Josh Marks will be speaking at the seminar for Current Challenges in Local Government Law on February 10th, 2012 at the Doubletree Hotel in Denver. The seminar will take place from 9:00am - 4:30pm, with Josh Marks' presentation on "Human Resources Issues" from 11:15am - 12:15pm.

For more information: Click Here.

From the Boulder County Bar Association website:

Thursday
January 26, 2012

BHGR congratulates Richard Greenleaf on his acceptance into the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals.

"The National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals is an association whose membership consists of ADR professionals distinguished by their hands-on experience in the field of civil and commercial conflict resolution, and by their commitment to the practice of alternative dispute resolution."

www.NADN.org

Musings of a §1983 Litigator:
Ethical and Strategic Decision-Making At The Outset of A Civil Rights Case
 
To read the presentation please click here.

BHGR congratulates Lauren Roberts and Jeff Van der Veer for successfully completing the Colorado Bar Exam!

Lauren Roberts received her law degree from the University of Colorado in 2011. While attending law school, Lauren interned with CU’s Technology Transfer Office in Boulder and abroad with Refugees International Japan in Tokyo and the Association for International Arbitration in Brussels. Lauren graduated cum laude from New York University in 2008 with a Bachelor’s Degree in history and Spanish and received a Founders’ Day Award for scholastic achievement. Lauren is a Boulder native and enjoys skiing, hiking, tennis, camping, horseback riding, and all the other great things Colorado has to offer.

BHGR Partner Maki Iatrdis will be attending the Colorado Brownfields Conference 2011 being held on November 14th & 15th at the Arvada Center. Conference highlights include:

• Real Estate Due Diligence & Liability Protection
• Public Policies Impacting Redevelopment
• Colorado's Blueprint for Economic Development
• Renewable Energy Technology & Finance
• ASARCO Redevelopment, Globeville, CO
• Mining Reclamation/Good Samaritan Legislation
• Funding Sources for Efficient Remediation
• Lamar Station Transit Oriented Development
• Sustainable Reuse of Brownfields Properties
• Redesign, Reinvest & Redevelop Longmont
• We're From The Government. We're Here To Help
• Legal Update on Laws Related to Brownfields
• Mountains of Success: Repurposing Mining-related Sites

Boulder Firm Expands Real Estate Practice Group With Addition of Experienced Associate

BOULDER, CO--(Marketwire - August 31, 2011) - Berg Hill Greenleaf & Ruscitti LLP (BHGR), Boulder County's largest local law firm, has announced that Becky Rigo has joined the firm as an associate.

Ms. Rigo will serve the firm's business and real estate practices. She plans to focus her work on commercial real estate matters such as leasing and acquisitions and dispositions as well as foreclosures and homeowners' associations.

"Becky's familiarity with multi-million dollar and multi-state acquisitions and dispositions will serve us well at BHGR," said Giovanni M. Ruscitti, a BHGR Founding Partner. "Her experiene will be a real plus to a practice we expect to become increasingly important." 

In addition, Becky's experience in providing counsel to national real estate investment trusts in connection with the acquisition and financing of more than $500 million in multi-family multi-state projects as well as the acquisition and disposition of more than $4 billion in commercial real estate properties throughout the United States shall be a valuable resource to the firm. 

She earned her B.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire and her J.D. from the John Marshall Law School in 2003. Prior to law school, Ms. Rigo worked with venture capitalists in the telecommunications industry acquiring, developing, and managing cellular infrastructures and operations in several states across the United States.

Ms. Rigo is licensed to practice law in both Colorado and Illinois and has held a Real Estate Broker License. She will work in the firm's Boulder office.

Boulder-based BHGR was founded in 2001 and has grown to be the city's largest local law firm. With 29 attorneys representing clients throughout North America and beyond, BHGR's breadth of expertise includes practices related to business, construction, criminal defense, the environment and water, litigation, public entity, real estate, trusts, and estates. In June, the firm announced the opening of a new office in historic Lower Downtown Denver to serve its growing Rocky Mountain region client base.

