Richard H Krohn
William HT Frey
Nathan A Keever
Christopher G McAnany
Sam D Starritt
John Robert Pierce
Michael A Kuzminski
William S DeFord
Annie Deprey Murphy
Matthew Montgomery

Of Counsel
Laird T Milburn
Barbara R. Butler

Attorney Profile

Admitted to Bar

• 2007 U.S. District Court, District of Colorado
• 2005 Colorado

Education

• JD 2005 — University of Colorado
• BA 2001 — Brigham Young University

Areas of Practice

• Civil Law
• Civil Litigation

Current Community and Association Involvement

• Colorado Bar Association
• Mesa County Bar Association
• J. Reuben Clark Law Society
• Pro Bono Project of Mesa County, current president

Previous Community and Association Involvement

• University of Colorado Law Review, Articles Editor
• Mesa County Election Judge

Publications

• Comment, The Dilemma of Expressive Punishment, 76 U. COLO. L. REV. 843 (2005), reprinted in CYNTHIA LEE AND ANGELA HARRIS, CRIMINAL LAW: CASES AND MATERIALS (Thomson /West Publishing Company, 2d ed. 2009).

About Willie DeFord

Willie is a trial lawyer with broad experience in real estate, commercial, and natural resource litigation. Willie has enjoyed success in several jury trials, bench trials, appeals, and judicial and administrative hearings representing both plaintiffs and defendants.

Willie's trial practice focuses on commercial, real estate, and natural resource disputes. He has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in cases involving sales contracts, leases, mineral rights, water rights, business torts, adverse possession, easements, shareholder liability, implied covenants in mineral development, mechanics' liens, construction contracts, and oil and gas royalty accounting.

Representative Cases

• Secured a seven-figure settlement for a rancher who had disputes with a neighboring ranch.
• Obtained a ruling for a landowner client that an oil and gas lease burdening the clients property had expired.
• Obtained a judgment against a shareholder for a company's liabilities arising out of a commercial lease.
• Won a ruling that a reservation of mineral rights was ineffective and that clients own valuable mineral rights.

Personal

Before law school, Willie worked in the book publishing industry. Willie is an avid hiker, musician, and reader, a published poet and essayist, and a reluctant but dutiful jogger.

News / Updates / Documents