Bankruptcy & Creditor's Rights.
The United States Constitution establishes the basis for the federal bankruptcy laws. Williams, Turner & Holmes, P.C. represents both debtors and creditors in the area of bankruptcy law.

Individuals, businesses, and other organizations may seek relief from overwhelming debt, and a fresh start, by filing bankruptcy. We represent individuals and businesses in various bankruptcy proceedings: Chapter 7 -- Liquidation; Chapter 11 -- Business Reorganization; Chapter 12 -- Adjustment of Debts of a Family Farmer with Regular Annual Income; and Chapter 13 -- Adjustment of Debts for Individuals with Regular Income.

Creditors may also seek assistance from our attorneys to make sure their rights in a bankruptcy are protected. A creditor may need assistance in filing a claim in a bankruptcy proceeding, seeking relief from the automatic stay against collection activities, setting aside a preferential transfer or fraudulent conveyance, or contesting the discharge of a given debt. We also assist creditors in matters involving leases of realty, mortgages, security interests, and valuations.

Phillip J. Jones files bankruptcy proceedings on behalf of consumers and businesses. He also represents creditors in bankruptcy proceedings.
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Business Representation.
Williams, Turner & Holmes, P.C. has earned a solid reputation as a business law firm. We provide superior legal representation to businesses of all types and sizes, from start-ups to established companies. Our attorneys serve as general counsel to construction companies, construction subcontractors, manufacturers, architects, engineers, medical groups, other professional service organizations, not-for-profit organizations, and entrepreneurial businesses of every kind.

We regularly help our business clients with the following:

Selection and Organization of Business Entity
The choice of the proper business entity involves consideration of state statutes and federal and state tax laws. Our attorneys advise clients on the advantages and disadvantages of the various entities available to Colorado businesses (corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, etc.). Once the client has selected the appropriate entity, our attorneys help organize the entity, file the appropriate documents, and formalize the relationships among the various owners with governance and buy-sell agreements.

Contracts and Transactions
We assist our clients in negotiating, drafting and enforcing a variety of contracts. Examples include contracts for use with a client's customers; contracts for the acquisition of new equipment; real estate or equipment leases; financing arrangements; and joint venture arrangements. Our attorneys have assisted numerous clients, large and small, in purchasing or selling businesses, business assets, or corporate stock.

Employment Law
Numerous federal and state laws impact the relationship between a business and its employees. Our attorneys advise clients regarding the "employment at will" doctrine, best practices for hiring and terminating employees, wrongful termination, state and federal non-discrimination laws, wage and overtime laws, protection of trade secrets, and other employment laws. We help clients draft employment contracts and deferred compensation arrangements for key employees, employee handbooks, confidentiality and non-compete agreements, severance agreements, independent contractor arrangements, and similar documents.

Employee Benefits Law
Businesses offer benefits to attract and retain quality employees. Complex federal laws such as the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code govern many benefit plans. We advise employers regarding these laws and the design, implementation and operation of retirement plans, cafeteria plans, and other benefit plans.

Tax-Exempt Organizations
Tax-exempt organizations may focus on mission more than on the bottom line, but they must still be properly organized and operated. In addition to the usual demands of a business, a tax-exempt organization must also comply with numerous rules and regulations spelled out in the federal tax code. Our lawyers form tax-exempt and non-profit corporations and organizations, help obtain tax-exempt recognition, and provide advice on operational issues.

J.D. Snodgrass has represented businesses of all types throughout his career. He has been involved with a broad range of legal issues for business clients, including litigation, drafting contracts, employment and confidentiality agreements and general legal advice regarding activities of the business.

Susan Corle has extensive experience in all aspects of business law. She also advises clients on employee benefits and executive compensation, two areas that require frequent visits to the Internal Revenue Code and regulations.

Kathleen Lyon brings the insights of her undergraduate and masters degrees in business administration to her developing practice of business representation.

William Prakken has devoted much of his career to representing his numerous business clients.

Kirsten Kurath frequently counsels employers with questions about various employment law issues and has experience in negotiating, drafting and enforcing contracts for our business clients.
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Construction Law.
Williams, Turner & Holmes, P.C. represents a number of construction and construction-related entities involved in projects ranging from highway construction to commercial and residential construction. We represent owners, design professionals (architects and engineers), general contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers to the construction industry. Our representation of a client may involve all or only a part of the construction process. We have experience advising clients in the planning and design phase, in the negotiation and drafting of construction contracts, in working through conflicts that arise during construction, and in enforcing the rights of the various participants when disputes arise.

J.D. Snodgrass, Kirsten Kurath, Phillip Jones, Jeffrey Driscoll and William D. Prakken have extensive experience in construction law.
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Estate Planning and Administration.
Williams, Turner & Holmes, P.C. has a long history of helping clients plan their estates, anticipate incapacity, and handle the affairs of a family member or loved one who has died.

