Garnett, Stanley L.
Trial-tested litigator with almost four decades of experience in jurisdictions across the U.S.  Formerly served as Boulder County’s elected district attorney. Provides a solutions-based approach, from arbitration to litigation. 

Drawing on decades of work on some of the most high-profile cases in Colorado and beyond, Stan provides a steady hand when clients face high-stakes litigation. He focuses on complex litigation at the state and federal level, including False Claims Act (FCA) issues. He has appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court, federal and state appellate courts and in state and federal trial courts across the country.

Stan served as district attorney for Colorado’s 20th Judicial District for nearly ten years before rejoining the firm. During his tenure, he prosecuted economic crimes, crimes in the immigrant and homeless communities and homicide cold cases. He was elected president of the Colorado District Attorneys Council in 2017 and served on the National District Attorneys Association Board of Directors.

While in private practice, Stan received a number of awards from the legal community. His previous trial experience includes representing former Congressman Mark Udall (D-CO) in Colorado's nationally watched Congressional redistricting case, Salazar v. Davidson, and John Elway in Nelson v. Elway, a frequently cited commercial case that resulted in a Colorado Supreme Court decision in 1995 in favor of Elway.

Practices & Industries

Practices

Industries

Representative Matters

  • Counsel to the American Petroleum Institute (“API”) and the Colorado Oil and Gas Association (“COGA”) as intervenors in a suit filed by Wildgrass Oil and Gas Committee (“Wildgrass”) against the State of Colorado and the Colorado Oil and Gas Committee in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado attempting to prevent Extraction Oil & Gas, Inc. from engaging in hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” in their residential neighborhood. Our team filed motions to dismiss both the original complaint and an amended complaint on multiple grounds, including that the federal court should abstain from deciding the case of utmost importance to Colorado and that the complaint failed to state valid claims for relief. The court agreed with API and COGA and dismissed the amended complaint in its entirety.

  • Counsel to Extraction Oil & Gas in a case filed in Colorado State Court, Boulder County in defense of claims asserting that Extraction’s state of the art plans for oil and gas development, based in Weld County, with horizontal drilling several thousand feet beneath the surface into reserves in Boulder County, violated Boulder County’s Conservation easements and other oil and gas lease provisions. After extensive briefing on summary judgment, the District Court issued a lengthy written order ruling in Extraction’s favor and dismissing the entirety of Boulder County’s claims.

  • Counsel to former Republican Gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton in an action against Kennedy Enterprises, a firm with which he had contracted to obtain sufficient signatures to qualify for the 2018 Gubernatorial primary. The Denver District Court found that Kennedy Enterprises breached its contract with Stapleton by failing to adequately investigate claims that one of the people gathering the signatures had done so unlawfully, and ordered the company to return $235,000 in consulting fees to Stapleton.

  • Counsel to the defendant charged with 4 counts of felony arson in connection with the largest wildfire in the history of central Colorado. Defendant had accidentally started the fire while firing a rifle at a shooting range. After prevailing on several complex motions challenging evidence and constitutional issues, the case was resolved by the client pleading to one misdemeanor count of “firing woods or prairie.”

  • Counsel to Kystella Watts in a pro bono matter, winning her complete custody of her child in Montrose County District Court in trial. Our client, a single mother, had two separate families, trying to convert temporary custody of her 7 year old son to permanent custody after she completed a prison sentence. The case was resolved after day long evidentiary hearing and extensive motions practice.

  • Counsel to a well-known physician in central Colorado in an enforcement action by the State of Colorado Board of Medical Examiners tied to her prescription of cannabis and marijuana to treat a variety of conditions. The matter was resolved without any limitation on her ability to prescribe and practice.

  • Secured early dismissal of individual defendant Chad Keck for lack of personal jurisdiction in multi-defendant complex litigation matter regarding United States rugby leagues in Boulder County District Court (Case No. 18CV30533).

News & Events
Community

Board of Directors, Bridge House

Board of Directors, Community Foundation Boulder County

Board Member and Former President, Boulder School Board

Board Member, University of Colorado Boulder, Law Alumni Board

Publications & Presentations
Education
  • J.D., 1982, University of Colorado Law School
  • B.A., 1978, with distinction, University of Colorado, Phi Beta Kappa
Admissions
  • Colorado
  • U.S. District Court, District of Colorado
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Columbia
  • U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
Recognition

Best Lawyers in America, 2021

Colorado Super Lawyers, 2006-2008, 2020

Law Week Colorado, Barrister's Best "Best Criminal Defense - White Collar," 2018

Civil Rights Award, Anti-Defamation League Mountain States Region, 2018

Alumni Award for Distinguished Achievement, University of Colorado School of Law, 2005

International Academy of Trial Lawyers Inductee, April 2004

Outstanding Alumnus Award, University of Colorado Leadership Institute, 2003

Membership

American Bar Association

Colorado Bar Association

Denver Bar Association

International Academy of Trial Lawyers

© 2021 Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP

Technology by Tenrec, Inc.

All rights Reserved | Attorney Advertisement