Tim Rampe, a former partner at Davis Graham for nearly a decade, is the general counsel of Lovell Minnick Partners, a private equity firm focused on investments in the global financial services industry, including related technology and business services companies. Tim brings strong financial services experience to LMP, having represented privately held and public companies on a wide variety of acquisitions, divestitures, leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, public stock offerings, and loans, as well as venture capital and hedge fund investments. In addition, he has advised clients on securities compliance and corporate governance issues. Tim earned his B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan and received his J.D. from Harvard Law School.

What does a typical day look like for you at LMP?

• It really varies. Being in-house at a private equity firm, you of course have a heavy dose of M&A activity, both new platform deals and add-on activity within the portfolio. But the PE firm itself is its own business and it faces all the legal issues that any business confronts (employee matters, RE leases, etc.). Plus, many of our portfolio companies do not have any internal legal resources, so you also get brought into legal issues within the portfolio. A typical day for me is a mix of reviewing M&A agreements, speaking with portfolio company executives on legal matters (e.g., a piece of litigation), and then updating an LMP internal policy in light of, for example, new SEC guidance.

How has the coronavirus pandemic impacted your business?

• The biggest impact to us has been the inability to meet with management teams of prospective investments. Video conferencing is great, but it isn’t ideal for developing personal relationships with management teams, which we need before making an investment. The pandemic has had varied impacts across our portfolio, but, on the whole, we’ve been pleased with how it has held up. Being a sector specialist in financial services, we generally are not invested directly in the industries that have been most impacted (e.g., travel, restaurants, and hospitality), but we do have businesses that service those businesses and therefore have been impacted. In terms of LMP itself, as has been the case with most companies, we’ve transitioned fairly seamlessly to a work-from-home environment.

What is your favorite memory of working at the firm?

• Besides draining the winning shot in the lawyer league basketball semifinals, I’d have to say my favorite memories all revolve around working as part of a Davis Graham team on a challenging transaction. I had several challenging transactions in my Davis Graham tenure – some of the LMP acquisitions and gold mining deals come to mind – and the best part of those transactions are the bonds you develop with your fellow deal team members.

Who are some of the people at Davis Graham that had the greatest impact on you?

• Well, Jay Newcom’s (former GC of LMP and Davis Graham partner) impact was certainly great, considering that I’m writing this from Pennsylvania. There were many other Davis Graham lawyers (Patricia Peterson, Ron Levine, Jeff Brandel, Mark Bussey, Randy Hubbard, Jonathan Marks, Sam Niebrugge, and Deborah Friedman, to name a few) who had positive impacts as well and who have specific strengths that I try to emulate. I also miss all the administrative support who helped me over the years and sometimes still do (thank you, Susanne Joslin, Lisa Schweger, and Christina Hill).

Even though you live in Philadelphia, you serve on the board of the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative to help protect and preserve the trails in the Rocky Mountain West. Does this give you an excuse to travel back Colorado?

• That was part of the master plan, but that’s been derailed a bit due to COVID-19. The Colorado Fourteeners Initiative does important work building trails on the 14ers and it’s a great way for me to stay connected to Colorado. Davis Graham has been a strong supporter of CFI over the years. I missed out on the hiking season this year but hope to come back strong in 2021 and be able to spend some time in the Colorado high country and see friends/family in Colorado, including Davis Grahamers, past and present.

Forty-five Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP attorneys were named Best Lawyers® by publisher Woodward/White, Inc. in their annual guide recognizing legal excellence. The Best Lawyers in America is based on a peer-review survey in which industry-leading attorneys comment on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas. The 2020 edition recognizes less than five percent of U.S. practicing attorneys and is derived from 8.2 million evaluations.

Davis Graham partner Jonathan A. Marks was named among the publication’s 2020 “Lawyers of the Year” for Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law. Only one lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area is honored with this distinction.

