Contact The Law Office of Jeff Vail LLC at (303) 800-8237 or jvail@vail-law.com

In my career I've established a track record of service and successful execution, both in and out of the courtroom.  As a military intelligence officer, I planned and executed over 200 successful special operations missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.  In that unforgiving environment, I learned the value of strategic planning, continuous innovation and an uncompromising focus on execution.  Now I apply those skills and experiences to serve my clients.  As an attorney, I have built a track record of success in trial, motions practice, mediation and arbitration, including:

• Prevailed in a two-week franchise dispute arbitration, obtained award to my client in excess of half a million dollars, full release from loan obligations, defeated four million dollar counterclaim.

• As lead attorney, defended a business fraud claim at trial and secured dismissal of all claims against my client mid-trial.

• Tried a $1.7 million commercial lease dispute case in Boulder District Court.  As second chair attorney, I examined multiple witnesses and cross-examined the opposing expert witness.  While client admitted liability at the outset of litigation, I secured factual findings in my client's favor resulting in ultimate judgment against client for less than 6% of trial demand and significantly less than its pre-trial settlement offer.

• Represented plaintiff in business tort case, conducted eight depositions in four states including deposition of opposing expert witness, settled claims for $2.1 million payment to my client.

• Secured dismissal of high profile medical monitoring class action brought against Fortune 100 hospital services provider.

• Argued Alcivar v. Wynne before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, 268 Fed. Appx. 749 (10th Cir. 2008).

• Defended oil major against antitrust claims in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado; with co-defendants, secured dismissal under Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly.

• As lead attorney, secured dismissal of a civil conspiracy fraud claim against client-hospital under Twombly.

• As lead attorney, secured summary judgment in my client's favor in a medical interpleader claim.

I also speak and write frequently on systems theory, complexity, and geopolitics, and I am actively involved with The Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future. My speeches and presentations include:

• 2011 presentation to Colorado Bar Association Leadership Training (COBALT) program on open-source knowledge management and the use of checklists in litigation

• the Yale Journal of International Law’s 2006 symposium entitled "The New Map: Terrorism in a Post-Cartesian World" 

• the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas 2010 conference entitled "Resilient Suburbia" 

• the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas 2009 conference entitled "The Renewables Gap" 

• the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas 2008 conference entitled "Systems Thinking and the Geopolitics of Energy" 

• the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s 2006 industry conference entitled "Infrastructure Vulnerabilities: Learning from Nigeria" 

• the Interagency Forum on Infrastructure Protection’s 2005 conference entitled "Infrastructure Targeting by Non-State Actors" 

• the FBI’s Anti-Terrorism Advisory Committee annual meeting entitled "Water Infrastructure Vulnerabilities" 

• the Mediterranean Studies Association 2005 conference in Messina, Italy entitled "Processes of Hierarchy, Subsidy, and Control in the Evolution of Empire"

I received my J.D. from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. During law school, I was active in moot court competitions. I advanced to the national finals tournament of the ABA’s Appellate Advocacy Competition, took second place in the annual Hoffman Cup trial competition, and won best orator two years in a row in the Barrister’s Cup appellate advocacy competition. I also served as editor and board member of the Denver Journal of International Law and Policy and interned for Judges Brian Boatright and Peter Weir in Colorado’s 1st Judicial District.

I received a B.S. in Engineering and History from the United States Air Force Academy in 1999 where I was the John A. Rupp award winner in interdisciplinary studies. While at the Air Force Academy, I participated in an exchange program with the German Air Force Academy and attended the American Institute for Political and Economic Systems in Prague at Charles University, Czech Republic.

Education

University of Denver Sturm College of Law, J.D.

U.S. Air Force Intelligence Officer School

U.S. Air Force Academy, B.S. in Engineering and History, minor in German

Career

Owner & Attorney, The Law Office of Jeff Vail LLC

Attorney, Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP

Intelligence Specialist (GS-13), U.S. Department of Interior

Intelligence Officer (Captain), U.S. Air Force