LTS Founder
Lawrence D. Hilton, Esq.
Mr. Hilton holds Juris Doctorate and Masters of Business Administration degrees from Brigham Young University. Admitted to both the Utah and California bar associations, he has practiced in the areas of insurance coverage and defense, commercial litigation, business formation, estate planning, bankruptcy and Constitutional law for nearly four decades.
His first exposure to the practice of law occurred in 1981, while working for IBM on a complex anti-trust case in Paris, where he learned to love and speak French. He also speaks Spanish, and Afrikaans — having served a South African mission from 1977-1979.
During his last year of law school in 1986 — a time when Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) was in its infancy — first in Utah and later in Northern California, Mr. Hilton founded ADR services, working to enhance awareness and appreciation among attorneys, insurance adjusters and others of the benefits of various methodologies in resolving even the most intractable cases. He recruited and trained mediators, administered ADR proceedings, and developed innovative case management protocols within this emerging field.
Mr. Hilton began his career as a licensed lawyer with a San Francisco based, boutique, law firm specializing in maritime law and insurance defense. Learning the ropes of Jones Act and Longshoremen disputes in that busy port city, he honed his advocacy skills through active participation in litigation, discovery and motion practice.
Later as part of a large regional law firm, he expanded his practice to include business formation, insurance coverage, commercial and bankruptcy litigation, as well as estate planning. Over the years, he has gained significant trial and appellate experience in both State and Federal courts.
In 1998, Mr. Hilton founded Dominion Insurance Services and has since developed innovative insurance programs for professional Associations around the country. He has spoken and written widely on insurance and risk management topics, holds insurance licenses in all 50 states and is a tribunalized cover holder with Lloyd's of London through which his company, NAMX Insurance, operates several binding authorities.
Beginning in 2009, Mr. Hilton conceptualized, drafted, and then shepherded through the Utah Legislature the Specie Legal Tender Act, which was passed into law in 2011. By that statute, Utah became the first state in more than a century to formally recognize gold and silver coinage as legal tender.
Since then he has actively championed monetary reform measures not only in Utah, but in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming —with over a half dozen states all having adopted meaningful specie legal tender legislation.
Mr. Hilton formed Citizens for Sound Money in 2010, and the Utah Monetary Summit in 2011, which in its first year was attended by participants from more than a dozen U.S. states and half a dozen countries. In 2013, he co-founded the United Precious Metals Association (UPMA) to promote the commercial framework necessary to implement Utah's new monetary system.
Mr. Hilton was invited to sit on the Arizona House Ad Hoc Committee on Gold Bonds. In that role he helped draft the Committee’s final report, which was issued in December, 2016. He has also served on the Gold Standard Now advisory board of American Principles in Action, a Washington D.C. based public policy think tank.
Mr. Hilton currently serves as General Counsel for Alpine Gold Exchange, Crystal Victoria Corporation, Goldback Inc., Goldtinum Holdings Inc., Havilah Homes Inc., NAMX LLC, Quintric Business Trust, and the Celtic Heritage Society, as well as also serving as Exchequer of the Royal Court of Breifne — Ireland’s ancient middle kingdom.