Marie Williams
(720) 449-1195
Marie Williams is an appellate lawyer and legal strategist. For more than two decades, she has handled a wide variety of appeals and trial-court litigation involving some of the most complex legal issues.
Marie has particular expertise defending banks and insurance companies in class actions and other complex commercial litigation. She also has experience with insurance coverage litigation, employment and ERISA litigation, a panoply of contract and tort litigation, and appeals from administrative rulings in a variety of industries.
Before joining forces with Ruth Moore, Marie was most recently a solo practitioner focused on appeals. She also was an equity partner in the Appellate Advocacy Practice and Business Litigation Group of an AmLaw 100 firm for 9 years.
Credentials
Education
- University of Colorado School of Law, J.D., 2000, Order of the Coif, University of Colorado Law Review (Casenote & Comment Editor)
- Wake Forest University, B.S. in Mathematics, 1997, magna cum laude, Nancy Susan Reynolds Scholar
Clerkship
- Justice Allison H. Eid, Colorado Supreme Court, 2006
Bar Admissions
- Colorado
- United States Supreme Court
- United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- United States District Court for the District of Colorado
Notable Appeals
- Successfully obtained extraordinary relief from the Colorado Supreme Court in a case where the trial court excluded the client's expert testimony on the eve of trial without considering Rule 37(c)(1)'s harm and proportionality analysis.
- Successfully persuaded the Tenth Circuit to reverse the trial court's order finding an employee's non-compete agreement void for lack of consideration.
- In a matter of first impression in Colorado, successfully obtained reversal of a denial of the client's motion for attorney's fees, with the Court of Appeals holding that a prevailing party in an action to pierce the corporate veil of a corporation may recover its attorney fees and costs under certain conditions.
- Successfully defended the trial court's denial of a motion for attorney fees filed by an insured who had obtained reformation of his insurance policy issued by the client.
- Successfully defended the denial of class certification where the trial court had already adjudicated the class representative's claims.
- Successfully defended the trial court's reformation of an insurance policy and defeated bad faith claims by persuading the Tenth Circuit that the policy should only be reformed prospectively and only for pedestrians who suffered actual damages up to the original policy's aggregate limit.
- In a matter of first impression in Nebraska presented through a certified question of law, successfully persuaded the Supreme Court that an insurer may depreciate labor cost in determining the actual cash value of damaged property.
- Successfully defended a decision by the Board of Assessment Appeals for the State of Colorado to provide tax exemption to the client for its transitional housing units.
Trial-Level Experience
While an equity partner at an AmLaw 100 firm, Marie's practice focused on not only appellate advocacy, but also business litigation. Marie has experience in every aspect of trial-court litigation, including first-chairing jury and bench trials, which informs her judgment and her work as an appellate lawyer. Just a few examples of her experience include:
- First-chaired federal court trials against a major automobile insurer and, in a case that originally sought unlimited insurance benefits on behalf of a statewide class over a span of 25 years, limited the client’s liability to a single award of $40,000 in insurance benefits.
- Successfully defended national banks against claims of wrongful lending practices, a challenge to the constitutionality of Colorado’s foreclosure statute and the bank’s related processes, and unauthorized access to an account by a teller.
- Defended a major national bank against claims of breach of fiduciary duty in the context of residential mortgage-backed securities.
- Represented a utility company on affirmative claims against an insurance broker for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and fraudulent nondisclosures and misrepresentations.
- Through both binding arbitration and dispositive motions, successfully defended an employer in the food and beverage industry against claims of workplace discrimination.
Honors
Colorado Super Lawyers, Appellate, 2017-2022
AV Preeminent Rating from Martindale-Hubbell
Colorado Super Lawyers Rising Star, Appellate, 2011 & 2013-2016
Law360 Rising Star, Insurance, 2014
