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303.792.5595 (Colorado office)
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Ms. Smith focuses her practice on employment issues, representing both employers and employees, in cases involving claims of wrongful discharge, wrongful termination and infringement on civil rights. Ms. Smith also handles personal injury litigation, involving claims of bodily injury and property damage.

Additionally, Ms. Smith directs all appellate litigation for the firm, appearing before the state and federal appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court.

Ms. Smith joined Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh & Jardine, P.C., in 1997. She has achieved the highest rating from her peers for quality of legal work, professionalism, and ethics and has received a preeminent “AV” rating by Martindale-Hubbell. Law Week Colorado named Ms. Smith as Barristers’ Best Employment Lawyer in 2010 and selected her as one of the 2008 Top Women Lawyers of the Year.

Ms. Smith served as a contract Magistrate Judge for the Seventeenth Judicial District, and handled small claims matters from January of 1996 to February 2002. She is the author of “The Small Claims Handbook.”

Ms. Smith received her license in 1984. Her past experience includes employment with Hall & Evans, LLC, the Kobayashi Law Offices and Mountain States Legal Foundation. Ms. Smith also served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Karen S. Metzger, Colorado Court of Appeals.

Ms. Smith is a frequent lecturer in the Denver community on a variety of topics. She is also a contributing author to The Practitioner’s Guide to Colorado Employment Law. Ms. Smith is a past chair and current member of the Denver Bar Association’s Legal Fee Arbitration Committee and is a past member of the Colorado Bar Association’s Ethics and Attorney Regulation Committees.

Ms. Smith contributed hats to Kaps for Kendall and she supports Toys for Tots; she also contributed an afghan for the Soldier Squares Project. Ms. Smith and her sons have been adopting and providing support for Marines since 2005. Over that time, they have adopted more than 1,000 Marines, and other service personnel serving in Iraq.

Practice Areas

• Employment Litigation
• Appellate Law

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Bar Admissions

• Colorado
• U.S. Claims Court
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit, 6th Circuit, 7th Circuit, 9th Circuit, 10th Circuit
• U.S. District Court, District of Colorado
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
• U.S. Supreme Court

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Education

• J.D., 1984, The University of Denver Sturm College of Law
• B.S., 1980, summa cum laude, University of Wisconsin-Superior

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Honors / Awards

• Outstanding Honors, University of Wisconsin-Superior
• Fellow, Colorado Bar Association Foundation
• Barristers’ Best Employment Lawyer, Colorado Law Week, 2010

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Professional Affiliations

• Colorado Trial Lawyers Association
• Colorado Bar Association (Past Chair, Legal Fee Arbitration Committee, Member: Ethics Committee, Grievance Committee)
• Arapahoe County Bar Association
• Executive Board Member, Association of Wage and Hour Attorneys (AWHH)
• Denver Bar Association (Member: Legal Fee Arbitration Committee)
• Colorado Judicial Institute

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Authorship

• The Common Law Employee Versus the Independent Contractor: A Legal Primer
• Trends Regarding Housing Issues (Diane Vaksdal Smith)
  © 2001 Diane Vaksdal Smith, Esq.
• Hostile Workplace Claims: The New Battleground
  2006 Diane Vaksdal Smith
  (download pdf, file size 13KB)
• Ethics and Professionalism Issues in Employment Law Cases (Diane Vaksdal Smith)
  © 2001 Diane Vaksdal Smith, Esq. and Kathryn E. Miller, Esq.
  (download pdf, file size 860kb)
• Finality of Judgment-Issue Preclusion, Claim Preclusion, and Law of the Case (Diane Vaksdal Smith)
  © 2006 Diane Vaksdal Smith, Esq.
  This Article was originally published in The Colorado Lawyer, Vol. 35, Issue No. 7 (July 2006)
  (download WORD Document, file size 70kb)
• Small Claims Handbook-A Guide for Non Lawyers (Diane Vaksdal Smith)
  © 2001 Diane Vaksdal Smith, Esq.
  (download pdf, file size 624kb)

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Representative Cases

• Hynes v. Energy West, Inc. 211 F3d 1193 (10th Cir 2000)
• Hildalgo v. Fagen, Inc. 206 F3d 1013 (10th Cir 2000)
• Powers v. MJB Acquisition Corp., 184 F3d 1147 (10th Cir 1999)
• Slack v. Farmers Ins. Exch., 5P3d 280 (Colo. 2000)
• Titan Indem. v. Sch. Dist. No. 1., 129 P3d 1075 (Colo. App. 2005)
• Moreland v. Alpert, 124 P3d 896 (Colo. App. 2005)
• Lin v. City of Golden, 97 Ped 303 (Colo. 2004)
• Abraham v. Great Western Energy, LLC, 101 P3d 446 (Wyo. 2004)