Estate Planning & Wills and Trusts
Whether a client needs a basic will or a more complex estate plan to address potential estate taxes, our attorneys strive to craft a plan to meet the client's goals. A complete estate plan requires consideration of the client's assets, preparation of a will or trust, and coordination of beneficiary designations for life insurance policies and retirement plans. Other tasks may include property transfers, planning for business succession, lifetime gifts, and use of irrevocable trusts. A working knowledge of the complex tax laws governing these issues enables our lawyers to integrate income, estate and gift tax planning.

Powers of Attorney
Clients must plan for incapacity as well as death. Our attorneys emphasize the appropriate use of durable powers of attorney for both financial affairs and medical decision making.

Estate and Trust Administration
When a death occurs, family members need assistance with the administration of the estate or trust. At this difficult time, our attorneys assist family members with the probate process or administration of a trust, the collection and valuation of assets, notice to creditors and handling of claims, proper distribution of assets, and other tasks required of the personal representative or trustee. When necessary to protect a client's interests, the firm draws on its litigation expertise to resolve disputes by negotiated settlement or trial.

Susan M. Corle and Kathleen Lyon focus on estate planning and administration
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Litigation.
From initial investigation to discovery and negotiation, and through settlement or trial, our trial lawyers stand ready to help our clients when litigation becomes necessary. Our attorneys regularly appear before state and federal trial and appellate courts and administrative tribunals as well as arbitration panels and other alternative dispute resolution forums.

Commercial Litigation
Our trial attorneys have extensive experience with commercial litigation -- litigation involving business relationships, commercial contracts, loans, leases, real estate, and other business-related matters. Williams, Turner & Holmes, P.C. has long represented banks and financial institutions in collection, foreclosure, and loan work-out matters.

Insurance Defense
Our insurance defense counsel have extensive experience working throughout all of Western Colorado on behalf of a wide variety of private insurance companies as well as public entities including counties, cities and special districts. This experience includes all aspects of governmental immunity, commercial large loss, construction defect, personal injury and first party claims.

Water Rights
Priorities to water rights in Colorado are adjudicated through specialized courts known as water courts. Often times water rights applications filed in the water courts can be resolved through negotiations before the water referee. However, in some cases water rights issues cannot be settled through negotiation, and the resolution of such issues will involve a trial before the water judge. Our water rights attorneys handle trials for clients on water rights matters in the water courts.

J. D. Snodgrass, William Prakken, Kirsten Kurath, Phillip Jones and Jeffrey Driscoll provide general litigation and dispute resolution services. Mark Hermundstad and Kirsten Kurath provide litigation services on water rights matters.
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Mediation and Arbitration Services.
Historically, most legal disputes were resolved through lawsuits filed with the courts. In the last decade or two, our courts have been overrun with cases. Mediation and arbitration have developed as alternative methods of resolving disputes.

Mediation is a process which involves the use of a neutral third party to help parties to a dispute reach an agreement to settle the dispute. The mediator will facilitate communication between the parties and help them reach solutions, and may suggest options for resolution. We may suggest that a client participate in mediation as a method of resolving a dispute. In other cases, where a lawsuit is pending with a court, the court frequently requires the parties to engage in mediation.

Arbitration also involves the use of a neutral third party to settle a dispute. However, in an arbitration, the parties will present their respective sides of the dispute to the arbitrator, and he will act as a kind of private judge to determine how the dispute should be resolved. The arbitrator's decision will be binding on the parties. Parties typically engage in arbitration because they have entered into an agreement that requires the use of binding arbitration to resolve disputes.

When a firm client engages in mediation or arbitration, the attorney for the client will represent the client in the mediation session or arbitration proceedings, just as the attorney would represent the client in a court proceeding.

Two of our attorneys, J.D. Snodgrass and William Prakken, are also available to serve as mediators or arbitrators, although not in cases involving clients of Williams, Turner & Holmes, P.C. They draw on many years of experience litigating and settling cases to provide mediation and arbitration services.
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Natural Resources Law.
Western Colorado enjoys a wealth of natural resources: water, oil, gas, and other minerals, gravel resources, public lands, and pristine wilderness. Complex laws govern the exploration for and appropriation, development, use, sale and transportation of these resources. Williams, Turner & Holmes, P.C. has a long history of representing clients in the natural resources arena.

Environmental Law and Public Lands Law
Environmental concerns have become prominent in recent years, and we regularly assist and advise clients on environmental matters. We advise buyers, sellers and lenders regarding environmental liabilities in real estate transactions. We have also represented clients on various other matters such as air and water quality, property cleanup issues, and leaking storage tanks.

Federal public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service and other federal agencies comprise large areas of land in Colorado and Utah. The firm advises clients on an array of issues involving these lands, ranging from disputes over access to the permitting of projects requiring the approval of the federal land management agencies. The firm also routinely prepares drilling and division title order opinions for oil and gas leases covering BLM and Forest Service lands.