About Berg Hill Greenleaf & Ruscitti LLP
BHGR is a Denver/Boulder local law firm providing high quality and cost-effective representation for individual and business clients in the Rocky Mountain region and around the world. Combining the expertise and sophistication of a national organization with the service and responsiveness of a boutique practice, BHGR lawyers are committed to creating long-standing personal relationships and providing pragmatic solutions to difficult problems. BHGR clients receive hands-on attention and the practical expertise of experienced lawyers who place a premium on delivering the highest quality legal advice in the most efficient and cost-effective manner as possible, an approach that has enabled the firm to stand out among contemporary law firms. For more information, visit www.bhgrlaw.com.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Laura Parsons
CSG-PR
303-887-2911
Email Contact

Rudy Verner was recently elected to the Board of Directors of Bicycle Colorado, a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging and promoting cycling in the State of Colorado. Established in 1992, Bicycle Colorado educates people about bike commuting, advocates trail access for mountain bikers, and gives cyclists a voice in the legislative process by pushing for more bicycle-friendly laws.

Berg Hill Greenleaf & Ruscitti LLP (BHGR), Boulder County’s largest local law firm, formally opened a new office in Denver’s Lower Downtown District.

Located at 1525 17^th Street, the new office will serve the firm’s growing Denver and Rocky Mountain client base. The office will initially focus on transaction and litigation services for clients in a variety of businesses, including construction mining, oil and gas, environmental, mergers & acquisitions and real estate, adding attorneys and practices as the office grows.

“Our Denver and Rocky Mountain client base has grown substantially and the new office will help us accommodate that growth by essentially being on-site with clients,” said  Giovanni M. Ruscitti, a BHGR Founding Partner. “It’s a natural fit to better serve existing and new clients as we continue to grow in Denver.”

In addition to opening the Denver office, the firm also announced plans to add 4,000 square feet to its Boulder offices at 1712 Pearl Street.  In addition, BHGR has hired two new attorneys, and recently announced the promotion of three of its current staff to partner: Kathleen T. Alt, who focuses on Criminal Defense, Employment Law, and Litigation, Justin C. Berg, who focuses on Litigation, Business, Construction, and Real Estate, and Jason T. Pink, who focuses on Litigation, Construction, Business, and Criminal Defense. The appointments were effective on June 1.

These moves follow the addition in February of Patrick K. Perrin, an intellectual property and trademark expert who joined the firm as a partner. The successful recruitment of Mr. Perrin from the international law firm of Hogan Lovells was a significant move for BHGR in its expansion plans. 

“We offer the expertise and sophistication of a national law firm with the service and responsiveness of a boutique firm,” says Mr. Ruscitti. “That we can be nimble and responsive is a great advantage for us with our growing number of large corporate clients.” 

Boulder-based BHGR was founded in 2001 and has grown to be the city’s largest local law firm. With 28 attorneys representing clients throughout Colorado and nationally and internationally, the firm’s breadth of expertise includes practices related to business, construction, criminal defense, the environment and water, litigation, public entity, real estate, trusts, and estates.

Daniel Gross presented the topic Construction Contract and Litigation to the Colorado County Attorneys Association at 4:00 pm on Thursday, June 2nd at the Keystone Resort and Conference Center. Around 75 members were in attendance for the speech, followed by questions and an informal discussion at the end of the session.

BHGR sponsors the Boulder Economic Summit on Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at the University of Colorado.   This year's cross-industry event focuses on economics of innovation.  Dr. Phil DiStefano, Chancellor, University of Colorado Boulder, welcomes participants; Dwayne Romero, Executive Director, Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, presents; and the keynote speakers are Brad Feld, Managing Director, Foundry Group, and Rich Wobbekind, Director of the Business Research Division and Associate Dean for MBA and Enterprise Programs at the University of Colorado at Boulder.  Click here to learn more about the Summit.

Ninety percent of Americans own a cell phone and an increasing amount use Smartphones and iPads.  On April 6, Katie Pratt, one of our employment law experts, will offer a webinar to assist employers' understanding of this tech-savvy world, regardless of whether employers provide these devices to employees or they bring their own into work. 

