Fisher Phillips last week launched its national autonomous vehicles practice group, which will be led by its Denver regional managing partner, Michael Greco.
The practice group, according to the firm, is the first practice group of its kind among the nation’s leading labor and employment law firms representing employers. The practice group will focus entirely on the technology’s impact on the workplace and workforce, and the firm will work with employers on emerging workplace issues likely to arise from advancements in autonomous vehicle technology.
“Autonomous vehicles are on the brink of changing our lives in dramatic ways,” said Greco. “As companies evolve to embrace and deliver these rapidly-changing technologies, workplace legal issues will be introduced that will have profound impacts on how employers manage and interact with employees.”
LATERAL WATCH
Lathrop Gage announced Tuesday Jiangqiong (Jessica) Liu joined the firm’s Boulder office as of counsel, and Arthur Snyder IV joined the firm’s Denver office as of counsel. Liu joins the firm’s intellectual property team and will focus her patent practice in the fields of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, therapeutic methods, diagnostic methods and biotechnology. Snyder joins the firm’s energy team.
Liu handles a variety of matters, including counseling clients in the areas of U.S. and foreign patent prosecution, freedom-to-operate opinions, infringement and validity opinions and overall due diligence reviews. She previously practiced for more than six years with boutique IP law firm Swanson & Bratschun in Littleton and has focused her legal practice in IP and IP litigation.
Liu received her law degree from Brigham Young University, J. Reuben Clark Law School, and her Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. While pursuing her doctorate, Liu helped develop a new methodology for synthesizing C6-modified purine nucleosides. She received a master’s degree from Dalian University of Technology in Dalian, China, and her bachelor’s degree from Xi’an Polytechnic University in Xi’an, China.
Snyder previously practiced in the Denver office of boutique energy law firm Beatty & Wozniak, which serves clients throughout the Rocky Mountain region. There, he drafted title opinions for oil and gas interests, covering fee, state and federal lands, and for Native American trust lands in the Blackfeet Nation Indian Reservation in Montana among other matters.
Before he moved to Denver, Snyder practiced for three years in the Minneapolis office of the law firm Fredrikson & Byron where he focused on drafting title opinions for oil and gas interests in North Dakota and also drafted title opinions covering Native American trust lands located in the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in western North Dakota.
Snyder received a law degree from Hamline University School of Law (now Mitchell Hamline School of Law) in St. Paul, Minnesota. He received a bachelor’s degree from Mankato State University (now Minnesota State University, Mankato).
IN MEMORIAM
Former Davis Graham & Stubbs partner Les Woodward died on Sept. 5 at the age of 86. He is survived by his wife, Marianne, and their four children. Woodward worked with DGS since graduating from Harvard Law School in 1957.
He served as lead corporate counsel for a number of companies, from startup through the early phases of public ownership, to operation as significant-sized public companies.
He was regularly involved in counseling business enterprises on operational and securities law matters.
He also had an asset management practice and represented several investment companies and investment advisers.
Woodward served as a member of the board of education of the Denver Public Schools, a member of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education and a pioneering member of the Citizens for Quality Schools.
He also served as a director of Bethany College, where he received an honorary degree, and as a director of the Public Education Coalition of Denver.
JUDICIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Supreme Court Nominating Commission is seeking applicants for a Colorado Court of Appeals judgeship created by the retirement of Chief Judge Alan Loeb, effective Dec. 28. The commission will meet on Nov. 9, at the Ralph L. Carr Justice Center to interview applicants and select nominees for appointment by the governor.
Information and applications are available from the office of the ex-officio chair of the nominating commission, Chief Justice Nathan Coats, 2 E. 14th Ave. in Denver and the office of the district administrator of any of the 22 judicial districts. Applications are also available on the court’s home page at www.courts.state.co.us/Careers/Judge.cfm.
Applications must be filed by 4 p.m. Oct. 15. Any person wishing to suggest a candidate to fill the vacancy may do so by 4 p.m. Oct. 9.
Gov. John Hickenlooper recently appointed Dennis Lee Brandenburg as a judge on the Morgan County Court bench in the 13th Judicial District, Zachary Malkinson and Kristy Martinez as judges on the Boulder County Court in the 20th Judicial District and Ryan Kamada as a judge on the Weld County Court bench in the 19th Judicial District.
Brandenburg owns Brandenburg Law Offices, a firm he established in 2013. He represents local governments in contract, real estate and financing matters, and private clients in probate, landlord-tenant and business matters. He also serves as a municipal court judge in the Town of Otis and in the Cities of Brush, Fort Morgan and Sterling.
Brandenburg received a bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University and a law degree from the University of Colorado Law School in 1994.
Malkinson is the owner of the Law Office of Zachary Malkinson, which he established in October 2017. He primarily practices criminal defense, including defending clients in traffic, misdemeanor and felony cases. Previously, he was a partner at Malkinson Salomone, a partner at Malkinson Wheeler Law, a solo practitioner in Boulder and a public defender in the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office.
Malkinson received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa and a law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2001.
Martinez is the Director of the Korey Wise Innocence Project at the University of Colorado Law School, a position she has held since 2015. She supervises law students and volunteer attorneys who investigate and represent indigent clients in post-conviction cases involving claims of actual innocence. Previously, she practiced at The Law Firm of Kristy A. Martinez, Esq. and Martinez Law and served as a deputy district attorney in the Adams County District Attorney’s Office and as a law clerk with the Arapahoe District Court in the 18th Judicial District.
Martinez received a bachelor’s degree from University of Denver in 1995 and a law degree from DU Sturm College of Law in 1999.
Kamada currently serves as a district court magistrate in the 19th Judicial District, a position he has held since 2015.
His docket consists primarily of domestic relations, dependency and neglect, adoption, paternity and contempt matters.
Previously, he was a contract attorney with the Office of the Child’s Representative, a partner with Grant Hoffman & Kamada and an associate with Grant-Dickson. Kamada received a bachelor’s degree from the Colorado School of Mines and a law degree from DU Sturm College of Law. All of the above judges’ appointments are effective Jan. 8.
CORRECTION
Last week’s Corporate Counsel Insight article, “Companies Brace for NAFTA Aftermath,” contained a misspelling of Marcy Stras’s first name. We apologize for the error.