BECHTEL SANTO - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder of Bechtel & Santo ( Retired )
- Co - Founder, Retired )
- Retired
Betty Bechtel graduated with honors from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a B.S. in Business in 1967. While her husband, Joel, attended medical school, she worked as a statistician for the telephone company, then attended Lewis and Clark College, Northwestern School of Law, attaining her J.D., cum laude, in 1978. From 1979-1980, she worked in the employment law section of Dykema Gossett law firm in Detroit, Michigan. Returning home to Colorado in 1980, she practiced primarily employment law for 25 years with Dufford, Waldeck, Milburn & Krohn in Grand Junction. In 2005, she and Michael Santo founded Bechtel & Santo, emphasizing employment law for businesses. Betty retired from active practice in 2011, but still contributes to the firm's quarterly newsletter, The Employer's Advisory, published since 1994.
Betty's list of positions in service to the Western Colorado community is extensive. She has served as board member and chair of Mesa County Economic Development Council (n/k/a Grand Junction Economic Partnership); Mesa County Pro Bono Association; Business Incubator Center; Cinema at the Avalon; Hilltop Rehabilitation Hospital; Hospice of the Grand Valley; Western Colorado Area Health Education Center; Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce, The Art Center, Colorado Mesa University Board of Trustees, and Board of Cooperative Educational Services.
In 2013, Betty was honored by the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce when they named her Citizen of the Year.
Betty Bechtel retired from active practice in 2011, but she still stays in touch. Currently the firm consists of attorneys Michael Santo, Christina Harney and Tim Wolfe and its legal assistant, Rachel Englehart, and office manager, Debbie Morrison.
Christina Harney graduated summa cum laude with a focus on English Literature from Arizona State University. During her undergraduate degree she worked full time in healthcare focusing on medical billing and healthcare administration. She went on to earn her law degree at Gonzaga University School of law in Spokane, Washington, where she served on Law Review. In law school, Christina received a coveted internship with the Washington Attorney General's Office, where she obtained a limited license to practice law and litigated cases in the areas of child welfare and adult protection. She was promoted to the lead intern after the first year of her internship.
After graduation, Christina practiced for some time in the area of bankruptcy law. She assisted organizations with full liquidation after the 2008 market downturn. Wanting to get back into healthcare, Christina left the law for six years to work in managerial roles for large health care organizations. She worked as a senior manager of a critical access hospital for three years. She went on to obtain leadership positions at larger medical organizations. During this time, she became a certified expert in employee benefits and compensation, employment law, and human resource information systems to include enterprise resource planning software. She also became knowledgeable in standard procedures for health care organizations and all areas of health care law. Ms. Harney has extensive experience negotiating and resolving disputes in a corporate setting. She also has extensive experience training groups in complex areas of law.
Christina moved to the Western Slope four years ago and has been practicing law as a general litigator. She has argued cases in almost every area of law in State and Federal Court and in administrative agencies such as the EEOC and DOL. She has managed litigation in the areas of contract disputes, employment law disputes, estate disputes, divorces and child custody matters. Christina has also drafted contracts, employee benefit plans, employee handbooks, and estate planning documents. Christina is licensed to practice law in Arizona and Colorado.
Michael Santo began practicing law in his home state of Michigan in 1992 after receiving his undergraduate degree from Michigan State University and his law degree from the University of Detroit. After graduating from law school, he fulfilled a life-long dream of moving to Colorado when he accepted a position with Dufford, Waldeck, Milburn & Krohn and later cofounded the firm of Bechtel & Santo with Betty Bechtel. Since 1994, Michael has focused his practice on defending companies in employment litigation, including race, sex, age, national origin, religious, and disability discrimination lawsuits; wrongful discharge; and wage and hour matters. In addition, he regularly represents employers in prosecuting and defending claims of trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, and employee raiding.
Counseling companies on day-to-day employment issues is also an important part of Michael's practice. This includes advising employers on hiring, discipline, and termination decisions; on leave and disability issues; and on preparing and revising employee handbooks. By helping employers develop sound personnel policies, Michael assists many Colorado companies, large and small, in minimizing the risk of employment-related litigation.
In 2014, Michael was lead counsel in the Colorado Supreme Court case, ICAO v. Soft Rock. This case assisted employers by requiring the Department of Labor to more thoroughly analyze the independent-contractor factors during a Colorado Department of Labor audit.
Michael is a frequent lecturer on employment law issues and is a contributing author for: The Practitioner's Guide to Colorado Employment Law, Continuing Legal Eduction (CLE) in Colorado, Inc. (1999 and supplements); The Practitioner's Guide to Colorado Business Organizations, CLE in Colorado, Inc. (2004); and The Employer's Advisory, a Bechtel & Santo quarterly newsletter, published since 1994.