Darren R. Hensley

Polsinelli PC

Darren R. Hensley, Esq., is a member of the corporate and transactional practice group in the Denver office of Polsinelli PC. He has practiced law in the Colorado legal market since 1990, with his practice emphasizing a wide variety of corporate, securities, mergers and acquisitions, financings, and general business law matters and transactions. Mr. Hensley was ranked in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, Corporate/M&A in 2014 - 2025 and was selected for inclusion in the 2013 - 2025 editions of The Best Lawyers in America® in the corporate practice area. The Best Lawyers in America® also named him as the Lawyer of the Year in the Corporate Law Area in Denver in 2018. In 2006 and 2010, 5280 Magazine named Mr. Hensley as a Colorado SuperLawyer in the business/corporate practice areas and in 2011 - 2021 named him as a Colorado SuperLawyer in the M&A practice area. In addition, 5280 Magazine included him in the 2023 - 24 Denver’s Top Lawyers List for Corporate Law. In 2022, he was selected by Law Week Colorado as the Barrister’s Best in Corporate Law and he was named to the 2025 ColoradoBiz Magazine Power Player List for Business Law. A sell-side transaction he led was named 2024 Americas Atlas Awards Growth Equity Deal of the Year for the middle market. He has also published articles and lectured on mergers and acquisitions and transactional legal topics. Mr. Hensley was previously appointed by former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper to the Colorado Securities Board where he served two three-year terms and as the Vice Chair and Chair, and is currently the Chair of the M&A Subsection of the Colorado Bar Association.  He is a member of the Denver, Colorado (Business Law Section, Business Law Section Executive Council, Chair - M&A Subsection, former member of Business Law Institute Planning Committee), and American (Business Law Section) bar associations and the Missouri Bar (Business Law Section). He is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Legal Aid Foundation of Colorado and the Hope House of Colorado Strategic Planning Committee. Prior to joining Polsinelli PC, Mr. Hensley was a founding member and head of the corporate, securities, and M&A practice group of the Denver-based law firm of HKH Law, LLC. He was instrumental in the growth of the firm from two attorneys to 18 attorneys and over 30 total employees, with substantial management and administrative responsibility for the firm, including accounting, finance, risk management, and personnel. Inc. Magazine named the firm to the Inc. 5000 in 2007 - 2011 as one of the fastest-growing businesses in the United States. Prior to HKH, he practiced with the national law firms of Brobeck Phleger & Harrison LLP, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, and Kirkland & Ellis, and was a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Russell G. Clark, United States District Judge for the Western District of Missouri. Mr. Hensley earned his B.A. degree (magna cum laude) from Missouri Western State College and Graceland College, and his M.B.A. (Graduate Business Scholar) and J.D. (Order of the Coif) degrees from the University of Kansas.

 

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