Brian T. Ruocco

Brian maintains an active pro bono practice spanning civil rights, family law and asylum. Through this work, he helped reinstate religious accommodations for Pennsylvania inmates, won asylum for a transgender woman from Mexico and a political dissident from Afghanistan, and won parental visitation rights for an indigent mother.

Brian is also an active member of the Colorado legal community. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, where he teaches a seminar on LGBTQ+ constitutional law and rights. He also serves on the Board of the Colorado LGBTQ+ Bar Association, serves on the Legal Aid Foundation of Colorado’s Associates Advisory Board, and mentors a college student with the Law School . . . Yes We Can! program.

Prior to joining Faegre Drinker, Brian clerked for the Hon. Kevin McNulty on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and then for the Hon. Ronald Gilman on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Before law school, Brian was a special education teacher for three years through the Teach For America program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and with a KIPP charter school in Washington, D.C.

Representative Matters

• Principal author of two class-certification briefs that defeated wage-and-hour claims asserting billions of dollars in damages.
• Principal author of summary judgment brief in high-exposure wrongful death case that resolved 12 of 13 claims.
• Excluded most of an expert witness’s damages calculations in product liability lawsuit.
• Helped lead deposition strategy for a pro bono civil rights team that successfully reinstated religious accommodations for Muslim and other religious inmates in Pennsylvania.
• Served as appellate and major motions attorney for vehicle manufacturer. In that role, drafted motions in limine, oppositions to motions for summary judgment, and motions to exclude expert witnesses for trial teams, as well as developed appellate preservation plans for trial teams.
• Favorably settled cases for a logistics company, insurance company, medical device company, component parts manufacturer, real estate investment company and financial services company.

Personal Interests

Outside the office, Brian enjoys hiking, backpacking, skiing, reading LGBTQ+ literature and dystopian fiction, and spoiling his dog who was rescued from the streets of Memphis, Tennessee.