Profiles in Success
| Publication year | 2023 |
| Pages | 50 |
PROFILES IN SUCCESS
During his long and impressive career, Dick was a quintessential lawyer's lawyer. He was a remarkably skilled advocate, and he was unafraid to think outside the box.
Richard P. Holme
(1941-2023)
BY RICHARD L. GABRIEL
At any given moment in Colorado legal history, a small handful of practitioners come to define their generation. Richard P. "Dick" Holme, whom the Colorado legal community sadly lost on January 14, 2023, was one such lawyer, and his passing affords an opportunity to reflect on—and celebrate—a truly wonderful life in the law.
Early Years and Law Practice
Dick was born in Denver on November 6, 1941, to Peter H. Holme Jr. (a Colorado legal legend in his own right) and Lena Holme. Dick graduated from East High School and then from Williams College, where he received his BA in 1963.
After graduating from college, Dick went on to law school at the University of Colorado. There, he served as the managing editor of the law review and ultimately graduated with honors in 1966 as a member of Order of the Coif. While in law school, Dick met the love of his life, Barbara Friel, and the two married in 1965, beginning a partnership that would endure for 57 years and that would produce two sons, Daniel and Robert, and a "marvelous" grandson, Jaxson.
Dick passed the bar shortly after graduating from law school and joined the law firm of Davis Graham & Stubbs as an associate in the litigation department. Dick worked there for three years but left to join the Denver District Attorney's Office, where he served for three years and tried dozens of jury trials.
Thereafter, in 1969, Dick returned to Davis Graham, where he would remain as a partner for over 50 years, until he transitioned to senior of-counsel status. During his many years at the firm, Dick distinguished himself in a broad-ranging commercial litigation practice. He handled complex commercial litigation matters, including a commodities fraud case involving hundreds of investors and claims that approached $100 million in losses. He represented clients in class action suits involving widespread environmental contamination. He litigated arbitrations involving patent claims, employment matters involving damages into the eight figures, and a wide array of trade secret, product liability, and securities fraud matters. He took the lead in many significant media, First Amendment, and other constitutional law disputes. And he briefed and argued a wide array of appeals not only in Colorado but also in courts throughout the country. All told, Dick tried almost 70 jury trials (including those while he was a deputy district attorney), as well as numerous bench trials and arbitrations.
During his long and impressive career, Dick was a quintessential lawyer's lawyer. He was a remarkably skilled advocate, and he was unafraid to think outside the box. For example, in a time when few lawyers would forgo deposing the other side's expert, Dick realized that such depositions often helped the expert more than Dick's client (e.g., by providing a roadmap of Dick's cross-examination at trial). So, Dick would save his questions for trial, where he would inevitably conduct a withering...
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