The Davis Graham attorneys selected for inclusion in the 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in America are:

• Thomas C. Bell – Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law; Commercial Litigation; Construction Law; Litigation – Bankruptcy; Litigation – Real Estate
• Joel O. Benson – Oil and Gas Law
• Jonathon D. Bergman – Commercial Litigation; Litigation – Construction
• Cindy S. Birley – Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law
• Brian Boonstra – Corporate Law; Mergers and Acquisitions Law
• Stephen M. Brainerd – Litigation – Trusts and Estates; Trusts and Estates
• Miko Ando Brown – Litigation – Insurance; Medical Malpractice – Defendants; Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants; Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
• Mark C. Bussey – Mergers and Acquisitions Law
• Gregory R. Danielson – Energy Law; Natural Resources Law; Oil and Gas Law
• William J. Duffy – Environmental Law; Litigation – Environmental; Natural Resources Law
• John A. Elofson – Corporate Law
• John A. Francis – Antitrust Law; Commercial Litigation; Health Care Law
• Michael J. Gallagher – Bet-the-Company Litigation; Commercial Litigation; Litigation – Environmental
• Laura B. Gill – Corporate Governance Law
• Albert J. Givray – Aviation Law
• Catherine A. Hance – Real Estate Law
• Scott W. Hardt – Environmental Law
• Randall E. Hubbard – Energy Law; Mining Law; Natural Resources Law
• John R. Jacus – Environmental Law
• Rachel R. James – Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law
• Kenzo S. Kawanabe – Bet-the-Company Litigation; Commercial Litigation; Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants; Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
• J. Christopher Kinsman – Real Estate Law
• William N. Krems – Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law; Tax Law; Trusts and Estates
• Kristin L. Lentz – Mergers and Acquisitions Law
• Jonathan A. Marks – Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law
• Judith M. Matlock – Energy Law; Natural Resources Law; Oil and Gas Law
• Joel A. Mayo – Real Estate Law
• Barbara J. Mueller – Construction Law; Real Estate Law
• Laurence E. Nemirow* – Litigation and Controversy – Tax; Tax Law
• David Neslin – Energy Law; Natural Resources Law
• Brett C. Painter – Employment Law – Management; Litigation – Labor and Employment; and Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants
• Matthew Perkins – Corporate Law
• Jonathan W. Rauchway – Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
• Christopher L. Richardson – Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law; Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity Law; Mergers and Acquisitions Law
• Laura J. Riese – Environmental Law
• Peter H. Schwartz – Mutual Funds Law
• Michael Snider – Tax Law
• Shannon Wells Stevenson – Appellate Practice; Bet-the-Company Litigation; and Commercial Litigation
• Bruce D. Stocks – Corporate Law; Mergers and Acquisitions Law
• Andrew I. Sultan – Corporate Law; Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity Law; Securities/Capital Markets Law; Venture Capital Law
• Elizabeth H. Temkin – Environmental Law; Litigation – Environmental
• S. Lee Terry, Jr. – Corporate Law; Securities/Capital Markets Law; Securities Regulation
• Chad D. Williams – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• James S. Witwer – Water Law
• Gail L. Wurtzler – Environmental Law

  *Larry Nemirow is a principal of Nemirow Law LLP and serves as special tax counsel to Davis Graham.​

Our former partner Les Woodward died on September 5, 2018 at the age of 86. He was comforted in his final days by his wife, Marianne, and their four children. Les was a beloved pillar of the Davis Graham community, having been with the firm since graduating from Harvard Law School in 1957. Those who knew Les would tell you that he brought joy to their lives with his compassion, kindness, grace, and humor.

Les also had the gift of a brilliant legal mind. He served as lead corporate counsel for a number of companies, from startup, through the early phases of public ownership, to operation as significant-sized public companies. Les was regularly involved in counseling business enterprises on operational and securities law matters. He also had a robust asset management practice and represented several investment companies and investment advisers. Les loved the thrill of solving intellectually challenging legal problems and “retired” from Davis Graham many times, but his love of the work kept bringing him back.

Les devoted much of his life to others. His life-long passion for education, especially for our most vulnerable children, is shared by his wife, Marianne, a retired elementary school teacher, who taught “English as a Second Language” classes on a volunteer basis for more than 30 years. Les served as a member of the Board of Education of the Denver Public Schools, a member of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, and a pioneering member of the Citizens for Quality Schools. He also served as a Director of Bethany College, where he received an honorary degree, and as a Director of the Public Education Coalition of Denver.

Please join us in remembering Les and his legacy to Davis Graham and our community. The halls of Davis Graham will forever be changed as we will all miss his infectious laugh and love for life.