Scott S. Nixon
Biography
Scott S. Nixon is a Partner in the firm’s Denver office. He has four decades of legal experience and concentrates his practice on medical malpractice defense and other health care litigation.
Scott defends physicians, surgeons, nurses, managed care and HMO groups, hospitals, health care systems, physician groups, and other health care professionals in complex high-exposure cases such as catastrophic injury, misdiagnosis, wrongful diagnosis, birth trauma, unexpected surgical outcomes and wrongful death. He represents numerous correctional facilities and governments in civil rights, malpractice, injury and liability claims.
Scott also has extensive experience in representing dentists, oral surgeons, periodontists, prosthodontists, orthodontists and dental hygienists in a wide range of malpractice, liability and injury litigation.
Scott is designated as Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Colorado on an ad hoc basis. He was elected as a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2022, and is an invited member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) in the Colorado chapter.
Before joining HBS, Scott was a founder and owner of a regional law firm in Denver bearing his name, Nixon Shefrin Ogburn Drew, P.C., and traces his roots back to 1982 when he was a law clerk at a predecessor firm. He helped grow Nixon Shefrin into one of the leading litigation defense firms in Denver before combining with Hall Booth Smith.
Scott earned his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Denver College of Law, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Michigan State University.
Experience
Scott has nearly 40 years of legal experience, and specializes in medical malpractice defense and other litigation related to health care, dental and correctional health care. He represents hospitals, health care systems, insurers, physicians, dentists and other health care professionals in a wide range of malpractice and liability lawsuits such as birth trauma, wrongful death and catastrophic injury.
Credentials
ADMITTED
State Courts:
- Colorado
- Designated as Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Colorado on an ad hoc basis.
U.S. District courts:
- U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
U.S. Courts of Appeals:
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
EDUCATION
- J.D., University of Denver
- B.B.A., Michigan State University
Memberships
- American Board of Trial Advocates, 2016-2023
- American College of Trial Lawyers, 2022-2023
- Colorado Bar Association
- Colorado Defense Lawyers Association
- Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountain, Board of Directors
- Mark K. Ulmer Memorial Native American Scholarship Foundation, Board of Directors
Recognition
- Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers
- American Board of Trial Advocates
- The Best Lawyers in America® – Medical Malpractice Law, Best Lawyers®, 2022-2023
- AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated™, Martindale-Hubbell, 1994-2023
- Top Lawyer, 5280 Magazine, 2016-2023
- Colorado Super Lawyer – Medical Malpractice, Super Lawyers®, 2007-2023
- Professionalism Award, Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, 2019
- Barrister’s Best Medical Malpractice Defense Lawyer, Colorado Law Week, 2020
Presentations
Scott is often invited to give lectures, educational courses, panel discussions, and other presentations to other attorneys, health care professionals, and medical students related to medical and legal liability and risk management. Recent presentations are below.
- Med Mal Expert Witness Issue Review: Update and Tips
2023 CDLA Summer Conference; July 25, 2023 - Taking Back the Defense
National Pediatric Risk Managers Meeting; March 2, 2023
Publications
- Holley vs. Huang
284 P.3d 81 (Colo. App. 2011) - Villalpando vs. Denver Health & Hosp. Auth.
181 P.3d 357 (Colo. App. 2007) - Self vs. Crum
439 F.3d 1227 (10th Cir. 2006), cert. denied, 127 S.Ct. 131 - Vigil vs. Colorado Dept. of Higher Ed.
Univ. of Colo. Health Sciences Center, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 13641
- Holley vs. Huang
284 P.3d 81 (Colo. App. 2011) - Villalpando vs. Denver Health & Hosp. Auth.
181 P.3d 357 (Colo. App. 2007) - Self vs. Crum
439 F.3d 1227 (10th Cir. 2006), cert. denied, 127 S.Ct. 131 - Vigil vs. Colorado Dept. of Higher Ed.
Univ. of Colo. Health Sciences Center, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 13641