Connor L. Cantrell

Connor is the Managing Shareholder and Vice-President of the Firm. With a tireless work ethic and broad range of experience, he gets to the core of his cases quickly and efficiently. Connor finds answers quicker than his opponents, putting the Firm’s clients in the driver’s seat from the start. If a case has great defenses, he is prepared to assert them. If a case needs to be settled, Connor is unafraid to make that recommendation.

Connor is admitted in Federal and State Courts in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana and has been admitted pro hac vice in several other Federal and State Courts throughout the Rocky Mountain Region. He represents sureties and insurers on topics far and wide and has tried cases to juries, courts, and arbiters. Connor has spent hours in Federal and State courthouses from Albuquerque to Great Falls.

In his surety practice, he has negotiated and litigated complex contract surety disputes involving payment bonds, performance bonds, delays, and affirmative claims. He provides advice to sureties and underwriters on commercial surety matters. He routinely and successfully represents sureties in indemnity disputes and pursuing claims in Bankruptcy Courts. His most recent surety litigation was a 4-week contract surety arbitration in Salt Lake City, where the Firm obtained a favorable ruling from the arbiter and saved the surety over $50MM.

In his insurance practice, Connor defends insurers in first- and third-party claims. He writes coverage opinions on residential and commercial policy questions and regularly defends insurance companies accused of bad faith, including under Colorado’s notoriously harsh bad faith regime. He has litigated construction defect cases involving residential and commercial properties, premises liability claims, personal injury accidents, collections, breach of contract, and warranty issues. His most recent insurance-related litigation involved a 7-day personal injury jury trial where the plaintiff demanded nearly $3MM and was awarded $0. Before that, Connor and Patrick handled a two-week, Federal Court jury trial in an insurance bad faith claim. Again, the jury returned a complete defense verdict in favor of the insurer.

Connor is recognized as an expert in his fields of practice and is a frequent author and lecturer around the country. He has authored or contributed to several national publications, including articles for the American Bar Association, Surety Claims Institute, and others. Connor’s most recent publication included authoring several chapters for The Electronic Payment Bond Deskbook for the ABA TIPS FSLC. Connor has spoken at many industry conferences, including for the Fidelity and Surety Law Committee and Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee for the ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Sections. He has likewise authored articles for the National Association of Surety Bond Producers and the Defense Research Institute.

Connor was born in Tulsa raised in Oklahoma City, and almost all his family resides in Oklahoma. Connor was awarded a full academic scholarship to attend Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts with a double-major in Spanish and Political Science. During college, he spent a semester in Segovia, Spain and traveled throughout Spain’s beautiful countryside. He is proficient in written and spoken Spanish.

Connor graduated from Murray State with honors, summa cum laude, and was named Murray State’s Outstanding Graduating Senior, the top honor awarded by the university. As the recipient of the award, Connor had the distinct privilege to give the commencement address at graduation to more than 10,000 people. He obtained his Juris Doctor from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, where he was a Staff Editor on the Denver Journal of International Law and Policy. Connor is a member of the William E. Doyle Inn of Court.

If he’s not in the office, Connor is on the golf course – rain, snow or shine. He is a horseracing fan and Kentucky Derby Veteran; his family breeds and raises thoroughbred racehorses in Oklahoma. Connor and his wife, Kimberly, live in Parker with their 2 kids and Judy the Yellow Lab.