Jacob Gudenkauf

Senior Associate

Jacob Gudenkauf is a litigator with a broad range of experience in construction and design, premises liability, health care, employment, toxic torts, commercial litigation, catastrophic injury, and coverage matters. Mr. Gudenkauf defends a variety of licensed professionals including architects, engineers, and design professionals involved with construction defect claims, as well as doctors, nurses, and health care providers facing medical malpractice claims. He counsels employers with investigations of harassment, retaliation, and discrimination and defends public entities in matters involving Constitutional torts, governmental immunity, and local governance.

Mr. Gudenkauf’s focus is on first seeking to understand his client’s goals and story. Whether through facilitating an early resolution or pursuing a matter through trial and final judgment, he always seeks to find creative solutions to the problems that face his clients and to help them reach their goals.

Mr. Gudenkauf graduated cum laude from Willamette University College of Law. During law school, he served as a Judicial Extern for the Honorable Elizabeth Weishaupl in Colorado’s 18th District and clerked with the Trial Division of the Oregon Department of Justice.

Bar Admissions

  • Utah, 2022
  • Colorado, 2016
  • U.S. District Court, District of Utah
  • U.S. District Court, District of Colorado

Location

Salt Lake City Office
175 South Main Street
Suite 500
Salt Lake City, UT 84111

Education

JD: Willamette University College of Law, 2016, cum laude
BA: University of Colorado, 2012, History and Political Science

Contact

gudenkaufj@hallevans.com

More About
Jacob

Decisions
  • Won summary judgment on behalf of general contractor construction defect, defamation, and breach of contract case.
Professional Associations
  • Claims and Litigation Management Alliance
Other Activities
  • Mr. Gudenkauf enjoys spending time with his family, playing golf (poorly), and cheering for the University of Colorado Buffaloes.

Patrice Stephenson-Johnson

Associate

Patrice Stephenson-Johnson is a civil litigator with over 20 years of wide-ranging experience. Patrice’s practice includes hospitality & retail, transportation, premises liability, workers’ compensation, and employment. She is also experienced in business litigation and transactions, regulatory compliance, and family law. She litigates on behalf of retailers, gig-economy companies, employers, insurers, corporations, and individuals.

Before Hall & Evans, Patrice worked at boutique insurance defense firms in Nevada, served as a Field Litigation Attorney with a global insurer, and maintained a solo civil and criminal practice. Patrice represents clients before administrative agencies, in mediations and arbitrations, and across state and federal courts in Nevada.

Bar Admissions

  • Nevada, 2011
  • Alabama (inactive), 2003
  • U.S. District Court, District of Nevada
  • U.S. District Court, Middle District of Alabama
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Alabama

Location

Las Vegas Office
1160 North Town Center Drive
Suite 330
Las Vegas, NV 89144

Education

LLM: Temple University, James A. Beasley School of Law, 2004, International/ Transnational Law

JD: University of Alabama School of Law, 2002

BS: University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1998, Criminal Justice, minor in History

Contact

stephenson-johnsonp@hallevans.com

More About
Patrice

Career Distinctions & Honors

 

  • Outstanding/Solo Small Firm Award, National Bar Association Women Lawyers Division, 2024
  • Sam H. Hamner Academic Scholarship
  • Who’s Who Among American Law Students, 2002
  • Alabama Public Interest Legal Association Grant Writing Award Recipient, 2000
  • Student Articles Editor, Law and Psychology Review, 2000-2002
Professional Experience
  • Judicial Clerk Intern, The Honorable John E. Ott, United States Magistrate, Northern District of Alabama, Birmingham, AL, 2002
Professional Associations
  • Southern Nevada Association of Women Attorneys
Other Activities
  • Patrice enjoys yoga, travel, and spending time with her family.

Edward A. Khatskin

Senior Associate

Edward Khatskin focuses his practice on representing clients in high-dollar-value commercial and complex civil litigation matters in federal and state courts throughout Illinois and Missouri. Additionally, Mr. Khatskin has continuously obtained favorable results in defending claims involving medical malpractice, 42 U.S.C.§ 1983 civil rights, class action, wrongful death, personal injury, premises liability, transportation, employment, insurance coverage, toxic tort, and general civil and other tort claims.

Prior to law school, Mr. Khatskin worked as an accountant and owned a mortgage brokerage. This experience has helped him successfully represent clients in litigation involving the financial services and real estate industries, including cases with complex financial data, business valuation disputes, complex mechanic’s lien issues, quiet title actions, easements, boundary disputes, HOA and condominium disputes, and alleged realtor and title company negligence.

Bar Admissions

  • Illinois, 2015
  • Missouri, 2012
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri

Location

Chicago Office
121 West Wacker Drive
Suite 2150
Chicago, IL 60601

Education

JD: Washington University School of Law, 2012

BS: Saint Louis University, 2000, Finance/Accounting

Contact

khatskine@hallevans.com

More About
Edward

Career Distinctions & Honors
  • Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America; Healthcare Law, 2021-2022
  • CALI Excellence for the Future Award, Complex Civil Litigation, 2012
Professional Associations
  • American Bar Association
  • Chicago Bar Association
Articles & Publications // Presentations // Webinars
  • As a member of the Chicago Bar Association’s Litigation Committee presented and moderated panel discussion with Judge Mary Rowland from the Northern District of Illinois on Settlement Conferences.
Other Activities
  • In his free time, Mr. Khatskin enjoys raising his two kids, traveling, skiing, motorcycling, and scuba diving.

