Russ Watterson is a transactional and corporate attorney with extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, real estate development, regulatory matters, and energy-sector deals. Over the course of his 28-year legal career, Russ has served as general counsel to both public and private companies, advised on high-value acquisitions, and guided real estate ventures from formation through entitlement, financing, and divestiture. His work spans a variety of sectors including real estate, homebuilding, land use, energy, and logistics..
Russ often operates at the intersection of business, regulatory, and real estate law, offering clients strategic insight and practical legal solutions. His transactional experience includes middle market corporate acquisitions, as well as complex restructurings, joint ventures, and project financings. He has also advised on transactions involving international asset divestitures and operations across the U.S., Canada, and Latin America.
He began his legal career at Bennett Jones LLP in Calgary, Alberta, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions in the energy sector. During this time, he assisted TransCanada Pipelines with the divestiture of pipeline assets in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. After relocating to Denver in 2001, Russ served as general counsel for an associated group of real estate developers. Later, Russ joined TFI International Inc. (NYSE and TSX:TFII), where he served as General Counsel – US Operations, for the $8.4 billion transportation and logistics company during its U.S. expansion, overseeing M&A, litigation, real estate, and employment matters.
In 2016, Russ founded Watterson Law, advising real estate investors, developers, homebuilders, and entrepreneurs in Colorado and across North America.
In 2025, Russ joined Foster Graham Milstein & Calisher, LLP as Special Counsel, bringing his broad real estate transactional and general counsel experience to the firm’s real estate, corporate, and energy clients.
Education
- J.D., cum laude, J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University, 1997 Law Review, Executive Board
- Publication: Adarand Constructors v. Pena: Madisonian Theory as a Justification for Lesser Constitutional Scrutiny of Federal Race-Conscious Legislation, 1996 BYU L. Rev. 301, (1996).
- B.A., cum laude, Brigham Young University (1994), Philosophy Major, Political Science Minor
- Presidential Scholarship (Full Tuition, 4 years), and civil engineering scholarship.
Admissions
- Colorado, 1997
- Alberta, 1998 (inactive)
Languages
- Spanish Fluency
Personal and Community Activities
- Former Board Member, Buffalo Ridge Metropolitan District
- Former Board Member: Big Dry Creek Metropolitan District, Blue Lake Metropolitan District
- Former Board Member: Various domestic companies providing transportation, oilfield services and courier services.
Community Service and Hobbies
- Spending time travelling with wife and four children
- Volunteer church service
- Running, Basketball, chess, hiking, snowshoeing, skiing
- Chess Club Director: Carson Elementary, 2003 – 2017
- Missionary, Southern Chile 1988 – 1990