About Us

Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell handles trials, appeals, arbitrations, and other areas related to complex civil litigation, including early case assessments, pre-trial negotiations, internal investigations, class actions and multidistrict litigation, on a local, regional, and national scale.

Our qualifications to provide these legal services effectively and efficiently include the following.

• Our clients include many international and Fortune 500 companies.
• We have significant litigation experience across multiple practice areas in a wide variety of industries.
• We have a nationally recognized ability to try high-stakes civil litigation cases throughout the country. Our lawyers are admitted to practice in 16 states and the District of Columbia, have served as lead trial counsel in all 50 states, and have tried cases to verdict in 45 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia.
• We have appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court, 11 of the 13 U.S. Courts of Appeals, 65 of the 94 U.S. District Courts, over a dozen state supreme courts, and several federal regulatory agencies.
• Our attorneys are widely recognized leaders in the development of case law in several areas of major importance to the business community, including punitive damages, federal preemption, and the use and admissibility of expert evidence.
• Our trial practice emphasizes "difficult cases in difficult places." We have successfully defended corporations in notorious "plaintiffs' jurisdictions" nationwide.
• The cases we try are often pivotal, influencing legal interpretations and shaping business decisions.
• We use the knowledge gained through our extensive trial experience to our clients' advantage when conducting internal investigations, early case assessments, pre-trial negotiations, and counseling to avoid future litigation.
• Six WTO partners are elected Fellows in the American College of Trial Lawyers. Firm Chairman Mike O'Donnell is the past-chairman of ACTL in Colorado.
• Chambers USA 2011 ranks WTO among the top 12 product liability litigation firms in the U.S., and among the top four commercial litigation firms in Colorado.
• 28% of WTO's partners are listed in Chambers USA 2011 in its general commercial, product liability, and employment listings.
• The Legal 500 U.S. 2011 ranks WTO for product liability and mass tort defense among the top 10 law firms nationally in the automotive and consumer products industries and among the top 25 law firms nationally in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry.
• 28% of partners are listed in The Legal 500 U.S. 2011.
• U.S.News/Best Lawyers ranks WTO in the national first tier for mass tort litigation/class actions defense, in the national third tier for two practice areas, and in the first tier in Denver for 11 practice areas on its 2011-2012 list of "Best Law Firms." 
• 45% of partners are listed in Best Lawyers^® 2012.
• 60% of partners are listed in Super Lawyers^® 2012. Nine of the 20 listed are among the top 100 lawyers in Colorado, including one among the top 25 women lawyers and two among the top 10 lawyers.
• 72% of partners are AV^® peer-review rated by Martindale-Hubbell.
• Pfizer acknowledged WTO with its P³ Excellence Award in recognition of exceptional performance on Pfizer matters by a law firm in 2006-2007. We are one of 19 firms in Pfizer's Legal Alliance, a consortium of law firms that handle Pfizer's litigation worldwide.
• Over 50% of WTO associates have served a state supreme court or federal judicial clerkship.
• We maintain a 1:1 partner to paralegal ratio for maximum efficiency.
• We retain in-house trial consultants at no expense to our clients and have excellent relationships with other trial consultants.
• WTO is a member of The Network of Trial Law Firms, an international network of 23 trial law firms and 7,000 lawyers. As a member, we regularly co-host or co-sponsor legal education seminars for litigators and the clients we invite as our guests, at no cost to our clients.
• The Denver Business Journal has named WTO among the top 10 best places to work in Denver in its size category for the past eight years. In 2008 and 2010, WTO was selected as the number one "Best Place to Work in Denver" in its size category, and the highest rated law firm in all size categories.
• In 2010, the Denver Business Journal awarded WTO its Partners in Philanthropy award in the medium-business category.

For more information about our capabilities, please contact Michael O'Donnell.