Attorney Intel is pleased to announce The Top 25 Attorneys of Colorado for 2022. Colorado is renowned for its vivid landscape of mountains, canyons, and desert lands. However, rapid growth in the area has led to economic prosperity and a booming job market. As a result, Colorado has become the sixth fastest-growing state in the nation over the last decade. Today, the state is home to many world-class professionals, including this year’s awardees. They come from various industries, firms, and backgrounds, including education, financial technology, renewable energy, data privacy, biotechnology, patents, and discrimination.
Among this year’s awardees is Markus Funk, Partner at Perkins Coie, best known for prosecuting several high-profile mob figures during his career at the US Department of Justice. Awardee Reeves Anderson, Partner at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, has represented 50 cases before the US Supreme Court. Also being recognized is Ellie Lockwood, who’s a Partner at Snell & Wilmer. She’s regarded as one of Denver’s leading women trial lawyers and was named Top Woman Lawyer by Law Week Colorado in 2020.
Please join us in celebrating The Top 25 Attorneys of Colorado for 2022.
Sarah Seedig
Partner, Holland & Knight
Sarah Seedig is a Partner at Holland & Hart. She has more than a decade of experience representing automobile dealers and investors in the retail automotive industry. She also has experience representing investors and operators in recreational vehicle, heavy truck, and industrial equipment dealerships. She serves as co-leader of the firm's Women's Initiative in the Denver office and is an active member of the Diversity Council. Notably, she served as lender's counsel to a Fortune 500 insurance company with respect to multiple loan transactions totaling more than $1 billion. Prior to joining the firm, Seedig was an Associate at Greenberg Traurig and part of its Corporate and Securities Practice Group. Before this, she was an Associate at Messner & Reeves.
Seedig graduated from the University of Michigan Law School with a JD. She also received her MA in kinesiology and a BA in psychology from the University of Michigan.
Orion Armon
Partner, Cooley
Orion Armon is a Partner at Cooley. He’s in the Intellectual Property Litigation practice group and a member of Cooley's litigation department. His practice focuses on patent litigation, with an emphasis on software and electronics. Recently, he’s litigated patents involving SaaS software, database architectures, malware detection software, encryption software for streaming television, and telephonic interactive voice recognition systems. Armon has been recognized repeatedly by Colorado SuperLawyers as one of Colorado's Rising Stars in IP litigation. He teaches patent litigation as an adjunct professor at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law and is a frequent lecturer on Patent Office post-grant proceedings, as well as IP and patent matters.
Before attending law school, Armon worked as a business consultant for Accenture, specializing in financial system implementations and eCommerce software. He received his BA from the University of Colorado and graduated from the University of Texas School of Law with a JD.
Jerry Farano
Partner, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
Jerry Farano is Partner at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. He’s a Corporate Transactions Practice Group member and concentrates his practice on the energy industry. Throughout his career, he’s advised strategic and financial buyers and sellers on purchasing, selling and developing wind, solar, nuclear, and fossil fuel generation valued at over $100 billion. Farano is ranked nationally as a leading energy transactions lawyer by Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, and The Legal 500. Before joining Gibson Dunn, Farano was a partner at Jones Day in the D.C. office. Previously, he was a partner at Winston & Strawn. Farano earned a Master of Laws in taxation with distinction from Georgetown University and received his JD from George Washington University School of Law.
David Fine
General Counsel, Metropolitan State University of Denver
David Fine is the General Counsel of the Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU). MSU is a comprehensive, urban university that offers art and science, professional, and business courses. Fine joined MSU in 2017. Prior to this role, he was a partner at Holland & Knight. Before that, Fine was an office managing partner at Dentons. Earlier in his career, he worked with Kelly Garnsey Hubbell & Lass as a partner, where he specialized in complex civil litigation, employment law, and election law. Fine graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an undergraduate degree in history, and received a JD from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.
Markus Funk
Partner, Perkins Coie
Markus Funk is a Partner at Perkins Coie. He specializes in internal investigations and white-collar criminal defense. In 2011, Funk co-founded the firm's corporate social responsibility and supply chain compliance practice. He’s also the founding Co-Chair of Perkins Coie's Supply Chain Compliance Practice and Africa Practice. Funk is best known for the prosecution of several high-profile mob figures during his career at the US Department of Justice, his role in co-leading the internal investigation into former Ohio State University team physician Dr. Richard Strauss, and the trial victory on behalf of the Costa Rican citrus industry.
Previously, Funk was a Chicago Federal Prosecutor, Section Chief with the US State Department in the Balkans, the federal court of appeals and district court Law Clerk, and Oxford University and University of Chicago law professor. Funk graduated summa cum laude from the University of Illinois and earned his JD from the Northwestern School of Law. He later received a PhD in law from the University of Oxford.
