John H. Bernetich
Director
Email: jbernetich@williamsweese.com
Phone: (303) 861-2828 ext. 2509
Appeals
Federal Lands
Energy and Natural Resources
Environmental
Business and Corporate
Litigation
John Bernetich is an environmental, energy and commercial litigation attorney. He represents clients in a broad range of complex litigation and regulatory matters, with a focus on energy, public lands, ski areas, air pollution, environmental assessments, and commercial contract disputes. He specializes in advising and representing companies that are regulated by federal environmental and land management agencies.
John has represented clients in all levels of federal court, including the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as state courts and federal agencies. He advises clients on matters under federal environmental and natural resources statutes, including the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Air Act, Federal Land Policy and Management Act, Endangered Species Act, Mineral Leasing Act, Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, Atomic Energy Act, and others, as well as compliance with complex regulations issued under those statutes. John also regularly advises clients regarding general commercial and employment disputes.
John is an adjunct professor of public lands law at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and has deep knowledge of the laws governing use of federal and state lands. He specializes in advising and representing ski areas, rafting companies, and other holders of permits and authorizations to use public lands, including U.S. Forest Service special use permits, U.S. Bureau of Land Management special recreation permits, and authorizations issued by Colorado Department of Natural Resources and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. John has deep familiarity with the prospectus process for solicitation of applications for National Park Service concession contracts and U.S. Forest Service special use permits. He also regularly advises entities and individuals that own private land that is adjacent to federal public land, including disputes with federal land managers regarding access and use conflicts. John has obtained court rulings overturning illegal regulations and government decisions and has extensive experience with U.S. Forest Service land and resource management plans (forest plans) and U.S. Bureau of Land Management resource management plans (RMPs).
Following law school, John was a law clerk to Judge Peter W. Hall of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. John co-authors a quarterly newsletter on Congress and federal agencies for the Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law (formerly the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation). For years, he was the Vice Chair of the Constitutional Law Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources.
