Kutak Rock Grows in Denver

by Matt Masich, Law Week Colorado
October 3, 2011

Kutak Rock on Monday welcomed four lateral hires from Lindquist & Vennum.

The group includes litigator Tiffanie Stasiak, who had been partner-in-charge at Lindquist’s Denver office. Real estate and construction litigator Michael Monifazi, transactional lawyer Matt McElhiney and employment litigator Brett Wendt also made the move.

The addition give Omaha-based Kutak Rock the second-largest office of a national law firm in the state with 75 lawyers; only Minneapolis-based Faegre & Benson, with 86 lawyers in Colorado, has a bigger presence here.
Kutak Rock lays claim to being the first national firm to
establish a Denver office, opening here in 1977.

“White other have been decreasing in size, we’re looking to continue to strategically grow our office ein areas that complement what the firm does nationwide, particularly in the litigation and corporate areas,” said Bob Irvin, managing partner of Kutak Rock’s Denver office.

The firm’s national presence and bench strength in construction and corporate law was a big draw for the lateral hires. Kutak Rock has 400 lawyers in 16 offices. Lindquist has 200 lawyers, most of them in Minneapolis and about 20 in Denver.

“The longer we practiced and the more global our clients became the more necessary and really critical I think it was to have a national firm and have that type of platform,” Stasiak said. Kutak Rock’s offices around the country will allow her to better service her existing clients in Arizona and other states, she said. “It will be much more full-service for our clients,” she said. “I will be able to collaborate with members of the construction group from other offices where I either have clients or where my clients want to be.”

Lindquist and Kutak Rock have similar billing rates and “Midwestern attitudes,” which should make the transition easier, she said. Legal recruiter Marcus Ollig of The Advocates facilitated the lateral move.

Tight Group

This is the second move that Stasiak has made with Bonifazi and McElhiney. They’ve practiced together for around 12 years, first at Burg Simpson and then at Lindquist, where they moved at the start of 20-07. Wendt joined the group three years later.

“We actually met him on a case when he was with White & Steel,” Stasiak said. “We needed boots-on-the-ground employment work in Colorado for our clients, so we recruited him. He’s been a really nice addition to our group.”

They each have their own client base and particular focus, but their clients frequently overlap.

“My clients use Brett for their employment needs, and we use Matt on the transactional side, and his clients use us on the litigation side,” Stasiak said.

“Hopefully, regardless of what happens with us, we will always be together — it’s kind of the rule.”

Kutak Rock is pleased to add their divers experience to the firm, Irvin said. “Their expertise in construction litigation, employment law and corporate matters, together with their visibility in the community will greatly enhance our current capabilities to service clients in these areas, both locally and nationally,” he said.

Back to Practicing

As head of the Lindquist’s Denver office and a member of the firm’s executive committee, administrative duties consumed about one-third of Stasiak’s work week. It was a privilege” to be entrusted with such responsibility at her old firm, but at Kutak Rock she is happy to leave the management of the firm to Irvin and chair of litigation John Bernstein.

“I just think my highest and best use right now is to be a counselor to my clients,” she said. She doesn’t rule out a managing role in the future, but said that at this point in her career she prefers focusing on the practice of law, which she sees as her true calling. She learned a lot in her time as partner-in-charge. Working closely with Lindquist managing partner Dennis O’Malley “taught me that it was important to pull up to 30,000 feet and look at the big issues,” Stasiak said. “Don’t fight the small stuff and give the people who are really out in front the support they need in tackling those big issues.