Legal Services & Lawyers

Jim Underhill has been practicing law for over 29 years, with particular focus on business advice, real estate issues and investment, and commercial transactions.

Coining the Term "Business Divorce" ® to describe a very specialized and important type of legal issue and legal dispute.

While a civil litigator many years ago, Jim noticed that many disputes between the owners and operators of closely held and family businesses resulted in the collapse of the underlying business due to the acrimony involved. He developed the expertise and coined the term Business Divorce to describe the specialized legal services he offers to address these issues. The last ten years have been spent refining his skills and techniques in providing services to clients undergoing dissolution of their businesses.

Jim also provides mediation services in cases involving dissolution of a business when counsel may already be present or litigation is underway. He provides a neutral viewpoint based not only on the law but also on extensive experience with business disputes to help save the business while resolving disputes.

Real Estate Disputes

Jim is especially knowledgeable in the analysis and protection of unusual real estate interests for developers, land owners, and also regarding specialized properties such as patented mining claims and U.S. Forest in-holdings. He has also handled numerous adverse possession and commercial real estate cases, including the foreclosure of two different Colorado ski resorts and other commercial and residential properties.

A Brief History of Jim

After passing the bar in 1979, Jim served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps. As trial counsel and government appellate counsel, he prosecuted at trial and on appeal more than 600 courts-martial. He then went on to become a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, serving in the criminal section of the Tax Division, where he prosecuted numerous cases involving violations of the tax laws in the federal courts. During his tenure in Washington, D.C., Jim obtained the longest sentences adjudged to date against tax protestor (militia) defendants.

He left in 1986 to escape to the mountains and practice civil litigation and business law in the Denver Metro area. He worked with a number of private law firms until opening his own practice in 1993. Since 1994, Jim has practiced law with his wife and law partner, Joanne.

Mr. Cohen grew up in Denver. He earned his BA in economics at Whitman College 1980, then returned to Colorado and received his law degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1983. From 1983 to 1987 Mr. Cohen served as a Judge Advocate in the U.S. Air Force. He also served two years as a Special Asst. U.S. Attorney in Nebraska. In 1986, he won the American Bar Association's Outstanding Young Military Service Lawyer award.

From 1987-1995 Mr. Cohen practiced law in Nebraska, where he represented an agricultural lender in collection and bankruptcy matters throughout the state. He also successfully represented defendants in several high profile criminal cases. In twenty-six years as a trial lawyer Mr. Cohen has conducted more than 100 jury trials. He has served as an on-demand military law expert for MSNBC.

Mr. Cohen and his family returned to the Denver area in 1995. He served as a Prosecuting Attorney for the Denver suburb of Westminster for seven years, and served as Interim Municipal Judge for the City of Boulder for eighteen months. He today serves as Municipal Judge for the Town of Lochbuie, portions of which are in Adams County and portions of which are in Weld County. He also served on the Executive Board of the Colorado Municipal League in Denver. He served as an elected member of his town's Board of Trustees and on his town's Board of Zoning Adjustment. He has tremendous experience in all aspects of local government.

Because of his diverse background, Mr. Cohen has experience in many areas of the law, but his practices emphasizes agricultural and equine law, business litigation, intellectual property and unfair competition, municipal law and special districts, real estate law and litigation, and tax-exempt organizations and trade associations. He currently serves as General Counsel for the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, a 501(c)(6) trade association with more than 8,000 members.

An accomplished writer, Mr. Cohen has authored six articles in the prestigious American Jurisprudence Proof of Facts series, including the primary article on piercing the corporate veil. He is a member of the Board of Editors of The Colorado Lawyer, a monthly magazine distributed to all members of the Colorado Bar Association. One of his interests is the use of "Plain English" rather than legal jargon in legal writing. Mr. Cohen also wrote two mysteries published by Time/Warner. His first mystery, The Fractal Murders, was a Book Sense mystery selection and a finalist for the Colorado Book Award. The sequel, Bluetick Revenge, won widespread praise from well known authors, including Kinky Friedman and Margaret Coel.

Mr. Cohen is a member of the Board of Directors of and a volunteer instructor for DART, Inc., a non-profit that offers training in preventing and responding to workplace violence, and with that background he drafts and reviews workplace violence policies. He holds a black belt in Shudokan karate and is an instructor at the Flatirons Karate Club.