EMPLOYMENT + CRIMINAL LAW + CIVIL LITIGATION

Kathleen Alt

Chief Operating Partner | Management Comm. | Women’s Leadership Comm.

Kathleen’s experience across multiple legal disciplines, together with her tireless dedication to her clients, has garnered impressive results.

Kathleen represents businesses and individuals seeking legal help in employment, criminal, and civil matters.

EMPLOYMENT LAW

As part of her employment law practice, Kathleen has successfully advised and defended small businesses, companies, public entities, and their key personnel in a variety of contexts, including: employment discrimination; internal sexual harassment and gender discrimination investigations and litigation; administrative agency investigations; FLSA claims; ADA and Title VII claims; retaliation lawsuits and complaints; unemployment benefit matters; and contract-based employment disputes. She also regularly advises her clients on Department of Justice and OSHA investigations and whistleblower actions, and manages employment, termination, non-compete, non-disclosure, and termination severance-related negotiations and issues. 

Kathleen also guides employers through rapidly changing labor conditions, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, ensuring their compliance with OHSA, CDC, and federal, state, and local regulations in response.

CRIMINAL LAW

Kathleen is a former Deputy State Public Defender in Adams County. In both state and federal court, she represents clients in matters ranging from class one felonies to misdemeanors, post-conviction relief, and appellate review. She defends sexual assault cases, frequently getting those cases dismissed prior to preliminary hearing or negotiating a no-filing decision. Kathleen employs a “no-stone-left-unturned” approach to the factual and legal investigation of her cases, including litigating pretrial suppression issues involving unlawful search and seizures, Miranda violations, and custodial interrogations. She has conducted favorable negotiations with the District Attorney’s Office and assisted clients in getting back on track, if needed, with appropriate mitigation measures.

CIVIL LITIGATION

As a civil litigator, Kathleen has litigated complex securities and fraud cases. By way of example, she obtained a preliminary injunction for a publicly traded corporation in a theft of trade secrets and breach of non-solicitation agreement matter. She also received a verdict for over a million dollars for one of Boulder’s largest commercial real estate owners in a Colorado Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act case. In addition, she has negotiated settlements for more than a million dollars under the Colorado Securities Act and obtained a full defense verdict for a rural Sheriff’s Department in federal court in an Americans with Disabilities Act case.

Kathleen is the Chief Operating Partner at BHGR. In that role, she oversees the firm’s employee relations, retention, and recruitment, including the firm’s pledge to the Colorado Supreme Court’s Well-Being Recognition Program for Legal Employers. 

In addition to being the firm’s Chief Operating Partner, Kathleen serves on the firm’s Management and Marketing Committees and co-chairs the firm’s Criminal Defense and Employment Practice Groups. As BHGR’s first female equity partner, Kathleen takes a keen interest in mentoring and training female attorneys and is a co-founder of BHGR’s Women’s Leadership Committee.

EDUCATION

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

Kathleen earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 2001. While in law school, she received multiple awards for top academic performance and dedication to the public interest, including the following: Order of St. Ives (2001); the Earth Justice Award for Environmental Advocacy (2001); the Kenneth C. Smith Scholarship Award (1999-2000); the Most Innovative Program Award (1999); the Public Interest Law Group Clerkship Award (1999); and the Jurisprudence Civil Procedure Award (1998). She is also a member of the Order of the Coif and graduated in the top 4% of her law school class with the highest academic honors.

B.A., University of Maryland Baltimore County

Kathleen received undergraduate degrees in Information Systems Management and History from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 1988.

ADMISSIONS

Colorado (2001)

U.S. District Court, District of Colorado (2007)

Boulder County Bar Association (Criminal Law Section Co-Chair, 2007-2009)

Colorado Bar Association

Colorado Criminal Defense Bar

Kathleen is a published editor and author. She acted as the Coordinating Editor for the Colorado Lawyer’s special issue on Antitrust and Consumer Protection Law in 2014. That same year, she also authored an article on Criminal Enforcement of State and Federal Antitrust Laws in The Colorado Lawyer.

Kathleen routinely gives presentations to her clients and employer groups. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she provided training to in-house counsel on related state and federal laws and return to work policies. She has given presentations to the transportation industry on Colorado wage and hour laws and presentations to employers on sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and steps those employers can take to protect themselves in the event of such claims.

Boulder Ballet Board of Directors/Board President (2018-present)

The Catamounts, Board of Directors/Board President (2012-2017)

Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation, Board of Directors (2006-2007)

Personal Interests

Now that her daughter, Lian, is off to college, Kathleen is rediscovering her passions. She frequently finds herself watching Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Mets games with her husband, Mike, and their two rescue Chihuahuas. Kathleen also enjoys spending time with the family’s three horses, cycling, and traveling. She is a proud Marylander.

Relevant Practice Areas

EMPLOYMENT LAW

CRIMINAL LAW

CIVIL LITIGATION

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