Paul Hourihan
General Counsel, SumUp
Paul Hourihan is the General Counsel of SumUp, a leading global financial technology company. Hourihan first got his start in 1996 as a Partner at Williams & Connolly LLP. From there, he went on to Western Union, where he was the SVP and Global Head of Litigation. Eventually, he joined Trilogy Networks as General Counsel, which was his most recent position prior to joining SumUp. Hourihan graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law with a JD and an undergraduate degree in English and economics from the University of Virginia.
John Partridge
Partner, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
John Partridge is a Partner at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. He’s also the Co-Chair of the firm’s FDA and Health Care Practice Group. His practice focuses on white-collar defense, government investigations, and complex litigation for clients in the life science and healthcare industries. Partridge has also represented clients in criminal and civil enforcement actions relating to alleged healthcare fraud and abuse, including actions conducted by the DOJ, the US Food and Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigations, and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. Before joining Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Partridge clerked for the Honorable David M. Ebel of the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He graduated from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts and Stanford Law School with a JD.
Thomas Krysa
Partner, Foley & Lardner
Thomas Krysa is a Partner at Foley & Lardner. He’s part of the firm’s Litigation Department, Securities Enforcement & Litigation Practice Group, and Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) team. Notably, Krysa is a former SEC senior officer and federal prosecutor. Krysa represents clients in matters involving the SEC, DOJ, FINRA, PCAOB and CFTC, and other federal and state regulators and self-regulatory organizations. While at the SEC, Krysa served as a Staff Attorney, Trial Attorney, Supervisory Trial Counsel, and most recently Associate Regional Director. Prior to the SEC, Krysa was a federal prosecutor for the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., prosecuting criminal tax and other white-collar matters in federal district courts.
Krysa received an LLM in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center and graduated from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law with a JD.
Tyler Sewell
Partner, Morrison & Foerster
Tyler Sewell is a Partner in the Corporate Department of Morrison & Foerster’s Denver office. He specializes in mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, and complex corporate transactions. Sewell advises clients in various transaction structures including leveraged acquisitions, divestitures, asset acquisitions, stock acquisitions, mergers, auctions, and cross-border transactions. Before joining the firm, he was an Associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Sewell graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a BS in ocean engineering and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School with a JD. Prior to attending law school, he served as a Surface Warfare Officer on the USS Russell and the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Reeves Anderson
Partner, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
Reeves Anderson is a partner in Arnold & Porter's Appellate and Supreme Court practice. He has represented businesses, individuals, states, and foreign governments in appeals and trial litigation across the US. This includes 50 cases that he’s represented before the US Supreme Court. He has notable expertise in complex disputes with cross-border elements. In 2021, Chambers recognized Reeves as among Colorado's top five appellate lawyers. Reeves was appointed to the firm's Pro Bono Committee in 2011. In his pro bono work, he has advocated for the rights of veterans, prisoners, voters, and parents. He’s also addressed immigration reform, gun violence, disaster relief, and wrongful convictions.
Anderson graduated as valedictorian from North Carolina State University with a degree in political science and chemistry. He earned his JD from Yale Law School and a master's degree from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.
Dustin Taylor
Partner, Husch Blackwell
Dustin Taylor is a Partner with the Denver office of Husch Blackwell. His practice focuses on helping clients protect innovations on a wide variety of intellectual property law issues, including patent litigation and trademark registrations. Taylor represents clients nationwide in federal courts and has participated in litigation in Texas, Delaware, New Jersey, and Missouri. Prior to joining the firm, he was an Associate at Reed & Scardino. Taylor received a BS in advertising from the University of Texas at Austin and graduated from the University of Texas School of Law with a JD.
John Walsh
Partner, WilmerHale
John Walsh is a Partner at WilmerHale. He leads WilmerHale's investigations, criminal litigation, and complex civil litigation practices. This year, The American Lawyer named Walsh and his team Litigators of the Week for their successful representation of DaVita. They won a jury acquittal on criminal antitrust charges brought by the US Department of Justice. In 2021, Law Week Colorado named him Colorado’s Best Litigator and Best Overall Litigator. Walsh is the co-host of the WilmerHale podcast — In the Public Interest — which features guests who share unique perspectives on challenging issues and headline-making topics.
Walsh spent six years as US Attorney, serving in national-level leadership positions for the DOJ, including service as chair of the national Attorney General's Advisory Committee of US Attorneys (AGAC). He also served as co-chair of the AGAC's White Collar Crime Subcommittee and as national co-chair of the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Fraud Working Group. Prior to his service as US Attorney, he practiced at Hill & Robbins and Holland & Hart. Walsh earned a political science BA from Williams College and graduated from Stanford Law School with a JD.
