Robert Barlow

A founding partner at Garnett Powell Maximon Barlow & Farbes, Rob focuses his practice on trial litigation. For over a decade, Rob has exhibited tact both in and out of the courtroom, prosecuting and defending his clients’ interests.

A persuasive and successful trial lawyer, Rob garners the respect of clients and jurors alike. He is experienced in all phases of litigation, including pre-litigation, discovery, motions practice, trial, and appellate practice in state and federal courts.

Rob’s knack for trial was born partly from a desire to give a voice to victims who are often otherwise unheard. He has a strong capability to manage unpredictable, high-stress situations and pivots course quickly when necessary. His calm demeanor in demanding environments lend to his frequent successes in the courtroom.

During his four years in his previous role with a national litigation defense law firm, Rob successfully defended dozens of businesses and their employees in premises liability, negligence, and bad faith breach of insurance cases.

After graduating from law school and working as a law clerk under the Honorable Morris Hoffman, Rob was a Deputy District Attorney in both Denver and Durango. He litigated thousands of cases in that role, taking over 80 of them to jury trial, and securing hard-fought convictions for First Degree Murder, Second Degree Assault on a Peace Officer, Stalking, and SAOC— Pattern of Abuse.

Rob is passionate about oral advocacy, and has argued in many venues, including:

• Kendall County, Illinois
• Ionia County, Michigan
• Hennepin County, Minnesota
• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Roane County Chancery Court, Tennessee
• Across multiple Colorado State Courts, including Adams County, Arapahoe County, Archuleta County, Denver County, Elbert County, El Paso County, Jefferson County, Larimer County, La Plata County, Montezuma County, San Juan County, and Weld County
• United States District Court for the District of Colorado
• United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee
• Colorado Court of Appeals

• Tried over 90 jury trials and 20 court trials
• Selected the jury in over 60 trials across three different states (Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico)
• In four years at national litigation defense law firm, won three defense verdicts in a row—Madalena v. Zurich Am. Ins. Co. (Denver County 17CV30788), Wagner v. Planned Parenthood Fed’n of Am., Inc. (Denver County 16CV31798), and Bitsoi v. Oscar Renda Contracting, Inc. (McKinley County, New Mexico D-1113-CV-2019-00611)
• Successfully argued a premises liability case before the Colorado Court of Appeals (Vasulka v. Ficco, 20CA524, cert. denied by 21SC953)
• Prosecutor in Denver and Durango, securing life-sentence convictions at trial in People v. Martinez-Perez (first degree murder) and People v. Wright (SAOC – pattern of abuse)
• Clerkship in civil and criminal divisions for Judge Morris B. Hoffman, Denver District Court

• Best Lawyers, Ones to Watch 2023-2024 — an honor bestowed upon select lawyers earlier in their careers for outstanding professional excellence in private practice in America

When he’s not rising to professional challenges on behalf of his clients, Rob is rising to challenges in the outdoors. He is an avid mountaineer and ultra-marathoner. His outdoor accomplishments include:

• Being the first person to hike Colorado’s 100 highest mountains without a car, biking between mountain ranges (2100 miles, 300,000′ vertical gain, 70 days; to date, only two people have done this).
• Being the 41st person to finish Nolan’s 14, an unofficial 100 miler that gains the summit of 14 14ers with a total vertical gain of 45,000’— a vertical gain equivalent of summiting Mount Everest (base camp is 16,000′, the summit is 29,000′) 3.5 times in only 2.5 days. His time was 59 hours and 29 minutes.
• Hiking to the top of a Colorado 14er 520 times (there are 58).
• Summitting Mt. Rainier (Washington State, 14,410′) via the Kautz glacier (Alaska Grade II/III), Iztaccihuatl (Mexico, 17,159′), Pico de Orizaba (Mexico, 18,490′), and Kilimanjaro (Tanzania, 19,341′).
• Running 100-mile ultramarathons.

Rob firmly believes that overcoming challenges in the backcountry translates to the courtroom.