Denver partner Howard Kenison has been named an Attorney of the Year by Law Week Colorado. Howard is one of seven Colorado attorneys to earn the title this year.
Law Week Colorado sought attorneys who "accomplished great things over the past year" and "stood out within the firm and in a crowd of their peers."
Following is Law Week Colorado's story about Howard's accomplishments in 2009.
Environment On A National Stage
Howard Kenison, Lindquist & Vennum
For 35 years, Howard Kenison of Lindquist & Vennum has dedicated himself to the environment, both on and off the job. In addition to winning a major environmental case in the Colorado Supreme Court in 2009, Kenison was immediate past president of the ABA’s Standing Committee on Environmental Law and was one of two ABA environmental delegates to the World Justice Forum in Vienna, Austria in November.
“He does this because it is truly his passion,” said Tiffanie Stasiak, managing partner of Lindquist & Vennum’s Denver office. “He’s not trying to get on committees to get more work or a higher profile; he is truly concerned and interested in environmental law.” With his involvement in the World Justice Forum, she said, Kenison has moved from the national inner circle in his practice area to the international inner circle.
Kenison and colleague Stuart Bennett recently won a nearly five-year legal battle over a toxic waste dump in Adams County. The state health department had issued a permit for a Massachusetts company to dump low-level radioactive waste about 60 miles east of Denver in Adams County. The county sued to stop the influx of waste. Kenison argued that the county had a clear prohibition on storing low-level radioactive waste there, and that the waste facility hadn’t received county permission to dump it, which is against state law.
State district courts and the Court of Appeals dismissed Adams County’s lawsuits on the grounds that the county, as a political subdivision of the state, can’t sue a state agency. The Colorado Supreme Court in October reversed the lower courts in a 5-2 decision.