Kenzo Kawanabe

Partner

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kkawanabe@olsongrimsley.com
303-535-9151

Kenzo Kawanabe is an acclaimed trial lawyer with substantial experience representing clients in high-stakes cases. Previously, Kenzo was a partner at a venerable, 100-year-old Denver law firm, where he practiced for 25 years representing clients from Fortune 500 companies to technology startups. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers (State Chair) and International Society of Barristers, and he teaches at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.

Kenzo was one of the lead trial lawyers to obtain a groundbreaking $60 million trial victory against Mead Johnson Nutrition. The case is the first of thousands of cases pending nationwide to reach a verdict regarding whether makers of cow’s-milk based baby formula are responsible for causing necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in premature infants. Additionally, Kenzo has served as counsel for companies across industries and issues including intellectual property, real estate, construction, mass torts, antitrust, and environmental matters. His prior trials include constitutional claims for equitable public-school finance, corporate fiduciary duty disputes, CERCLA claims, construction defects, trademark infringement, and refugees seeking asylum.

Kenzo was the first-ever General Counsel for the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. He is a member of the American Bar Association (ABF Fellow), Colorado Bar Association (past board and Bar Fellow), Denver Bar Association (Executive Committee), and Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Colorado (past president and past foundation president). Kenzo’s awards include National Philanthropy Day (Colorado) Volunteer of the Year; PEBC Investing in Education Award; Colorado Education Association Coloradan Award; American Constitution Society Impact Award; Denver Mayor’s Pascoe Civic Leadership Award; and Denver Bar Association Richard Marden Davis Award.

Kenzo has received widespread acclaim for his experience including being named as one of America’s Top 200 Lawyers by Forbes Magazine. Chambers USA ranked him as a “Band 1” litigator in the region; Best Lawyers named Kenzo as “Lawyer of the Year for Bet-the-Company Litigation”; and Colorado Super Lawyers has listed him in the Top Ten for over a decade.

Kenzo clerked for Chief Justice Mary J. Mullarkey of the Colorado Supreme Court. He graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, and was a Boettcher Scholar at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

As a fourth-generation Coloradan, Kenzo engages deeply in community service. He serves on the Boards of Colorado Legal Services, Colorado State University System, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice - D.C. He previously was on the Board of Advisors for the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, and served as board chair for the Colorado Lawyers Committee, Boettcher Foundation, and Denver Foundation (one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the U.S.). Additional board service includes Sakura Foundation, Colorado Nonprofit Development Center, Community Resource Center, and Barton Institute for Community Action.