How Far We’ve Come

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Colorado Super Lawyers, we asked five attorneys who’ve been practicing for more than two decades to reflect on what they’ve learned, how the profession has changed, and what the next generation needs to know.

Among the variety of opinions, there’s one thing they all agree on: that practicing law was, and is, the right choice.

“People ask me all the time, ‘Have you enjoyed it? How have you survived being a trial lawyer for 40 years?’” says Bruce Montoya of Messner Reeves in Denver. “It’s been the most challenging, unbelievable experience that anyone could have. I’ve met attorneys that I have been adversarial with that are some of my best friends. It’s a profession that has so much to offer if you want to develop the passion that it takes to excel. I don’t regret a day of it.”

Recent Changes

Todd McNamara, Todd J. McNamara, P.C.; Employment & Labor; Centennial: Up until four years ago, I was a very busy and high-profile employment law litigator. I used mediators on occasion, and then I had a number of fellow practitioners, particularly on the defense side that had been opposite me for years, who said, “We really need more specialized employment mediators, and you should think about doing that.“ Now I’m no longer a litigator. I practice entirely as an employment law mediator and labor law/unemployment law arbitrator.

Mary Wells, Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons; Products Liability: Defense, Business Litigation; Denver: I have become involved in many more business litigation matters in the last 20 years than in the first half of my practice, which was really focused almost exclusively on product liability matters. The other thing that has changed is there are fewer trials. Clients are looking for certainty as opposed to deciding to see what a jury is going to do with a case.

Bruce Montoya, Messner Reeves; Business Litigation, Health Care; Denver: I began my career as a trial lawyer, defending physicians that were sued in medical malpractice cases. Over my career, I took the trial skills gained from trying those complex medical/health care cases into the area of primarily business commercial litigation, and then transitioned into representing employers and businesses in the areas of commercial litigation and employment.

Traci Van Pelt, McConnell Van Pelt; Professional Liability: Defense; Denver: Fewer cases are going to trial, so there’s a lot less trial exposure and experience. My clients are becoming more risk-averse, so the resolution of a case is happening in a completely different context than jury trials. I used to have three or four trials a year. I have one every two years now.

Zeke Williams, Williams Weese Pepple & Ferguson; Energy & Natural Resources; Denver: It’s faster-paced. I date it back to the rise of the smartphone in the early 2000s. We’re all connected all the time. In the past, there were more in-person discussions, a bit less immediacy, more travel. Now we get on a Teams call and we just hash it out right then.

“As a more mature lawyer, I’m much more centered, focused and calmer than I was as a baby lawyer.” —Traci Van Pelt

Lessons Learned

McNamara: I’m certainly more relaxed as a mediator and arbitrator than I ever was as a litigator. I was known for being very intense. I’m still intense as an arbitrator and mediator, but intense in my preparation. Over the last 20 years I’ve also come to recognize that, while every case is important, your client’s life does go on after each case.

Wells: I suspect I have mellowed, just because a lot of the issues that we have to deal with now—I’ve seen them before.

Montoya: The way I think about cases has evolved considerably. [Being inducted into] international organizations, meeting lawyers and trading notes have allowed me to develop great insight into tactical approaches that have considerably expanded my career. I’ve also been fortunate to have great clients and have had the opportunity to try many, many cases.

Van Pelt: I’m a lot more unflappable. Things just don’t stress me out that much because I’ve kind of seen it all. As a more mature lawyer, I’m a much more centered, focused and calmer professional than I was as a baby lawyer.

The Case That Stands Out

McNamara: It was an age discrimination class action against what was then Martin Marietta Corporation, now Lockheed Martin. It was my first class action and there were very few employment class actions in Colorado back then. It was resolved in 1996 for roughly $8 million, which back then was a titanic recovery. It had personal significance for me because it was me against the world, the proverbial David vs. Goliath, and it taught me I was fully capable of taking on even the most complex litigation.

Wells: The notable cases are notable because they’re complicated—having to figure out the facts, learning engineering matters, learning medical issues, learning the commercial transactions that may be involved. It’s putting together a puzzle and coming out on the other end with a valid, meritorious theory of the case that we’re going to present to a jury.

Montoya: One of my most notable trials involved an international athlete who was a member of the Olympic team for another country. The athlete had competed in an international competition here in Colorado and experienced an injury and had to undergo a very complex medical procedure by an individual I represented. From an evidentiary standpoint, we basically had a mini-United Nations system whereby sponsors from other countries appeared by video and some appeared live on the stand, and we had international translators that were translating the testimony in real time for the jury. Going in, I thought it was going to be an absolute nightmare—I had no idea how smoothly the case would be tried in federal court. We were fortunate to prevail upon the jury and obtain a verdict on behalf of our client in that case.

The other significant case I had is an outlier, and it happened before my 20-year mark. I volunteer for the American Bar Association’s postconviction Death Penalty Representation Project. Some wondered: What the hell are you doing? But I showed up at a meeting and they needed volunteers. The case involved a homicide in Texas. Our client was present at the crime scene. The person we believe actually committed the homicide was never charged, and the state of Texas pursued a case against our client. We pursued that death penalty case and, after seven or eight years of extensive work with my colleagues, we discovered significant prosecutorial misconduct. The evidence was presented to a federal district court in the 5th Circuit, resulting in the commutation of the death sentence that our client was wrongly convicted of.

Van Pelt: There were catastrophic injuries to a very, very likable and sympathetic plaintiff that were devastating to the health care defendants. We tried that case for six weeks and ended up with a defense verdict. It really opened my eyes to the often unspoken, but very deeply internalized, impact of professional liability claims on
my clients.

