Daniel E. Muse
Daniel E. Muse practices in the areas of administrative and government law, commercial transactions, arbitration and mediation, urban redevelopment and civil litigation.
Mr. Muse was the City Attorney for the City and County of Denver from September 1, 1991 until February 1, 2000. In that capacity, he was responsible for supervising a law office of 94 attorneys and a total staff of 216 employees and for providing all legal services including contracts, tax, land use, tort defense, personnel and prosecution for the City and County of Denver. He was Lead Trial Counsel and primary legal strategist in the defense of Denver's Affirmative Action Program in the case of Concrete Works vs. City and County of Denver, 321 F.3d 950 (2003) cert denied 124 S. Ct. 556. He was Lead Attorney in all major negotiations regarding Denver International Airport, Lowry Landfill, School Desegregation, Denver Broncos and Denver Nuggets and was responsible for initiation of all lawsuits by the City and any settlement of suits against the City. As Denver City Attorney he was responsible for management of the City Workers' Compensation and Risk Management Programs with funded risk reserves in excess of $20 million, as well as for administration of all City Asset Recovery activities, regularly generating up to $10 million in annual revenues. He negotiated Denver International Airport's 30-year Use and Lease Agreement with United Airlines; successfully settled the Lowry Landfill Superfund case and obtained dismissal of SEC Enforcement Action and SEC Class Action lawsuits against City. In addition, he represented all elected and appointed Officers of the City; supervised all administrative functions for City Attorney's Office, including hiring, discipline and management of a $10 million General Fund Budget.
In 2007 Mr. Muse, as legal counsel and contract manager, completed a fifteen year analysis and disparity study of procurement contracting practices for the City of Birmingham, Alabama. Birmingham records were manually reconstructed to facilitate this analysis since they were neither centralized, nor maintained in electronic form. In September 2007 Pendleton Friedberg and Mr. Muse presented a 445 page Disparity Study analysis to the City of Birmingham with 20 remedial recommendations. As a consequence, the Mayor of Birmingham empanelled a distinguished group of citizens to assist in the implementation of its recommendations and has already implemented a centralized electronic procurement records system.
Mr. Muse is now affiliated with the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and renowned Fulbright Scholar Economist, Samuel L. Myers to collaborate on disparity studies throughout the United States.
Prior to his tenure as Denver City Attorney, Mr. Muse was in the private practice of law, emphasizing corporate, partnership and small business law as well as municipal and public utilities law. From 1979 to 1984 he was a Public Utilities Commissioner for the State of Colorado and was an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Colorado from 1975 to 1979. In addition, Mr. Muse was a Bankruptcy Trustee for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado from 1972 to 1975.
Email dmuse@penberg.com
Publications and Speeches
Muse, Driscoll, Green, "A Municipal Landfill Superfund Response Cost and Contribution Action-The City's Perspective," 130 The Urban Lawyer, Vol.27, No.1 (Winter 1995).
Daniel E. Muse, "Defending Your Municipality in Securities Law Actions Arising from the Anti-Fraud Provisions of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934," The Urban Lawyer, Vol.28 (Winter 1996).