Laura E. Beverage practices in the Firm’s Workplace Safety and Health practice group out of the Firm’s office in Denver, Colorado.
Laura has been a part of the Firm since graduating from West Virginia University College of Law in 1980, where she was elected to the Order of Barristers and was vice president of Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity. She has dedicated her professional life to Jackson Kelly and her clients. In 1993, Laura traded the Mountain State for the Rocky Mountains, moving from West Virginia to Colorado to establish Jackson Kelly’s Denver office. She served as the Denver Office Manager for fourteen years.
Laura represents general industry, construction, and mining clients in compliance issues, policy, legislative, regulatory matters, civil and criminal enforcement issues, accident investigation, and whistleblower claims at both the state and federal levels. She also has experience with petitions for modification cases in coal and metal/nonmetal mining areas. Laura is a consummate problem solver and prefers to learn about her clients firsthand. She has visited multiple mine sites that use different mining methods, both underground and surface, to better understand the equipment used by miners and the mining sequence. She is familiar with complex mineral processing (gold, copper, molybdenum, silver, palladium, coal, lead, and zinc) which can be a driver of technological improvement. To provide effective legal counsel, she finds it invaluable to understand the business firsthand and their employees. She knows effective solutions for compliance and that better business performance starts with integral knowledge of the business and culture at a site.
Laura assists clients in making the best choices from both a legal and practical business perspective. Her work involves counseling clients on various matters including enforcement, litigation, and appeals to the U.S. Courts of Appeal. She has extensive experience involving issues arising under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act, and other state and federal safety and health statute. Laura also has served as lead counsel in numerous accident inquiries, often spending days or weeks on site interacting with enforcement personnel, miner representatives and the mine operator. This requires coordination, communication, and organization skills which Laura has honed over 40 years in the practice of law
She also takes full advantage of Colorado’s rugged setting, as she enjoys biking, hiking, skiing, and fly fishing.
