Dan Reilly

Partner

Dan Reilly is a civil trial lawyer with 27 years of civil courtroom and jury trial experience. He is a founding member of the Denver trial firm Reilly Pozner LLP. Throughout his career, Dan has handled a broad spectrum of civil litigation, successfully serving as lead counsel in class actions (both plaintiffs and defense), and matters involving intellectual property, complex commercial, consumer fraud, oil and gas, insurance practices, personal injury, defamation, and professional liability matters for individuals and major corporations.

Currently, Dan is serving as lead plaintiff’s counsel for Aurora Loan Services, a Lehman Brothers subsidiary in cases brought throughout the country involving seeking damages on the purchase of mortgage loans.  Dan is also currently lead trial counsel for Cimarex Energy Co. in an oil and gas class action dispute filed in state court in Oklahoma.  Dan serves as lead trial counsel defending Medved Auto Dealerships in a claimed class action filed in Colorado.  He also represents the Bank of New York in a professional liability claim brought by the bank against its former law firm.  Dan is defending TransFinancial Corporation, an insurance brokerage firm in tort and contract claims brought by Xcel Energy.

In the past, Dan represented the ownership of the Denver Broncos in actions brought by a former owner claiming ownership of the team.  Dan served as lead counsel defending AIG Life in a multi-million dollar copyright infringement case filed in a Texas federal court which was successfully resolved prior to trial. Dan headed the trial team which twice successfully defeated class certification on behalf of the Old Line Life Insurance Company in a consumer/uniform business practices case filed in state court in California. The matter recently settled prior to trial. Dan was also lead defense counsel representing a national life insurance company in a purported national class action brought in state court in New Mexico. In the fall of 2002, Dan headed a plaintiff’s jury trial team which obtained a multi-million dollar trademark infringement judgment in Colorado federal court against H.J. Heinz. Dan has represented as lead counsel the Utah family which formerly owned the Salt Lake Tribune in a dispute with the current owners over the ownership of the newspaper. Dan has represented Liberty Digital, a subsidiary of Liberty Media in a Colorado state court breach of contract dispute involving the cable music systems against a national cable company, Comcast Corporation. Dan also currently represents Trane U.S. Inc. in the re-trial after appeal of a Colorado federal court action brought by a former franchisee of the company.

Over his career, Dan has been retained to represent individuals and corporations throughout the West and the Midwest. He is or has been lead counsel in cases filed in Colorado, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Minnesota, Iowa, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, and North Dakota, and California. In those multi-state matters, he and the firm have associated with multiple local law firms to develop a coordinated strategic approach to trial issues. He was lead plaintiffs’ counsel in multi-state consumer fraud class actions brought against USWest which, after four years of litigating, received multi-state court approval establishing settlement funds totaling $120 million.

Before forming Reilly Pozner, Dan was a partner for five years with McKenna & Cuneo, L.L.P., a 275-attorney international firm, where he headed the Denver office’s litigation practice and the firm’s national litigation training program. For over five years he was lead plaintiffs’ counsel in a multi-state fraud litigation brought on behalf of seven state insurance guaranty associations and more than 200 individuals against a regional stock brokerage firm. The case involved four jury trials in three states (one three-week trial, two six-week trials and one three-month trial) in which Dan served as lead trial counsel. After multi-million dollar jury verdicts, this litigation resulted in a global settlement of over $30 million dollars to the plaintiffs.

Before joining McKenna & Cuneo, Dan was a named partner in the Denver, Colorado civil litigation firm of McDermott, Hansen & Reilly, where over a 14-year period he successfully represented clients in a variety of tort actions obtaining six-figure jury verdicts in defamation, legal malpractice, medical malpractice, outrageous conduct and negligence cases. In 1987, Dan was lead counsel in, and ultimately successfully resolved, the first multi-plaintiff products liability suit involving the defective design of computer keyboards. He also has served as an arbitrator in approximately 25 civil matters.

In 2000, Dan was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Trial Advocates. He has received Martindale-Hubbell® Law Directory’s highest rating (AV), has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America annually since 1995, was selected by America’s Registry of Outstanding Professionals, is listed in Chambers USA America’s Leading Business Lawyers, and Who’s Who in American Law, as well as receiving the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association award for Best Amicus Brief.

Dan is a frequently invited faculty member for, and lectures on civil jury trial issues. He has lectured and taught on trial expert witnesses, demonstrative evidence, trial tactics and advocacy skills at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, the Colorado Bar Association’s Annual Litigation Symposium, the Denver Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education programs, the University of Colorado School of Law, and at seminars for the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association. For the past several years, he has been invited as a guest evidence lecturer at the annual Colorado Judicial Conference (a conference attended by all Colorado state judges). These lectures addressed novel evidentiary issues raised by the use of high technology in the courtroom, the standards applicable in determining the admissibility of scientific and other expert opinions and spoliation of evidence.

Dan’s representative clients currently include Trane U.S. Inc., Aurora Loan Services, Cimarex Energy Co., Medved Auto Dealerships, Bank of New York, and TransFinancial Corporation, American General Financial Group, The Old Line Life Insurance Company, and a number of individuals in class actions or contingency matters.

