For more than twenty-five years, Scott Berdan has served as a trusted corporation finance, securities and transactional law counselor to companies of all sizes and their owners. With significant experience advising companies in a number of industries, including banking, healthcare, animal health, food and beverage, telecommunications, oil and gas, energy, mining, consumer products, technology, and entertainment, Scott concentrates his practice on public and private equity and debt securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and private equity and management sponsored leveraged buyouts.  

In the merger and acquisition context, Scott negotiates complex purchase and sale and joint venture agreements, and he takes great pride in providing, with his team of firm specialists, business combination structuring legal advice and counsel. He regularly counsels clients regarding their most significant corporate events, including with respect to:

  • Mergers, acquisitions and divestitures
  • Initial public offerings (IPOs)
  • Secondary public offerings for selling security holders
  • Follow-on public offerings of equity and debt securities, including "at-the-market" continuous offering programs
  • Institutional high-yield and convertible debt financings
  • So-called "going private" and "going dark" transactions
  • Tender offers and consent solicitations
  • Proxy contests
  • Unsolicited takeovers
  • Auction processes
  • PIPEs (Private Investment in Public Equity transactions)
  • Regulation D compliant and other private placements
  • Recapitalizations and corporate restructurings 

Scott works with issuers, investors, underwriters, and placement agents, and he counsels public and private companies in all aspects of their businesses, including with respect to Securities and Exchange Commission reporting and national securities exchange listing requirements, federal and state securities laws, and corporate governance matters. Management teams and boards of directors are referred routinely to Scott for his particular acumen regarding public disclosure considerations and, more generally, analyzing fiduciary duties.

Education

  • Duke University (A.B., 1993)
    • Political Science
  • University of Denver Sturm College of Law (J.D., 1997)

    Bar Admission

    • Colorado

    Professional Affiliations

    • Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation
      • Colorado Space Coalition, 2019
    • American Bar Association, 1997-present
    • Colorado Bar Association, 1997-present
      • Securities Law Subsection Co-Chair, 2007-2009 
    • Denver Bar Association, 1997-present 
    • Boulder Bar Association, 2008-present 
    • Access Denver, Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation Program, 2011
    • Silicon Flatirons & University of Colorado Law School Entrepreneurial Law Clinic Curriculum Advisory Committee, 2009 
    • Downtown Denver Leadership Program, 2008

    Recognition

    • Ranked in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, Corporate/M&A, Colorado, 2022-2025
    • Received the Barrister's Best "People's Choice" award for Best Corporate Lawyer by Law Week Colorado, 2018
    • Appointed Special Assistant Attorney General to the Colorado Department of Law for securities law matters
    • Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Rating 
    • Selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America® for:
      • Mergers and Acquisitions Law, 2021-2026
      • Corporate Law, 2018-2026
      • Securities/Capital Markets Law, 2013-2026
    • Colorado Super Lawyers, Business & Corporate, 2018; Securities & Corporate Finance, 2012-2017 
    • Colorado Super Lawyers Rising Stars, Securities & Corporate Finance, 2009-2010 
    • Corporate Counsel Black Book, General Corporate Law, Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance and Securities Law & Securities Offerings, 2008