complex mergers and stock acquisitions, venture capital investments and asset dispositions. He counsels farm credit system institutions, commercial banks and equipment leasing companies on loan transactions, as well as equipment and facility lease transactions. Ertle also does pro bono legal work for the Miracle League of Metro Denver.
Brooke Yates – Foley Hoag LLP
Practice: insurance recovery and business disputes
Alma mater: University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Yates, named partner in charge of the firm’s Denver office in 2024, is part of the firm’s insurance recovery practice. She represents businesses in multi-party commercial litigation and construction disputes throughout the U.S. and internationally. She also advises policyholders in disputes with their insurers in insurance coverage.
CORRECTION NOTE: This article was updated Jan. 17 to clarify that Yates was recently named partner in charge at Foley Hoag.