Lori Potter
Treasurer
Denver, CO
- Partner, Kaplan Kirsch Rockwell
- 1675 Broadway, Suite 2300
- Denver, Colorado 80202
- Ph: (303) 825-7000 Fx: (303) 825-7005
- lpotter@kaplankirsch.com
Ms. Potter has more than 20 years of experience in the areas of environmental, public lands, land use, and water law. She has extensive experience with §404 permitting, endangered species, NEPA, FLPMA and transportation law issues and local land use regulation. Her practice involves both litigation and counseling. She has practiced in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies across the country. Her practice also includes advice and litigation in the areas of access to information under open records and open meetings laws, administrative law and the public involvement process. Her clients include governmental and quasi-governmental entities, businesses, ranches, citizens' organizations and individuals.
Prior to entering private practice, Ms. Potter served as Regional Director of the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund's Rocky Mountain Office, handling and supervising high-profile environmental litigation throughout the western states. She was a Fulbright Professor of environmental law in India in 1993 and has taught at the University of Denver College of Law.
Ms. Potter's recent practice has involved representation of local governments adopting 1041 regulations; negotiation of a complex settlement agreement with the U.S. Forest Service on behalf of environmental organizations, allowing forest thinning in sensitive areas and setting aside other land for designation as protected wilderness; and enforcement of one of Colorado's largest conservation easements on behalf of the donor, a working ranch.
- Publications:
- "Legal Underpinnings of the Right to Float Through Private Property in Colorado," University of Denver Water Law Review (Spring 2002) (co-authored with Steven Marlin and Kathy Kanda)
- "Build It and They Will Come for Gravel," 31 Colorado Lawyer 67 (March 2002) (co-authored with Star L. Waring)
- "Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation and Petition Clause Immunity," Environmental Law Reporter (July 2001)
- Seminars:
- Bypass Flows, panel moderator, Colorado Bar Association CLE (November 2004)
- R.S. 2477 Access Issues, panel moderator, Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute (March 2004)
- Public Participation and First Amendment Petition Clause Defense, panel chair, University of Oregon Law School Environmental Law Conference, Eugene, Oregon (March 2003)
- Education and Clerkships
- B.A., summa cum laude, University of Illinois, 1973
- M.A., with honors, University of Illinois, 1975
- J.D., Harvard Law School, 1980
- Judicial Law Clerk, Justice Jean Dubofsky, Colorado Supreme Court
- Bar Admissions
- Colorado
- Texas
- Many federal district courts, Courts of Appeal, and U.S. Supreme Court
- Professional and Civic Activities
- Best Lawyers in America, all editions (2001 - Present) (environmental law)
- Co-Founder and Board Member, Faculty of Federal Advocates (1996 - 1998)
- Chair, Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Group, U.S. District Court for District of Colorado (1994 - 1997)
- Adjunct Professor, University of Denver College of Law
- Board of Directors, Public Counsel (2003 - Present)
- Neighborhood Advisory Committee to the Denver Botanic Gardens (1996 - Present)