[blox img="http://berchman.net/irelandstapleton/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/kduke.jpg"
height="260" nomargin="true"][column8][distance2][big_title]Kelley B.
Duke[/big_title][h4]Director[/h4][p][/p][/column8][/blox][column10][subtitle]BIOGRAPHY[/subtitle][p]Kelley Duke is an experienced trial attorney who chairs and leads the firm's
litigation practice group. Ms. Duke, a tenacious advocate for her clients, maintains a
full trial docket handling a wide range of complex commercial litigation matters. She
prosecutes and defends various size companies in a variety of industries, including real
estate development and construction, accounting, marketing and public relations,
franchises, snow sports, oil and gas, special districts, and ranch properties, on matters
that involve, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, antitrust issues, the
protection of intellectual property and trade secrets, residential and commercial real
estate litigation, development and water rights disputes, commerce clause and equal
protection claims, employment law issues and construction defect disputes. [/p][accordion title="Read More"][p]A savvy litigator, Ms. Duke knows that going to trial is not always advantageous to the client based on a variety of factors including increasing litigation costs. Therefore, when it's in the client's best interest, she actively mediates issues, working with the opposing side to resolve a dispute quickly and in the most cost effective manner for her client.[/p][p]Ms. Duke is extremely active in the community. She founded The Women's Foundation of Colorado's Denver Empowerment Council, a group of philanthropic young professional women seeking to effect change and contribute to the empowerment of Colorado's girls and women through economic self-sufficiency. She also co-chairs the organization's Power of Extended Philanthropy (P.E.P.) committee and is a member of the Development Committee. Ms. Duke sits on the endowment board for The Gathering Place, a daytime drop-in center for women, their children and transgender individuals who are experiencing homelessness.[/p][p]Ms. Duke is admitted to practice in the states of Colorado and Connecticut; in the U.S. District Courts in Colorado and Connecticut; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit; and the U.S. Federal Circuit.[/p][p][distance1][accordion title="Representative Cases"]
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Represented a real estate developer in a trial involving claims brought pursuant to the Colorado Trust Fund Statute. Obtained a successful verdict before the trial court and subsequent affirmation of the Colorado
Supreme Court. &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Represented a regional accounting firm in a trial against
a $3 million claim of professional negligence and breach of contract and obtained a
successful verdict.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Represented architects, contractors and real estate
developers in connection with professional negligence allegations including claims
involving the Colorado Construction Defect Reform Act (CDARA).
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Represented companies and their officers and directors in employment
cases associated with discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination and wrongful
discharge. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Represented partners, members and shareholders of privately
held businesses in disputes involving departure, dissolution and director and officer
liability claims. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Represented Warren Miller Entertainment in a two-week
arbitration related to publicity rights and a breach of contract achieving a successful
binding, non-appealable award.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Represented various subsidiaries of United
Technologies Corporation (UTC) in cases involving misappropriation of trade secrets and
intellectual property, employment claims and real property disputes.
&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Represented a real estate development company in a jury trial litigating
claims of breach of contract and bad faith winning a jury award of $1 million in damages.
&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Represented a fixed-based operator in a federal antitrust lawsuit
asserting claims under the Sherman Act, equal protection clause and commerce clause.
&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Represented a global provider of data management systems for land-based
and offshore rigs worldwide in a two-week jury trial defending claims of patent
infringement with equitable defenses. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Represented multiple regional real
estate companies with claims relating to professional negligence, breach of contract, and
business conflicts. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Represented partners, members and shareholders of
privately held businesses in disputes involving departure and/or
dissolution.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Represented companies and individuals against defamation
claims including libel and slander.
&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;[/accordion][accordion title="Memberships and Community Involvement"]&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Leadership Denver, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce,
&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;WorldDenver&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Board of Trustees, The Women’s Foundation
of Colorado &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Co-Chair, P.E.P., The Women's Foundation of
Colorado&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Founder, Empowerment Council, The Women's Foundation of
Colorado&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Development Committee, The Women's Foundation of Colorado
&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Endowment Board of Directors, The Gathering Place[/li-row][li-row]Rocky
Mountain Children's Law Center&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Step Up for Down Syndrome
Walk&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Denver Bar
Association&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;[/accordion][accordion title="Personal Interests]&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Philanthropy, volunteer work, college sports and
hiking.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;[/accordion][distance4][/column10][column5
class="offset-by-one"][subtitle]Contact Info[/subtitle][list-ul type="arrow"][li-row]
(303) 623.2700[/li-row][li-row]&lt;a
href="mailto:kduke@irelandstapleton.com"&gt;kduke@irelandstapleton.com&lt;/a&gt;[/li-row][li-row]&lt;a
href="#"&gt;Download Kelley B. Duke's vCard&lt;/a&gt;[/li-row][li-row]&lt;a href="#"&gt;Download Kelley
B. Duke's PDF&lt;/a&gt;[/li-row][/list-ul][subtitle]Practice Areas[/subtitle][list-ul
type="arrow"][li-row]&lt;a title="Litigation"
href="http://berchman.net/irelandstapleton/practices/litigation/"&gt;Litigation&lt;/a&gt;[/li-row][
li-row]&lt;a title="Litigation"
href="http://berchman.net/irelandstapleton/practices/litigation/"&gt;Complex Commercial
Litigation&lt;/a&gt;[/li-row][li-row]&lt;a title="Real Estate"
href="http://berchman.net/irelandstapleton/practices/real-estate/"&gt;Real
Estate&lt;/a&gt;[/li-row][li-row]&lt;a title="Business"
href="http://berchman.net/irelandstapleton/practices/business/"&gt;Business&lt;/a&gt;[/li-row][/
list-ul][subtitle]Education[/subtitle][list-ul type="arrow"][li-row]Capital University Law
School (J.D. magna cum laude, Editor-in-Chief of Law Review)[/li-row][li-row]West Virginia
University (B.S. in business administration with honors)[/li-row][/list-ul][subtitle]Admissions[/subtitle][list-ul type="arrow"][li-row]Admitted to practice in Colorado[/li-row][li-row]Admitted to practice in Connecticut[/li-row][li-row]U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit[/li-row][li-row]U.S. Federal Circuit[/li-row][/column5]