Mark Safty

Adjunct Faculty

401 UCB
2450 Kittredge Loop Drive
Wolf Law Building
Boulder, CO  80309
E-mail: mark.safty@colorado.edu

Educational Background:
LL.M.   Boston University   1978  
J.D.   University of Montana   1977  
B.A.   University of Montana   1974  
Bio:
For more than 30 years, energy companies operating on five continents have turned to Mr. Safty for virtually every type of development and financing transaction. In transactions involving $2 million to those exceeding $2 billion, he gained extensive experience developing and financing energy projects, including providing the counsel clients needed to clear regulatory, financial, and operational hurdles to keep pace with industry changes and demands.

In the 1980s, Mr. Safty served as lead counsel in the development, acquisition, financing, and refinancing of dozens of power generation facilities across the spectrum of energy technologies. Beginning the late 1990s, Mr. Safty focused his practice on development, construction, financing and M&A activity in the renewable energy industry. His earlier years of experience as general counsel and COO of a bank holding company, and his time as outside director and chairman of the board of a $2.5 billion financial institution, help him understand his clients' interests from the business side of any matter.

Mr. Safty served as the founding Partner and practice group leader for Holland & Hart's Energy & Infrastructure Group, and served from 1994-2001 as the chair of the firm's Business Department. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for project finance law. Mr. Safty is an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado's Law School, where he teaches Renewable Energy Development and Regulation and Finance as well as an Advanced Seminar on various energy and climate topics. He is also a frequent speaker at national and international conferences on renewable energy topics.

Mr. Safty currently serves as the Wirth Chair in Sustainable Development, an endowed chair housed in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado - Denver which is dedicated to analysis and action on sustainability issues. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Denver Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado, the Advisory Board of the Graduate School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado, and the Colorado Forum, a statewide public policy group; he is active in a wide variety of other public policy endeavors at the local, state and national level.

Courses:

Spring 2020 Seminar: Advanced Energy Law LAWS 8722-801
Fall 2019 Renewable Energy Project Finance and Development LAWS 6732-801
Fall 2017 Renewable Energy Project Finance and Development LAWS 6732-801
Fall 2017 Seminar: Law and Economics of Utility Regulation LAWS 8351-801
Spring 2016 Renewable Energy Project Finance and Development LAWS 6732-001
Spring 2015 Renewable Energy Project Finance and Development LAWS 6732-001
Spring 2014 Renewable Energy Project Finance and Development LAWS 6732-001