Languages
  • Native proficiency in Russian

John F. “Jack” Peters

Member

Jack Peters is a trial and appellate litigator. He has first chaired over fifty jury trials, tried cases to judges and arbitrators, and handled multiple appeals to state and federal appellate courts. His practice focuses on the defense of civil rights and other claims against public entities; representing school districts in a wide variety of claims, including Title IX, Title VI, IDEA, and Section 504; labor and employment litigation and counseling; administrative complaints before state and federal regulatory bodies; professional liability claims against real estate brokers and medical professionals; probate, guardianship, and other fiduciary litigation; and general commercial litigation, including securities fraud and contract disputes, including real estate broker commission disputes.

Before joining Hall and Evans, Mr. Peters was a prosecutor in Boulder County where he tried dozens of cases to verdict, handled extensive appellate work, and supervised the District Attorney’s Office law clerks. Mr. Peters graduated from Vermont Law School magna cum laude in the top 5% of his class. He served as articles editor of the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, worked in the chambers of Justice Denise Johnson of the Vermont Supreme Court, and was a summer associate in the Shanghai office of an international law firm. He continues to mentor law students and is actively involved in the legal community. Before law school, Mr. Peters was a licensed real estate salesperson in New York City and a middle school teacher in Denver.

Bar Admissions

  • Colorado, 2012
  • Kentucky (inactive), 2011
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, District of Colorado

Location

Denver Office
1001 17th Street
Suite 300
Denver, CO 80202

Education

JD: Vermont Law School, 2011, magna cum laude
BA: University of Chicago, 2004, Classical Languages and Literatures

Contact

petersj@hallevans.com

More About
Jack

Appeals
  • People v. Penn, 32, 379 P.3d 298 (Colo. 2016)
Professional Associations
  • Colorado Bar Association
  • Boulder Bar Association, Member, Board of Directors 2017 – 2020
  • Faculty of Federal Advocates
Career Distinctions & Honors
  • Senior Articles Editor, Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, 2010 – 2011
License
  • New York State Real Estate Salesperson License, inactive
Articles & Publications // Presentations // Webinars
  • Presenter, “Diverse Juries Reach Better Verdicts: How Litigators can Create Diverse Jury Panels and Prevent Bias in Deliberations” Colorado Bar Association Litigators’ Summit, November 2023
  • Presenter, “Qualified Immunity and the Basics of Civil Claims Against Law Officers,” Boulder County Bar Association CLE, September 2020
  • Presenter, “The Legal Effect of Turning 18,” Monarch High School, 2014 – present
  • Presenter, “Finding and Using Digital Evidence,” Kentucky Prosecutors Conference, 2017
  • Trainer, Colorado District Attorney’s Council, 2014 – 2018
Professional Experience
  • Deputy District Attorney, Twentieth Judicial District, Boulder, CO, 2012 – 2019
  • Intern, Hon. Justice Denise Johnson, Vermont Supreme Court, Montpelier, VT, 2009
Languages
  • Conversational in French, Italian, and Spanish. Knowledge of Mandarin Chinese, German, and Swedish.

Kurt R. Bonds

Member

Kurt Bonds has practiced in Las Vegas, Nevada since 1997, focusing on litigation and transactional law. His litigation practice includes trucking and transportation matters, hospitality & retail, premises liability, employment, products liability, insurance defense, workers’ compensation defense, and toxic tort law. On the transactional side, Mr. Bonds handles corporate law, business transactions, banking law, contracts, real estate matters, and homeowners’ association matters.

Mr. Bonds serves as a court appointed Arbitrator for the Eighth Judicial District Court in Clark County and as a Referee/Arbitrator for the Nevada Real Estate Division. He also teaches risk reduction classes at the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors on various issues including trademark, licensing, advertising, and contracts.

An active participant in the legal community, Mr. Bonds is a member of the State Bar of Nevada, International Bar Association, American Inns of Court, the Clark County Bar Association, the Community Associations Institute, and the Supreme Court Historical Society. He is a frequent seminar speaker on transactional law issues, estate planning, and legal issues affecting homeowners’ associations and management companies. Mr. Bonds was named one of Nevada’s top business attorneys in the 2008 “Legal Elite” issue of the Nevada Business Magazine. He has also been recognized in Mountain States Super Lawyers® for his business and corporate law practice.

Bar Admissions

  • Nevada, 1997
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, District of Nevada

Location

Las Vegas Office
1160 North Town Center Drive
Suite 330
Las Vegas, NV 89144

Education

JD: University of Nebraska College of Law, 1996
BS: Brigham Young University, 1993, International Finance, Minor in Business Composite

Contact

bondsk@hallevans.com

More About
Kurt

Career Distinctions & Honors
  • The Best Lawyers in America®, Commercial Litigation, 2025-2026
  • Martindale-Hubbell®, Distinguished Peer Review Rated
  • Mountain States Super Lawyers®, Business/Corporate, 2016-2017
  • Nevada’s Top Attorneys, Nevada Business Magazine, 2008
Professional Associations
  • State Bar of Nevada
  • Clark County Bar Association
  • Supreme Court Historical Society
  • American Bar Association
  • International Bar Association
Professional Experience
  • Prior to joining Hall & Evans, Mr. Bonds served as Managing Partner and Chair of the Business Law department at Alverson Taylor & Sanders in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Articles & Publications // Presentations // Webinars
  • Speaker, “Negotiation Win/Win for Client”, Greater Las Vegas Area Realtors, June 2016
  • Speaker, “Legal Update,” Nevada Mutual Insurance Company Risk Management Seminar, May 2014
  • Speaker, “Advertising, Social Media Ethics and Liabilities,” Greater Las Vegas Area Realtors, May 2014
  • Author, “Conquering Contracts–Property Management Agreements and Landlord/Tenant Laws,” State of Nevada, Department of Business and Industry Real Estate Division, September 2012
Other Activities
  • In his spare time, Mr. Bonds enjoys playing and coaching basketball and spending time with his wife and their five children.

Languages
  • Portuguese