Williams: In 2012, I represented the National Ski Areas Association, and we sued the United States Forest Service about a proposed initiative whereby the Forest Service was going to, essentially, seize control of ski area water rights around the country. We sued them in U.S. District Court on a theory I came up with and got a nationwide injunction against the Forest Service. That resulted in a big change in how the Forest Service approaches water rights at ski areas across the United States. That was a really fun case, and it had a big impact on something much larger than me.

Change for the Better …

McNamara: Employment and labor law has become more diverse, which I think is a benefit to the practice and the profession. Even 20, 30 years ago there were a number of excellent female practitioners, but there are certainly more of them now on both the plaintiff and the defense side, and we’ve certainly seen more people of color. It would have been unusual when I first started in Colorado to have a person of color on either side of the employment law bar, and it’s become much more prevalent.

Wells: The availability of technology and how it can make us much more efficient—that’s the one specific thing about the profession that has improved in the last 20 years. It has its downside that goes along with it, because the availability of prompt information, and perhaps the impetus to respond immediately, at times can lead to judgments or decisions that perhaps could have been better thought out if things came in more slowly.

Montoya: Racial and ethnic diversity and the prominent nature of the role women are playing in our legal profession. That has been an absolute plus for our legal profession. It’s diversified our bench. It’s diversified law firms. I would estimate that 50% of the lawyers in our law firm are women, and that is quite unprecedented from when I started in this profession. It’s now more of a reflection of what our society looks like. Yes, we do have a ways to go in that area, but those of us that have worked hard to promote diversity can look back and be proud of what we’ve accomplished.

Van Pelt: The same issue has been the most positive and the most negative: the use of electronic data, which has made it a lot easier to get information and synthesize information and review information that’s electronically stored.

Williams: There’s more opportunity for different people from different backgrounds to succeed in the profession. At the beginning of my career, the clients were mostly white men, to put it very bluntly, and now there’s more diversity among the clients and among the lawyers. And that’s a good thing.

“Chase the passion, chase the expertise, and everything else will follow.” —Bruce Montoya

… And the Worse

McNamara: Twenty years ago, you knew everybody. I’m not sure all of the young practitioners recognize that building relationships with opposing counsel is beneficial to both you and your client, and that you can be adversaries but not necessarily be enemies. I counted as good friends a number of defense attorneys on the employment side who I aggressively litigated against for years. But after the resolution of a case, we could go out and have dinner or a beer and talk Dodger baseball or the Broncos. I think a little bit of that has been lost.

Wells: Some lawyers think that aggression amounts to a vigorous representation of their client as opposed to what it really is: a lack of professionalism. There is also an apparent distrust or disrespect of the judiciary. With very few exceptions, Colorado has had an exceptional judiciary, both the state and federal bench, and I think it’s really crucial that the public have confidence in the judiciary, in its impartiality, in its integrity. We’ve got to do what we can to improve that.

Montoya: We are seeing in the legal profession a reflection of what’s happened in our society. Things have become more divisive, and the lack of civility has become more prevalent. It is disappointing. It’s discouraging. My second concern is remote learning. I know that remote work is appropriate for certain specialties, but I think it’s having a detrimental effect on young trial lawyers. Trial lawyers learn through collegiality, through exposure to mentors, and that happens less frequently if you are a trial lawyer working remotely. Judges have also expressed concerns to me that the quality of young lawyers they are seeing come into their courtroom is concerning.

Van Pelt: The flip side of [electronic data] is there is always a suggestion that there’s more data out there even if there isn’t, so electronically stored information battles have become the norm. In my view, it’s a huge waste of resources, and it risks the sideshow taking over the circus in terms of what’s really the issue in your case.

Williams: We’re still dealing with the aftermath of the pandemic. Law is an apprenticeship profession. The work-from-home movement has not been good for young lawyers, who learn the most working alongside more senior lawyers who can be good leaders for them.

Advice for Newcomers

McNamara: Build relationships. Reach out to opposing counsel and say, “Look, can I talk about this case? Can I buy you a burger or a beer?” I think that humanizes the opposition and I think it helps. Enjoying the battle doesn’t mean that everything has to be a battle. There are times when you can concede a point and it doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means you’re practical and reasonable. At some point, that may come back to help you and your client.

Wells: Make sure you really like what you’re doing. If you treat your profession as simply a job, you’re going to be very unhappy and dissatisfied in the long run. Get involved early on with pro bono projects. It can be tough to find the time, but I think it adds so much to anybody’s professional life. Perfect your writing skills. If you are looking for a trial practice, consider going to work for the district attorney’s or public defender’s office for a period of time. Get good trial experience and then come back to civil practice.

Montoya: Chase the passion, chase the expertise, and everything else will follow. Don’t chase the dollars at the outset. Chase the mastery of the law. Know that at the end of the day, civility and professionalism are key to being a true professional. Practice it, learn it, and don’t emulate bad behavior.

Williams: Your most valuable asset, as a practicing lawyer, is your reputation. The currency of your reputation is your written work product. I say currency because it leaves your hands and travels around like money, and people ascribe value to it based on its worth. Always do your best work in the time that you have.

Van Pelt: Be curious. Be willing to have an open mind to the strengths and the weaknesses of your case. My best results have come from a curiosity about: Why would that be, and what will happen if I look over here? The other piece of advice—and this is going to sound really corny, but I totally believe it—is that you should feel honored to be a lawyer. The only thing you can offer your clients is your intellectual output and your ability to help them navigate a problem that they don’t have the skill set to navigate. It’s an honor to have someone value your thoughts and your intellect the way lawyers are valued. We should be grateful for it and proud of it.