Attorneys advising clients on environmental law and public lands law are Mark Hermundstad, James Colosky, and Kirsten Kurath.
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Water Law
Williams, Turner & Holmes, P.C. has always had an extensive and active water law practice. The firm’s clients include various water and irrigation districts and organizations, local governments, energy companies, farmers, ranchers and individual landowners. Our attorneys are experienced in all areas of water law and we regularly assist clients with a variety of water rights and water related issues, including:

• Appropriating and adjudicating new water rights;
• Developing augmentation plans and other water supply plans to provide firm water supplies for beneficial uses;
• Changing existing water rights to meet new and different water needs;
• Protecting, maintaining and developing existing water rights;
• Addressing impacts to water rights and irrigation systems resulting from changing land uses;
• Buying and selling water rights;
• Easements for ditches, pipelines, reservoirs and other water diversion and transmission facilities;
• Protecting the quality of water needed to supply water rights;
• Forming lateral ditch companies and other irrigation entities; and
• Protecting Western Colorado water supplies for use in Western Colorado.
  

Williams, Turner & Holmes, P.C. has a long history of involvement in major West Slope water projects. This involvement includes:

• One of the predecessor attorneys in the firm, Silmon Smith, helped negotiate and draft Senate Document 80, which formed the basis for the creation and development of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project and Green Mountain Reservoir. In addition, since the 1950's, attorneys in the firm have been continuously involved in the ongoing Blue River litigation in the United States District Court, which litigation determined the relative rights of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, Green Mountain Reservoir, and transmountain diversion projects operated by the City and County of Denver and other East Slope municipalities.
• Anthony W. Williams, one of the founders of Williams, Turner & Holmes, P.C., served as the chief negotiator in resolving differences with East Slope entities. This resolution paved the way for the construction of Wolford Mountain Reservoir, a major source of water for various water users on the West Slope.
• The firm handled the litigation that resulted in the award of a refill right for Taylor Park Reservoir, thereby protecting irrigation uses and environmental concerns on the Taylor and Gunnison Rivers.
• For many years the firm has represented the owners and operators of various major water projects in Western Colorado, including the operator of the Grand Valley Project, a federal reclamation project in the Grand Valley, and the water conservancy district that is the largest domestic water supplier on the Western Slope.
• Williams, Turner & Holmes, P.C. has a long history of representing various energy companies in the acquisition, appropriation, adjudication, and development of water rights that are used in the development of mineral resources such as oil, gas and oil shale.
• The firm was actively involved in the development of the Programmatic Biological Opinion for the recovery of endangered fish in the Colorado River drainage, which allowed for the continued development of Colorado River water resources for beneficial uses while at the same time protecting endangered fish in the River.
  

Mark Hermundstad and Kirsten Kurath advise clients with respect to water law and related matters.

Oil and Gas Law
Our oil and gas attorneys handle oil and gas exploration and production matters, including the preparation of drilling and division order title opinions covering fee, federal, public and Indian lands. The firm also represents clients in the acquisition and sale of oil and gas properties and in the preparation of contractual arrangements relating to exploration and production matters.

Our oil and gas attorneys also handle litigation involving disputes between companies, individual landowners, and collections including lien foreclosure actions.

James M. Colosky heads up the oil and gas work. Douglas V. Jones and Henry Dusenburry assist him. Jeffrey Driscoll draws on his litigation and landman background to represent clients in various forms of disputes relating to mineral title and oil and gas leases.
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Real Estate.
Williams, Turner, & Holmes, P.C.'s lawyers provide a variety of real estate services for the firm's clients in Western Colorado and Eastern Utah.

Residential Real Estate
The purchase or sale of a home is a matter of critical importance for most people. Our attorneys assist clients in preparing and reviewing contracts, resolving title issues, structuring financing and closing the sale of residential real estate, for both buyers and sellers.

Commercial Real Estate
Many issues can arise in connection with the purchase, sale and development of commercial real estate. Our lawyers advise clients on matters such as zoning and subdivision issues, the formation of partnerships, limited liability companies and other business entities to hold and develop commercial real estate, the structuring of land acquisition and financing, exchanges, and environmental planning and compliance.

Leases
Leasing transactions are common for both residential and commercial real estate. Our attorneys assist clients in preparing leases, reviewing leases, and enforcing the rights of parties to leases of all types of real estate.

Easements
Easements are interests in real estate that allow one person to use the land of another for certain purposes. Common examples include easements for roads, irrigation ditches, and utilities. Our lawyers negotiate and prepare easement agreements for the firm's clients. The firm's attorneys also assist clients in enforcing existing easement rights and resolving other issues that arise with respect to the establishment or use of easement rights.

Other Matters
Many other issues can arise that impact real estate. Boundary discrepancies and conflicts, adverse possession claims and trespass issues all can affect the use of and title to real property. Adverse claims to property may need to be resolved by a quiet title action. Liens, deeds of trust, or mortgages may be necessary to protect interests or secure financing, and these interests may need to be foreclosed in order to enforce them. Williams, Turner & Holmes, P.C. attorneys assist clients in these and many other matters affecting real property.

J. D. Snodgrass, James Colosky, Mark Hermundstad, Susan Corle, and Kathleen Lyon all advise and assist clients with real estate matters.
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