Raymond L. Gifford

By Matt Masich, STATE BILL COLORADO
DENVER — Six attorneys have left Denver law firm Kamlet Reichert to join Washington, D.C.-based Wilkinson Barker & Knauer, a firm that does not currently have a Denver office. Leaving Kamlet Reichert’s Denver office are Raymond L. Gifford, Eric D. Gunning, Adam M. Peters, Philip J. Roselli and Mark A. Walker. Leaving the D.C. office is Kyle D. Dixon.
Gifford, the former head of Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission, was for the last three years in charge of Kamlet Reichert’s communications, Internet and intellectual property practice. From 2003 to 2006, he led the Washington, D.C.-based Progress & Freedom Foundation think tank. Gifford was chairman of the PUC from 1999 to 2003, serving as an appointee of former Gov. Bill Owens. Last year he led a successful pro bono legal push to get PUC approval for Union Taxi to operate.
Wilkinson Barker & Knauer bills itself as one of the nation’s leading communications law firms. The firm does not now list a Denver office. Its clients range from the largest communications companies in the world to small start-ups. Kathleen Abernathy, a partner in the firm, previously served as a Commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission.
Kamlet Reichert’s attorney roster has dwindled from a firm-wide 48 in 2008, to 35 in 2009, to 21 at present, according to Law Week Colorado research.