 

Education

  • J.D., University of Denver College Of Law, 1981
  • Recipient, Moot Court Barrister’s Cup for Distinguished Achievement in Oral Advocacy
  • B.A., magna cum laude, Michigan State University, 1975

Bar and Court Admissions

  • Colorado
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
  • Pro Hac Vice Admissions
  • Northern District of Iowa
  • Northern District of Florida
  • State Courts in New Mexico, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Minnesota, Iowa, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, and California

Other Professional Affiliations

  • American College of Trial Lawyers
  • American Board of Trial Advocates
  • American Bar Association (Tort and Insurance Practice Section)
  • Colorado Trial Lawyers Association
  • Colorado Bar Association
  • Denver Bar Association
  • William E. Doyle American Inns of Court (Founding Member and Past President)

Lectures

  • “Opening Statement and Demonstrative Evidence,” Colorado Bar Association’s Litigation Boot Camp II, 2008
  • “Five Ethical Land Mines You Really Want to Avoid in E-Discovery,” AIG American General Life Insurance Company 2007 Law Conference – Houston
  • “Issues of Admissibility Raised by Electronically Stored Information, ” 2007 Colorado Judicial Conference
  • “Using Your Opponent’s Witness to Build Your Theory of the Case,” NOLHGA Annual Legal Seminar, 2007
  • “Changing Horses: The Efficient Transition to New/Additional Counsel During Litigation and The Corporation in Litigation: Developing the Allure of David Using the Strength of Goliath,” Clifton Gunderson’s General Counsel Forum, 2007
  • “Management of Complex Cases,” 2005 Colorado Judicial Conference: Complex Litigation
  • “Class Action Fairness Act,” National Business Institute, A Critical Update on the Class Action Fairness Act in Colorado, 2005
  • “Changing Horses: The Efficient Transition to New/Additional Counsel During Litigation” and “The Corporation in Litigation: Developing the Allure of David Using the Strength of Goliath,” Colorado Bar Association CLE, Business Law Institute, 2005
  • “Building a Theory of the Case,” Colorado Bar Association CLE’s Annual Employment Law Conference, 2004
  • “Every Thing You Always Wanted to Know About Deposing Experts,” Colorado Bar Association CLE’s 4th Annual Litigation Institute, 2004
  • “The Latest Strategies and Development in Class Certifications,” Colorado Bar Association CLE’s Federal Practice Update, 2003
  • “New Federal Class Action Legislation,” Colorado Bar Association CLE’s Fall Torts Update, 2003
  • Chair, Commercial Litigation Lectures, Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, 1999
  • “Litigating the Intellectual Property Case to a Jury,” Sterling Education Services, Intellectual Property Issues, 2003
  • “Goofball Mistakes We’ve Made with Demonstrative Evidence,” Colorado Bar Association CLE’s Litigation Institute, 2003
  • “Cross Examination – Maintaining Control of the Witness” CTLA Annual Convention, 2003
  • "Evidence Oops: Inadvertent Production and Spoliation," Colorado Bar Association CLE’s Litigation Institute, 2002
  • "Spoliation, Inadvertent Disclosure and Recent Evidentiary Opinions," 2002 Colorado Judicial Conference
  • "Evidentiary Problems in Litigation," 2001 Colorado Judicial Conference
  • "Twenty Things to Do Before Taking an Expert’s Deposition," Colorado Bar Association CLE’s Litigation Institute, 2001
  • "The Corporation in Litigation: Developing the Appeal of David Using the Strength of Goliath," PriceWaterhouseCoopers, General Counsel Forum, 2001
  • "Evidence in the High Tech World: Applying the Old Rules to the New Issues," 2000 Colorado Judicial Conference
  • "Cross-Examination of Expert Witnesses," National CLE Conference, 2000
  • "10 Fatal Flaws of Expert Witnesses," 1999 Litigation Support and Valuation Conference, Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants
  • "The New Rules: Not Everyone is an Expert; Not Everything is Expertise," Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, 1999
  • "From Velcro to Laser Disk: Demonstrative Evidence in a Commercial Jury Trial," presented to the Colorado Attorney Regulation Council, 1999
  • "Recovering Large Sums Through Litigation: A Case Study," presented to the National Organization of Life and Health Guaranty Associations, 1999
  • "Trial Practice Basics: The Basic Commercial Trial Case," Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, 1999
  • Chair, Commercial Litigation Lectures, Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, 1999
  • Colorado Bar Association; "Federal Traps for the Unwary," 1999
  • "Trial Strategies and Tactics That Work," Continuing Legal Education Institute, 1997
  • "Winning the Battle of the Experts," Professional Education Services Institute, 1996
  • Guest Lecturer: Trial Advocacy Program, University of Colorado School of Law, 1994
  • "Advanced Techniques in the Examination of Expert Witnesses," Rocky Mountain Expert Testimony Program, National Institute for Trial Advocacy, 1993
  • Selected CLE Lectures, "Lawyers and Professionalism," University of Colorado School of Law, Lectures in Professionalism, 1992