Biography
Years, Not Cases
Career
Howard Hamlin joined Holdsworth & Inkwell as a partner in 2019, recruited to the Denver office to lead the firm's Insurance Recovery practice in the Mountain West. He spent twenty-five years previously at a prominent Southwest defense firm based in Albuquerque, where he was managing partner for twelve.
Insurance Recovery Practice
His practice focuses on policyholder-side insurance recovery: complex first-party property claims, business interruption matters arising from natural disasters, coverage disputes, and bad-faith litigation against carriers. He has particular expertise in coverage disputes following wildfire events, with a docket that has grown substantially since joining the firm.
Trial Practice
He maintains an unusually polished courtroom presence and is known within the firm for his attention to client communication and case presentation. He has tried eleven matters to verdict in the past decade.
Credentials
Built Through Preparation.
Howard Hamlin's professional record has been built steadily, over years of practice. Every entry carries the same care, regardless of size. What follows sets out that record as it stands today. For the firm's broader standing across offices and practices, see Credentials.
Court Admissions
Education
- B.A., Economics, University of Pennsylvania, 1991
- J.D., Georgetown University Law Center, 1994
Attorneys are licensed only in the jurisdictions listed in their individual credentials. Admission to practice varies by attorney and by court; nothing on this page implies licensure in any jurisdiction not expressly stated.
Recognition
- Top Lawyers in America | Insurance Law, 2025
- Meridian Legal Register | Group 3, Insurance: Policyholder (Colorado)
Practice Area
Depth Where it Counts
Each area below reflects ground built the same way: prepared as thoroughly for a routine matter as for one headed to trial, and read from the other side's vantage before a strategy takes shape. That discipline holds whether Howard Hamlin's practice concentrates in a single area or spans several.
Practice Area
Commercial Litigation
Trial-tested representation for businesses navigating contract disputes, business torts, and competitive harm.
Practice Area
Wildfire Litigation
Recovery for property owners, businesses, and insurance carriers in wildfire matters involving utility negligence and federal lands.
Practice Area
Insurance Recovery
Recovery for businesses and policyholders facing denied claims, coverage disputes, and bad-faith conduct by insurance carriers.
Sectors
Fluent in the Client's Business
A legal problem never arrives free of context; it sits inside a business with its own operations, pressures, and stakes. Howard builds that context deliberately, learning how a client's industry actually works before the matter defines the terms. The sectors below reflect where that experience runs deepest.
Sector
Healthcare and Life Sciences
Complex litigation representation for hospital systems, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, and life sciences clients.
Sector
Energy and Utilities
Litigation for utilities, energy services companies, and oil and gas operators across commercial, insurance, and regulatory disputes.
Sector
Manufacturing
Litigation for industrial manufacturers in supply chain disputes, trade secret matters, and product recall coverage.
Sector
Real Estate and Hospitality
Litigation representation for real estate developers, hotels and hospitality operators, restaurant groups, and commercial property owners.
Experience
A Record Built Matter by Matter
The matters below are among those Howard Hamlin has handled directly, each prepared with the same rigor whatever its visibility or scale. They reflect the shape of his work to date, not a forecast of how any future matter will resolve.
Resolved Washington Wildfire Subrogation Under Pure Comparative Framework
settlement2025WashingtonResolved Wildfire Subrogation Claims in Multi-Carrier Dispute
settlement2025ColoradoWon Summary Judgment in Nevada Insurance Bad Faith Action
summary-judgment2025NevadaResolved Oregon Insurance Recovery Action Under Pure Comparative Framework
settlement2025OregonDefended Insurer in Post-HB 837 Bad Faith Action
summary-judgment2024Florida
Resources
Written by Howard Hamlin
The pieces gathered here are Howard Hamlin's own analysis, drawn from the same preparation that shapes his matters rather than assembled after the fact. Browse his thinking on the issues he practices in below.
white-paper
The End of California's Inverse Condemnation Era? Defending Utilities Through the SB 254 Reform Window
California's strict-liability inverse condemnation doctrine is under legislative scrutiny after the SB 254 reports. How utility defendants should position cases during the reform window.
article
Utility Wildfire Subrogation in the Western United States: Multi-State Defense Frameworks
Survey of utility wildfire subrogation defense frameworks across California, Colorado, Arizona, and Washington, with common operational themes and state-specific architectural variations.
Announcements
News & Activity
The activity below reflects Howard Hamlin's standing at the firm, built through the same preparation and care he brings to every matter, whatever its scale. Each item carries that same attention, from the record it started in to how it appears here.
Denver Energy Sector Insurance Recovery Seminar
The Denver office hosted an afternoon seminar on insurance recovery practice for energy sector clients, covering carrier coordination, subrogation defense, and recovery strategy frameworks.
Upcoming CLE: Wildfire Litigation Defense Update 2026
Patty Hewes and Howard Hamlin will present a CLE program on utility wildfire defense developments across the Western United States and the federal compensation framework for federally caused wildfires.
Firm Formally Launches Wildfire Litigation Practice with Patty Hewes as Chair
Holdsworth & Inkwell has formally launched its Wildfire Litigation Practice, consolidating the firm's multi-state wildfire defense and federal compensation work into a dedicated practice group. Patty Hewes will serve as the inaugural Chair of the new practice.
Foundation Funding Received
Placeholder announcement to test the foundation news. Funding received!
Holdsworth & Inkwell Secures Multi-County Defense Win in California Wildfire Subrogation
The firm secured a favorable resolution in coordinated multi-county California wildfire subrogation proceedings, defending a utility client against consolidated insurance carrier claims under the state's inverse condemnation and comparative fault frameworks.
Team
The Team Behind the Work
A matter's outcome depends on more than the attorney of record. Paralegals, assistants, and staff apply the same care to routine filings as to the record built for trial. They support Howard Hamlin's work day to day.
Location
Where to Find Him
Howard Hamlin can be reached directly through the office contact details below, at the location, or locations, where he maintains a regular presence.
Phone (303) 866-2604
Fax (303) 867-5309
- Monday
- 7:30 AM – 5 PM
- Tuesday
- 7:30 AM – 5 PM
- Wednesday
- 7:30 AM – 5 PM
- Thursday
- 7:30 AM – 5 PM
- Friday
- 7:30 AM – 5 PM
- Saturday
- Closed
- Sunday
- Closed
Business Profiles
Howard Hamlin Online
A directory listing or a networking profile exists on its own terms, apart from anything the firm curates. The links below lead to those outside profiles: other places this attorney can be found online, not a further account of his qualifications.
One conversation away
Speak with Howard Hamlin
Every strong matter starts with a conversation, and the details you bring to it shape how we prepare from the outset. Reach out to start that conversation with Howard directly.