About
Professional Achievements
Gene has more than 40 years of proven success in providing counsel and guidance to law firm and business leaders. The breadth of his experience uniquely qualifies him to offer valuable insights and recommendations to key decision makers.
He has provided legal and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services to publicly traded, privately held and family-owned businesses from virtually every segment of the construction and real estate development industries. Many of his construction clients were listed in Engineering News-Record’s “Top 400 Contractors.”
Clients have routinely retained him to provide proactive and strategic counsel to their senior executives and board of directors, and to handle complex construction and commercial disputes before state and federal judges, arbitrators, government agencies and ADR forums. His experience includes U.S. litigation and arbitration proceedings arising from international construction projects and business transactions based in Great Britain, Canada, Mexico, Honduras and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Gene is a Fellow in the College of Commercial Arbitrators, an internationally recognized invitation-only association of commercial arbitrators. The American Arbitration Association has included him on its roster of approved arbitrators and mediators for the past 25 years.
In 2019, Gene was recognized by Best Lawyers®, the oldest and most respected guide to the legal profession, as Denver’s Lawyer of the Year in the field of arbitration. Best Lawyers also recognized Gene as Denver’s Lawyer of the Year in the field of construction law in 2016.
Gene’s unique legal, ADR and industry experience has allowed him to study not only the accomplishments, but also the inadvertent missteps of countless law firm and business leaders. He has learned many valuable lessons that he would like to share with the next generation of Colorado entrepreneurs to help them avoid the unfortunate consequences that many of their peers have had to overcome only at great expense.
Gene’s specialized educational background, lifelong curiosity and diverse professional experience have allowed him to gain a deep understanding of the challenges encountered at the intersection between law and business.
Practicing attorney in local, regional and Am Law 100 national law firms with ownership, management and construction practice group leadership responsibilities.
Mediator and arbitrator in more than 200 complex construction, commercial, and family-owned business disputes administered privately and by the American Arbitration Association with an amount in controversy totaling $40 million in one case.
Adviser and board member with leadership responsibilities for charitable, nonprofit, industry, and quasi-governmental foundations, organizations and associations.
Mentor to diverse business owners, leaders and young professionals who are interested in learning about rewarding careers in law, arbitration, mediation, construction and real estate development.
Instructor for undergraduate, MBA and law students in the College of Engineering & Applied Science at the University of Colorado, and in the Colleges of Business and Law at the University of Denver.
Owner’s representative during the design and construction of more than 200,000 square feet of new and repurposed office space for his law firms and nonprofit interests.
Owner’s representative for a nonprofit student housing expansion project at Iowa State University that is scheduled to achieve substantial completion in July 2024, using conventional financing, historic preservation tax credits, educational facilities grants and alumni donations for funding.
Experience
During his legal career, Gene handled complex litigation and arbitration before state and federal courts, arbitration panels, government agencies and a variety of ADR forums. His experience includes U.S. litigation and arbitration arising from international business transactions and projects located in Canada, Britain, Honduras and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Today
Gene focuses on helping businesses avoid or successfully resolve complex commercial disputes involving real estate, construction, law firm operations, insurance and related e-discovery matters. With more than 20 years of ADR experience as a third-party neutral, he has served as a neutral in more than 150 proceedings.
Recognition
Gene’s leadership extends beyond business and into the community. His distinguished credentials of city-building engagement include, most notably, his 2016 mayoral appointment to the Denver Urban Renewal Authority board of commissioners, and his role as chairperson of the internationally recognized Downtown Denver Partnership (DDP) and Denver Civic Ventures. In 2014, Gene received the Honorary Partner Award from DDP for exhibiting strong leadership and engagement for a period of more than 10 years.