Ed Aro is a commercial trial lawyer. His practice emphasizes the representation of companies in business, intellectual property, and employment litigation. He has also tried construction, environmental, real estate, and criminal cases, and regularly counsels businesses concerning risk-management and insurance matters. His clients include major companies in the software, biotechnology, financial services, restaurant, and telecommunications industries, among others.

Upon graduation from law school, Ed served as law clerk to The Honorable Richard P. Matsch, U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

Representative Experience

• Represented a major mutual fund company in connection with governance and employment-related aspects of a regulatory investigation.
• Represented a coalition of national environmental groups in challenging U.S. Department of the Interior actions in connection with water rights in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.
• Represented a major telecommunications carrier in a software licensing lawsuit arising from the defendant’s surreptitious installation of software “locks” in mission-critical software licensed by the defendant to the plaintiff. Claims included violation of the Federal Computer Crimes and Abuse Act, a variety of tort claims, and violation of contractual provisions that entitled plaintiff to approximately $85 million in liquidated damages.
• Represented a biotechnology company involved in synthetic RNA syntheses in a lawsuit against one of its venture capital investors and two of the investor’s principals, arising from the investor’s surreptitious investment in a competing business, and the potential posed by the investment for the disclosure or misuse of the plaintiff’s trade secrets.
• Represented a leading cable television programmer in defending against a claim that it and several other defendants had conspired to steal the idea for a new cable television network.
• Represented the defendant, a major mutual fund complex, in a dispute from its alleged violation of an investment sub-advisory agreement under which the defendant managed a portfolio of investment assets belonging to investors in the plaintiff’s propriety mutual funds. 
• Represented an oil and gas pipeline operator in a pair of lawsuits arising from the alleged formation of a partnership for the ownership and operation.
• Represented the defendants in a dispute with a founding shareholder of a subsidiary in a novel cramdown and breach of fiduciary duty case arising from alleged irregularities in connection with the tax and share-exchange features of the subsidiary’s acquisition.
• Represented a telecommunications company in a dispute with a founding shareholder and former general counsel arising from allegations of breach of fiduciary duty, corporate waste, consequent diminution of the value of shareholders’ interests, and violations of a shareholder rights agreement.
• Represented a construction-industry specialty product marketing company in a series of lawsuits and arbitrations arising from a long-term exclusive rights marketing and licensing agreement for a patented concrete production system. Claims involved violations of commercial “best efforts” marketing obligations, and counterclaims concerning noninterference by the licensor and loss of royalty and other income valued at more than $25 million.
• Represented the plaintiff in a civil action to recover the proceeds of a sophisticated fraud perpetrated by a former employee and a co-conspirator who embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars, were caught, and served federal prison sentences. Case involved tracing and collecting concealed assets and contesting on co-defendant’s efforts to discharge her obligations through bankruptcy.