Background

Michael Arndt is uniquely suited for litigation of complex technological disputes, product liability, intellectual property and commercial litigation. A first-generation German-American, Michael was born in Orange County, California. As a younger man, Michael assisted his father in business while studying Economics in graduate school at both Auburn University and the University of California—Irvine. Michael also studied Mathematics, which led him to a career in engineering research and development, including work at NASA prior to becoming a trial lawyer. Michael also handles criminal law defense.

Michael came to Colorado in 2008 and thereafter enrolled in law school to pursue another of his dreams—to be a successful trial lawyer specializing in complex civil litigation and high-stakes criminal defense. Michael’s joint love of law, science, engineering and mathematics led him to Godfrey Law, P.C., where he utilizes his extensive professional experience in the representation of a diverse array of clientelle.

Trial experience

Mr. Arndt worked as a statistical data analyst at the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council (CDAC) where he conducted a ground breaking study on felony level conviction data across the state. Mike presented his findings to both the CDAC’s Board of Governors (including all 22 elected District Attorneys) as well as to officials at the state judicial office.

He worked as a Deputy District Attorney in Colorado’s two largest judicial districts: Denver and Colorado Springs and was highly recruited by two other judicial districts. He prosecuted over 35 jury trials, many of them solo, as well as having conducted countless motion and preliminary hearings.

After leaving the public sector, he gained experience in insurance defense and the worker’s comp fields. Eventually he opened his own practice where he practiced general civil litigation and criminal defense.

Unique engineering experience

Prior to his legal endeavors, Mike studied Engineering Physics in graduate school at the nation’s premier public university, the University of Virginia. He attended UVA on a scholarship from the Engineering Physics department. Mike eventually transferred to the Mechanical and Aerospace Department and soon began his research on-site at NASA, Langley (the original NASA center). His research involved low speed aerodynamics as well as supersonic airflow where he studied high lift devices as well as the sonic boom signature of supersonic business jet prototypes.

That work brought him to the Modeling and Simulation Laboratory at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Mike moved to Colorado in 2008. At USAFA he continued his research in low speed aerodynamics advising the government on ways to improve the fuel economy of certain types of aircraft as well as analysis of the flow over ropes deployed from hoovering vehicles used by special operators in the field.
In addition to his research work he taught and mentored cadet’s in computational and experimental design. His love for teaching goes back to his grad school days where he taught undergrads such things as microeconomics and ordinary differential equations.

Mike ended his engineering career as a software engineer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. He wrote and analyzed computer programs to study massively parallel processing of enormous sets of atmospheric data for use by scientists in the climatological community. He was involved in some of the initial testing and evaluation of the use of graphical processing units (GPUs) in massively parallel computing centers.

Pursuits

Michael is a proudly vegan competitive endurance athlete. He is a marathoner and rides his road bike to the top of Mt. Evans in the big chain ring just for fun and because it’s more efficient. His ultimate goal—as a tribute to his father—is to qualify, not be gifted or buy, a spot in the IRONMAN® world championship in Kona.

Mr. Arndt was also the captain of a men’s recreational hockey team for over 8 years leading it to its first championship.

Education

• Juris Doctor, 2017, Strum College of Law, University of Denver.

• University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. Ph.D.(ABD), Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, 8/2003 – 6/2004.  

• Bachelor of Science in Mathematics(Magna Cum Laude), 2003, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama.

• Bachelor of Science in Economics(Magna Cum Laude), 1996, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama.

Court Admissions

State and federal court in Colorado

Memberships & Professional Affiliations

• American Bar Association
• Colorado Bar Association
• Arapahoe County Bar Association

Honors & Awards

• Rising Star Fellowship, NASA-Langley.
• Whitehurst Fellowship, University of Virginia.
• Dean’s Fellowship, University of Virginia.
• Presidential Fellowship, University of Virginia.
• DuPont Fellowship, University of Virginia.
• Sally Hawthorne Physics Scholarship Auburn University Board of Trustees Scholarship.
• Phi Kappa Phi.
• Dean’s List, 9 consecutive quarters.
• Golden Key National Honor Society

Articles & Publications

• Conceptual Design and Computational Investigation of Stabilator Mounted Coplanar with Wing. Michael Arndt, Steven Brandt, and Keith Bergeron.

• Session: APA-29: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Designs/Tests
  Published Online: 25 Jun 2012 https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2010-1428

• Aerodynamic Optimization and Evaluation of KC-135R Winglets, Raked Wingtips, and a Wingspan Extension. Joel Halpert, Daniel Prescott, Thomas Yechout, and Michael Arndt

• Session: APA-2: Airfoil/Wing/Configuration Aerodynamics
  Published Online: 25 Jun 2012 https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2010-57