Timothy Hanson
Partner, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner
Timothy Hanson is a Partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. He’s a member of the firm’s Transactions Client Service Group and Private Equity Team. In his practice, he focuses on mergers and acquisitions, including private equity and strategic transactions, commercial transactions, and corporate law matters. Before joining Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Hanson was the Corporate Counsel at Dish Network. Prior to this he was an attorney at Shearman and Sterling. Earlier in his career, he worked as an information technology recruiter at Lynx. Hanson graduated from Connecticut College with an undergraduate degree in philosophy and received a JD from Vanderbilt University Law School.
Casie Collignon
Partner, Baker & Hostetler
Casie Collignon is a Partner at Baker & Hostetler. Collignon is the Digital Assets and Data Management Practice Group Leader in the firm’s Denver office. She’s also the Hiring Partner for associates and summer associates for the firm’s Denver office. During her 18-year tenure, Collignon has achieved significant accomplishments in class-action, data privacy, and complex business litigation. This spans the insurance, consumer, financial services, and oil and gas industries. Collignon has been named a 2021 Top Litigator by Colorado Law Week and a 2020 Privacy MVP by Law360. Prior to joining Baker and Hostetler, she was a Clerk for the Colorado Court of Appeals. Collignon graduated from the University of Denver Law School with a JD and earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Donald Samuels
Partner, Polsinelli
Don Samuels is a Partner at Polsinelli in the Denver and Los Angeles offices. His practice involves all aspects of employment law as well as general civil litigation and intellectual property law. He’s also an employment law arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association. Samuels’ focus spans issues and claims pertaining to discrimination and wrongful termination, sexual and racial harassment, as well as whistle-blowers and retaliation. Before joining Polsinelli, Samuels was a Partner at Bryan Cave, Holme Roberts & Owens, and a Director Shareholder at Ireland, Stapleton, Pryor & Pascoe. Prior to this, he was a Partner at Samuels & Samuels and an Associate and Partner at Sidley Austin.
Samuels graduated from Brown University with a BA in political science and received his JD from Columbia Law School.
Margaret Boehmer
Partner, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani
Margaret Boehmer is a Partner at Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani. She first joined the firm in 2019 as an Associate Attorney. In her current role, she helps clients with civil litigation and defense legal issues. Throughout her career, she’s defended clients in a wide variety of tort and commercial law cases, including negligence, wrongful death, product liability, premises liability, and consumer protection disputes. Previously, Boehmer was an associate attorney at Taylor Anderson LLP, and before that, an associate attorney at Senter Goldfarb & Rice. Earlier in her career, she worked with IQNavigator as a business analyst. Boehmer earned an undergraduate degree from Colorado State University, and a JD from the University of Denver.
Melanie Snyder
General Counsel, RTD
Melanie Snyder is the General Counsel for the Denver-based Regional Transportation District (RTD). She has over 15 years of experience representing and advising a variety of clients in the public and private sectors. This includes more than a decade of distinguished service with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. She was formerly the Chief Deputy Attorney General and Chief of Staff at the Colorado Attorney General's Office. In these roles, she oversaw the management of 500 employees, including 280 attorneys, and a budget of approximately $83 million. Snyder was recognized for her work with the Attorney General’s Maurice Knaizer Distinguished Service Award in 2018 and received Exceptional Performance awards in 2011 and 2014.
Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, she practiced commercial litigation at Koncilja & Associates and Sherman & Howard. Snyder received bachelor’s degrees in political science and psychology from the University of Arizona. She graduated from the University of San Diego School of Law with a JD.
Joel Sayres
Partner, Faegre Drinker
Joel Sayres is a Partner at Faegre Drinker. He counsels clients in complex patent, trademark, and copyright matters, with a focus on patent litigation. Sayres litigates intellectual property disputes in venues throughout the US, including patent infringement actions involving optical communications, medical devices, storage systems, and wireless technology. Prior to joining the firm, Sayres practiced for several years in California at Irell & Manella, where he focused on patent litigation, unfair business practice disputes, and internal investigations. Before this, Sayres was the Directing Attorney at Public Counsel Law Center in Los Angeles. Previously, Sayres co-taught a semester-long course on patent litigation at the University of Colorado law school.
Sayres graduated from Yale University with a JD and received a Bachelor of Arts from Haverford College.
Blake Gansborg
Partner, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough
Blake Gansborg is a Partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough. His legal practice focuses on complex commercial litigation in state and federal court, administrative forums, and arbitration proceedings. He also concentrates on litigating franchise disputes before state administrative agencies. Gansborg’s legal career has spanned numerous facets of the dispute resolution process. He was a clerk for a federal district court judge, worked in-house as a secondee to Barclays investment bank, and spent nearly a decade in private practice litigating complex commercial disputes. Gansborg graduated from Emory University with a BA. He received his JD, magna cum laude, and Order of the Coif from the University of Michigan.