In this 90 minute session participants will learn about the newest features and their pros and cons; the latest updates on latest court rulings and regulations; integrating new information easily into workplace policies; preventing and responding to unlawful conduct; protecting company information and proprietary secrets; your responsibilities for employees' "off the clock" usage; monitoring and discouraging time wasters; and receive a checklist of state-by-state laws pertaining to cell phone and texting use while driving. 

Katie defends employers in federal and state courts and before numerous administrative agencies on a wide range of employment law matters. She counsels employers on compliance issues and conducts training programs for her clients. Katie has presented webinars with BLR for 2 Years.  Founded in 1977, BLR helps organizations comply with federal and state legal rules and requirements related to employment (DOL), safety (OSHA) and environmental (EPA) compliance. 

This program has been approved for 1.5 recertification credit hours toward PHR and SPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI).

Determining the problem and who is responsible when faulty sewer lines back up is not easy.  Tom Merrigan shares his knowledge pertaining to this subject in an article written by Heath Urie, "Boulder landlords: Something stinks about sewage backups," Boulder Daily Camera, March 26, 2011.  Mr. Merrigan represents local government and private sector clients in areas ranging from land use and zoning to taxation, employment, and liability claims of all kinds. His construction practice concentrates on helping both owners and contractors with mechanic's liens and construction disputes.

Maki Iatridis, Josh Marks, and Ann Rhodes helped La Plata County prevail in an environmental contamination case in which the County bought a property from the Defendant manufacturer who had left its chemical wastes in the ground at the time of sale.  After a three-week federal court trial for claims under CERCLA and RCRA, the Court found in favor of the County and ordered the Defendant manufacturer to pay 75% of the County's past and future investigation and cleanup costs. 

On Thursday, April 7, Benjamin Ross will give a talk on his book titled The Polluters: The Making of Our Chemically Altered Environment.  This book is a ground-breaking history of the chemical industry and the environment.  Today's environmental problems, this new book from Oxford University Press shows, were understood far earlier than most people realize, but the chemical industry used its economic and political power to block regulation. Research was slanted, unwelcome discoveries were suppressed, and friendly experts were placed in positions of influence, as science was subverted to serve the interests of business.

Benjamin Ross is President of the Washington consulting firm, Disposal Safety, Inc. He is both environmental scientist and commentator on current affairs, and has served on committees of the National Academy of Sciences and the USEPA Science Advisory Board.  The Washington Post says The Polluters is "remarkably timely, extensively researched and accessible." Booklist calls it "an unlikely page-turner."  Maki Iatridis is pleased to be moderating this event.

Title:	Chromium, Cancer, and the CIA: A Talk by Author Benjamin Ross
When:	Thursday, April 7, 2011, 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Where:	University of Colorado Law School, Boulder, Room 204
Speaker:	Benjamin Ross, Author of The Polluters: The Making of Our Chemically Altered Environment
Moderator:	Maki Iatridis, Berg Hill Greenleaf & Ruscitti, LLP
Sponsors:	Boulder County Bar Association Natural Resources and Environmental Law Section CU Law Public Interest Students' Association CU Law Environmental Law Society Colorado Bar Association, Environmental Law Section

Lunch will be provided and is complementary.

1 General CLE Credit has been approved and the talk is complementary. 

As mentioned in February, Maki Iatridis and Ann Rhodes are organizing a tree planting event benefiting some of the area destroyed in Boulder, Colorado's Fourmile Fire.  On Monday, March 20, 2011, Daily Camera writer, Laura Snider, highlighted the local residents who are coordinating the event in the community, in her article "Sugar Loaf comes together to help neighbors affected by fire."

As this Saturday, April 23, 2011 planting event nears, we anticipate that there will be more news to share.

Authored by Dan Gross, Partner, dmg@bhgrlaw.com

Lawyers often confront the mythology of the law, for example, a party who boldly (or perhaps hopefully) declares, "I don't have a contract.  I never signed what they sent me."  Although dependent on the facts of a particular situation, the case law in Colorado and other states says otherwise.  Consider the recent Colorado Court of Appeals case of E-21 Engineering, Inc. v. Steve Stock & Associates, ___P.3d___, 2010 WL 3035168.  E-21 sent Stock a letter of intent that it would contract with Stock for portions of construction of a seed storage facility, and directed Stock to begin assembling its submittals.  E-21 sent Stock its subcontract, which neither E-21 or Stock ever signed.  Stock went to work on the submittals and applied for its bonds, only to have E-21 rescind the letter of intent a few weeks later on the grounds that, "no executed subcontract exists between our firms,..."

