Colorado Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers - Practice Profile

John Robert Holland - Attorney
Anna Cayton-Holland - Attorney
Erica Tick Grossman - Attorney
Tommy Carson - Legal Assistant/Office Manager

John Robert Holland

I have a B.A. and M.A. from the University of California Santa Barbara in Religious Studies. I have my J.D. from U.C.L.A. I have the A.V. top rating from Martindale Hubble and have been repeatedly selected by my peers for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America. I was honored and humbled to recently receive the Anti-Defamation League's 2008 Civil Rights Award.

I have represented many people in individual cases. I have published articles on a number of subjects ranging from the Myth of Caps in nursing home litigation to disqualifying judges in Colorado civil cases. I am asked from time to time to lecture on nursing home litigation by the Colorado Bar Association and the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association. I also have been invited to speak on these subjects at national conventions, such as those sponsored by Mealey's. Lawyers call me for advice on their nursing home cases or to become associated with them. I have also spoken and written about representing Guantanamo Bay detainees.

I started practice as a student intern working for the Zuni Legal Aid Society in New Mexico while in law school at U.C.L.A. I received a three year Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellowship when I graduated.

I was assigned to the Denver Legal Aid Society where I stayed after my fellowship until 1979. During this time, I was fortunate to try many cases and to bring numerous major class action lawsuits. We challenged the way the government regulated nursing homes, focusing on paper compliance instead of the actual care delivered. We sued RTD to put lifts on buses so that people in wheelchairs could begin to be free in the world. We sued to expand the old age pension laws to pick up poor people starting at age 60 without a 35-year residency requirement, as had been the intent of the people of Colorado when the program was adopted during the Great Depression. We brought a number of other similar class actions. I became the Director of Litigation for Legal Aid and I began my own practice in 1979.

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Anna Cayton-Holland

Anna Cayton-Holland, my daughter, joined our practice as an attorney in October 2004 after obtaining her law degree at Northwestern University in Chicago. While in Law School she worked with the Juvenile and Death Penalty projects and also was a finalist in the prestigious Julius H. Miner Moot Court Competition. Anna attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut and graduated with honors in 2000. During college she was an intern for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington. Thereafter she was active in running a successful Congressional campaign for Jim Maloney. She then joined the Congressman in Washington as a staff member prior to deciding to go to law school. During her legal training she worked as a law clerk for the prominent plaintiff law firm of, Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld and Toll, also in Washington D.C. She also worked with Greater Boston Legal Services representing poor people. Anna speaks a number of languages and has traveled to over 35 countries. Before passing the bar and coming to work with me officially, Anna spent several summers in our office. She has long been deeply involved with both our nursing home practice and a number of important civil rights cases listed in our Significant Cases section. She also has a keen interest in representing plaintiffs in civil rights cases and has been actively involved in representing prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. She is licensed to practice in the state and federal courts of Colorado.

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Erica Grossman joined our practice as an attorney in August, 2007.

Erica obtained her law degree at the University of Michigan Law School and graduated with honors in 2004. During Law School she worked with the Criminal Justice clinic and was the recipient of the Lee Bollinger First Amendment award.

Before graduating from law school, Erica worked with us as a summer associate.

After graduating, Erica worked in the litigation department at the prominent law firm of Latham & Watkins, LLP in San Francisco, California.

While at Latham & Watkins, Erica dedicated herself to the firm's pro bono work, representing persecuted people seeking political asylum, low-income families in landlord-tenant disputes, indigent children in school expulsion hearings, and doing appellate work on constitutional rights issues.

Erica attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut and graduated with honors in 2000. After graduation from college, Erica worked with emotionally and behaviorally disturbed children in Massachusetts.

Erica is deeply committed to representing the families of people injured in nursing homes and to bringing cases to vindicate serious deprivations of civil rights.

Erica is licensed to practice before the state and federal courts of Colorado. She is also licensed to practice before the California bar and all courts within California.

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Tommy Carson

My name is Tommy Carson and I have known John Holland for over 25 years. I have worked for him at different times during those 25 years. I am Mr. Holland’s Legal Assistant, Office Manager and Secretary. Most likely I will be the first person you speak to when you call. My responsibility is to get all the pertinent information possible for Mr. Holland. After he goes over the information which I have taken he will talk to you or call you back and begin advising you as to how you should proceed. I help the attorneys organize all case materials and I also am involved in paralegal work reviewing case materials as needed.

A major part of my job is helping John and our new associates know what is happening. If they are not free when you call, please tell me what you want John to know. I can often speed up the process.

What you are going through, your experience with what has happened to your loved one, and helping you feel comfortable sharing your information is very important to me.

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