Lisa Storey
General Counsel, EverCommerce
Lisa Storey is the General Counsel at EverCommerce (formerly PaySimple). In this role, she supports the company's continued growth and business pursuits from a legal and risk management perspective. Since Storey joined the company, they’ve completed 51 acquisitions and an initial public offering. She’s been instrumental in helping the company achieve impressive growth numbers. Before EverCommerce, Storey helped grow a team of lawyers as Associate General Counsel at Air Methods, the largest air ambulance company in the US. Prior to joining Air Methods, she practiced as a lawyer in the healthcare regulatory groups at Arent Fox in Washington, D.C., and Davis Graham & Stubbs in Denver. Here, she handled mergers and acquisitions, litigation, and compliance counseling.
Storey has a BA in molecular biology and philosophy from CU Boulder and her JD from Vanderbilt University Law School.
Kerith Kanaber
Partner, Dorsey & Whitney
Kerith Kanaber is a Partner at Dorsey & Whitney. She’s also the Co-Chair of the firm’s Healthcare Industry Group. Kanaber’s practice primarily focuses on consumer products, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. This includes the preparation and prosecution of US and international patent and design applications. It also involves preparing and advising on aspects of patentability, non-infringement, invalidity, and freedom to operate. She advises on patent due diligence for venture capital and mergers and acquisitions in the consumer products and life sciences industries. Prior to joining Dorsey & Whitney, Kanaber was a contract licensing associate with the University of Colorado at Denver and Anschutz Medical Campus.
Kerith received an MBA from the University of Denver Daniels College of Business and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Denver. She graduated from Creighton University School of Law with a JD.
Kurt Gottschall
Partner, Haynes and Boone
Kurt Gottschall is a Partner at Haynes and Boone. His practice involves representing investment advisers, broker-dealers, public companies, auditors, and others in investigations by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He also represents other government agencies in regard to internal investigations and regulatory compliance. Gottschall joined Haynes and Boone after serving as the SEC’s Denver Regional Office Director. His tenure as Regional Director capped a 22-year career with the SEC. He previously led the SEC’s enforcement program in Denver and served as an Assistant Director in the Division of Enforcement’s Asset Management Unit.
Gottschall earned his Bachelor of Arts from Claremont McKenna College and graduated from the University of California Hastings College of Law with a JD.
Billi McCullough
Partner, Holland & Hart
Billi McCullough is a Partner at Holland & Hart. She focuses her practice on infrastructure development, complex debt financing, and strategic transactions. This includes mergers and acquisitions and joint venture transactions. Her experience is focused on energy and natural resources. She has developed expertise in counseling renewable energy clients, including developers and owners of wind farms, utility-scale solar farms, and distributed generation solar projects. Before joining Holland & Hart, McCullough was the General Counsel for Northstar Exchange (also known as Construction Information Network or Construction News Service) and VeloCom. She began her career at Holland & Hart in 1995 as an Associate, only to return to the firm in 2007.
McCullough graduated from Wellesley College with a BA in economics and Spanish and received her JD from Cornell Law School.
Ellie Lockwood
Partner, Snell & Wilmer
Ellie Lockwood is a Partner and the Commercial Litigation Practice Group leader at Snell & Wilmer. She handles all aspects of business disputes, including business torts, fraud, RICO/COCCA, antitrust, the Colorado Consumer Protection Act (CCPA), and matters involving both trustee and fiduciary disputes. She also has substantial experience with TROs and injunctions, contempt, post-judgment proceedings, and appeals. In 2020, Lockwood was named a Top Woman Lawyer by Law Week Colorado for her experience in trials and litigation. With a focus on business disputes, she is the go-to litigator for professionals in a variety of industries. She’s also served on the Legal Night and Mental Health Task Forces with the Colorado Lawyers Committee, coordinated presentations and services as part of the Access to Justice initiative, and handled federal civil rights pro bono matters.
Prior to joining Snell & Wilmer, Lockwood was an attorney at Reilly Pozner. She graduated from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law with a JD and a BA in biological sciences.
Jarrett Coleman
General Counsel, Century Communities
Jarrett Coleman is the General Counsel of Century Communities. He first joined the company in 2018 as Regional Counsel. Century Communities carries out the development, construction, and sale of single-family attached and detached homes. Previously, Coleman was the General Counsel at Lokal Homes. Before that, he was an Assistant General Counsel at PulteGroup. Earlier in his career, he worked with Bracewell & Patterson as an Associate. Coleman earned his undergraduate degree in journalism from The University of Texas at Austin and a JD from South Texas College of Law Houston.