Following a somewhat tortured series of events, including a demand for arbitration, protracted settlement negotiations, and a court case, the matter made its way to the Colorado Court of Appeals.  The issue there was primarily whether the unsigned E-21 subcontract, which contained an arbitration clause, was binding on the parties.  The appellate court directed the case back to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing, but the holding in the case suggests that the likely outcome will be that E-21 and Stock will be arbitrating and that signed or not, the subcontract tendered by E-21 will govern the rights and obligations of the parties.

This is a good cautionary tale for parties that contract.  Common law (judicial opinions) governs formation of contracts, and the common law in Colorado and most states is that oral agreements, and as here, an unsigned written agreement, are enforceable.  Keep in mind that this is a two way street.  Here it was E-21 that wanted to ditch its subcontractor.  It is also common for a subcontractor who has a "change of heart" to take the position that it has no contract because nothing was signed.  Depending on what has transpired between the parties, there may be a contract.  In the E-21 case, it was important that E-21 had sent the letter of intent and that Stock commenced work.  Had there only been a letter of intent with ongoing negotiations of contract terms, a better argument could be made that the parties had not formed a contract.  It is also worth noting that different types of law, for example, commercial transactions under the Uniform Commercial Code, have differing rules for what is and is not a contract.

So what is the upshot of a breach such as the one in the E-21 case?  Depending on terms of the subcontract, if E-21 were found to have wrongfully terminated the agreement, it could be potentially on the hook for Stock's costs to date and other direct losses plus its lost profit on the unperformed work.  In the opposite scenario-if Stock commences work following the notice of intent then decides it doesn't like the subcontract, and declines to go forward, Stock could be responsible for E-21's excess costs to contract with a replacement and possibly indirect expenses such as delays to the work during reprocurement. 

The bottom line?  Even without a signed agreement, you may be under contract, and refusing to perform could put you in breach. 

Please let us know if you need further information by contacting our Construction team:  George Berg, Rick Greenleaf, Giovanni Ruscitti, Dan Gross, Tom Merrigan, Melissa Heidman, Judy Snyder, Justin Berg, Mark Changaris, and Jason Pink.

On February 10, 2011, the Boulder County Bar Association held its Annual Fundraiser for the Legal Aid Foundation.  This Foundation focuses on assisting low-income persons with civil legal needs, and is offered through a clinical program of the University of Colorado School of Law.   Without reservation, BHGR is once again a proud sponsor of this event.

This picture is from the Boulder County Bar Association's March Newsletter.

BHGR attorneys obtained a favorable verdict from a Boulder County District Court jury in a fraudulent transfer case, and were awarded significant damages for our client, including punitive damages against the lone remaining defendant.  The plaintiff claimed that a commercial tenant attempted to avoid a judgment for breach of commercial lease by fraudulently transferring its assets.  Working on the case for BHGR was George Berg, Jon Banashek, Heidi Potter, Kathleen Alt, Adam Lewis, and Angela Johnson.

In celebration of Earth Day 2011, Maki Iatridis and Ann Rhodes are organizing a tree planting event benefiting some of the area destroyed in Boulder, Colorado's Fourmile Fire.  In September 2010, this blaze scorched more than 6,000 acres and destroyed 169 structures, making it the most devastating fire in Colorado history.  The tree plantings will protect the Boulder Creek watershed from sediment runoff as well as re-forest some of the burn area.  This is part of a national public service project through the American Bar Association's Section on Environment, Energy, and Resources, called the "One Million Trees Project."

The One Million Trees Project encourages lawyers to support tree plantings, either directly by organizing projects, or indirectly by making contributions to national tree organizations through the OMTP website.  Their mission is to plant one million trees by 2014 in an effort to highlight the benefits of trees for our climate and our environment, and to rebalance the volume of paper utilized within in the legal field.  If you would like to donate to the project or volunteer, please contact Maki or Ann.