Jay Spader

Ryan Lessmann is the office managing principal of the Denver, Colorado, and Salt Lake City, Utah offices and is a client solutions leader of Jackson Lewis P.C. He practices primarily in the area of employment litigation, including representing employers against claims alleging discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination, matters involving trade secret protection, restrictive covenants and unfair competition, and various contract issues. Ryan also counsels and defends employers in wa...

Ms. Emily Ahnell joined Brown Gren Abraham and McCracken in 2025. Ms. Ahnell practices civil litigation, including insurance defense, workers’ compensation and subrogation. Ms. Ahnell has defended employers and insurance carriers before administrative agencies for many years. Ms. Ahnell also represents employers and insurance carriers in civil litigation matters in Federal and State Courts. Ms. Ahnell represents client interests in all phases of litigation, including hearings, trials an...

James G. Heckbert focuses his practice on claims involving personal injury and wrongful death, ski injuries, auto and truck collisions, construction site negligence, medical malpractice, gas explosions, and defective products. In a distinguished career spanning four decades, Mr. Heckbert has secured eight jury verdicts in excess of $1 million. He has obtained numerous other settlements and judgments for amounts also exceeding $1 million. Mr. Heckbert is a member of the Multi-Million Dollar Ad...

Diane Carlton is Special Counsel at Griffiths Law. She has over 40 years of experience dedicated to helping clients and their families move through the difficult process of divorce. She is a skilled trial lawyer as a result of her previous experience as a Colorado deputy public defender, municipal judge and her extensive trial experience in divorce cases. Diane is compassionate and works closely with clients to reach a constructive and productive resolution of their case. Diane focuses on ach...

C. Ben Huber is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Corporate Law. C. Ben, who practices law in Denver, Colorado, has been recognized since 2020. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which C. Ben is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.

Seeing is believing. Most serious personal injury claims never make it to the courthouse. Instead, they are settled before trial either through direct negotiations with the other side or at a mediation or settlement conference. I have spent the last few decades of my career doing everything I can to facilitate out-of-court settlements. While most lawyers will present their clients’ stories to opposing counsel through a written demand letter, we know that video footage is simply more pow...

Ms. Lavery earned a B.A. with Honors, with majors in Political Science and International Studies from the University of Denver in 1992; thereafter, earning her law degree from DU in 1995. After law school, she did not pursue work in the legal field, instead working in management, sales, and consulting positions in both large corporate settings and small local businesses. She returned to the legal profession in 2010, working as a paralegal in the areas of family law and juvenile law before joi...

Joe Smith is a licensed attorney in Colorado and Florida and a Colorado licensed architect with over twenty-five years of architecture, construction law, construction defect litigation, and related insurance coverage and bankruptcy experience. Throughout his legal career, Joe has exclusively represented homeowners, homeowner associations, and building owners. From 2011 to 2014 Joe worked as a forensic architect at a Colorado consulting firm where he provided forensic services to private and p...

Emily Hippen focuses her practice on the acquisition, disposition, development and financing of commercial real estate projects located throughout the United States and the Caribbean. Emily successfully guides transactions from the land acquisition stage to ultimate disposition by combining her transactional expertise with her strong relationships with colleagues in other practice areas and attorneys in local markets. Emily understands that her clients’ successes may revolve around tigh...

Robert C. Kaufman focuses his practice primarily on domestic relations matters involving large estates and complex valuation issues.