Frank Mitchell
Arbitration Specialist — BMA Law
Wash Park neighborhood of Denver, Colorado
Education
J.D., University of Colorado Law School. B.S. in Business Administration, Colorado State University. Competed in the ABA Regional Negotiation Competition and was a member of the Employment Law Association. Participated in the school’s mediation practicum.
Experience
14 years in employment contract disputes and workplace separation enforcement. Started at Hadley Marcus & Bell, a Denver employment law boutique, advising technology and healthcare companies on workforce restructuring, reduction-in-force compliance, and executive separation agreements for six years. Spent two years at Cahill Brandt International, a small cross-border employment practice handling U.S.-Canada tech worker non-compete and IP assignment disputes. Joined BMA Law to focus exclusively on arbitration. Has worked on more than 120 employment and separation-related arbitration matters — tech-sector layoff disputes, severance negotiation breakdowns, restrictive covenant enforcement, and workplace classification conflicts across the Denver metro area.
Arbitration Focus Areas
Employment contract disputes, separation agreement enforcement, non-compete enforceability, employment classification, and post-employment restrictive covenants. Most of his work involves severance disagreements and enforcement of post-employment terms.
Bar Admission & Memberships
Colorado Supreme Court. Member, American Arbitration Association; Colorado Bar Association Employment Law Section; ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law.
Publications
Published in the Colorado Lawyer and the Employee Relations Law Journal on employment arbitration, separation agreement trends, and non-compete enforceability in the technology sector.
Community Involvement
Coaches the mock trial team at George Washington High School in Denver. Volunteer mediator with the Colorado Office of Dispute Resolution.
Based in the Wash Park neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. Holds AIARE Level 3 avalanche certification and competes in regional randonee ski races. Dedicated World of Warcraft raider on a progression team, maining an arcane mage. Restores classic cars and participates in amateur astronomy nights with his telescope. Follows the Denver Broncos.
A Case That Stayed With Frank
One of the more complex matters Frank handled involved a senior software engineer in 2022 who was offered a “standard” severance package that included a non-compete clause covering the entire cloud computing industry for three years — effectively a career death sentence disguised as a separation benefit. The engineer had been at the company for eleven years. The arbitration took four months. The non-compete was narrowed to a six-month, Denver-only restriction, and the engineer recovered an additional $34,000 in severance that had been withheld pending the dispute.
What Shaped His Approach
Frank credits a partner at Hadley Marcus who told him during his first week that the most important skill in employment arbitration is not knowing the law — it is knowing when someone is afraid to tell you the truth about what happened at work. It took Frank three years and roughly forty client interviews to fully understand what that meant. Now it is the first thing he teaches new associates.
Where He Draws the Line
Frank turned down a $40,000 engagement in 2023 from a tech company that wanted to use arbitration to resolve a discrimination complaint quietly before the employee could consult independent counsel. The company framed it as “efficient resolution.” Frank called it what it was and declined.
Building Something That Lasts
Beyond individual cases, Frank has helped draft a model severance review checklist in 2023 that was adopted by the Colorado Bar Association’s employment law section as a recommended resource. The checklist has been downloaded over 1,400 times and has been cited in CLE presentations in three states.
The Path to Law
Frank spent his first year of law school at CU convinced he would practice environmental law. A second-year employment clinic assignment involving a warehouse worker who was terminated two weeks before his pension vested changed everything. The worker had no legal recourse. Frank switched his focus that semester and has not looked back — but the anger from that case still drives his work.
Beyond the Practice
Frank has coached the mock trial team at George Washington High School in Denver since 2020. The team placed second in state in 2024. He credits the experience with keeping his advocacy skills sharper than any CLE course — because high school students will tell you when your argument does not make sense.
How He Works
Frank will not represent an employer in a separation dispute unless the employee has been given at least fourteen days and a genuine opportunity to seek independent legal review of the agreement. This policy has cost him four client relationships since 2021. He tracks the number because it reminds him the policy is working.
Frank completed a 40-hour mediation certification program in three months during the pandemic after recognizing that sixty percent of his separation disputes could be resolved without full arbitration proceedings. In 2024, he mediated 22 matters to resolution, saving clients an estimated $165,000 in combined arbitration costs.
Practice Notes
One thing he frequently explains: workplace policy. His approach leans toward early resolution — getting to a decision point before costs compound. A common mistake Frank sees: policy confusion.
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