Judicial Experience:

 

Judge Pro Tempore –Superior Court,
Maricopa County, Arizona

 

Bar Admissions:

 

Colorado – 1996

Arizona – 1976

U.S. District Court, District of Colorado

U.S. District Court, District of Arizona

U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circ.

 

Education:

 

Pepperdine University School of Law, Malibu,
CA - J.D. – 1976

Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ - BS, Accounting - 1973

 

Honors and Awards:

 

Twice nominated to fill judicial vacancy in 14th Judicial District, Colorado

Routt County Bar Association, President’s Award

Martindale-Hubbell - BV Rating

Best Lawyers In America

 

Professional Associations and Memberships:

 

Arizona Trial Lawyers Assn., Board of Directors

Phoenix Trial Lawyers Assn., President

Routt County Bar Assn., President

Colorado Bar Assn.

Arizona Bar Assn.

American Trial Lawyers Assn.

American Bar Assn.

 

Pro Bono Activities:

 

 Routt County Law Day Coordinator

 City of Steamboat Springs Parks and Recreation Commission

 

Avocations:

 

Colorado High School Activities Assn., Certified Baseball Umpire

Experience:

 

Mr. Engle has engaged in the private practice of law since 1976.  Mr. Engle is a trial lawyer with extensive experience in civil litigation, including:  construction payment, performance, and quality disputes; construction defect; personal injury; professional malpractice, including medical, dental, and other licensed professions; product liability; wrongful death; real estate, including transactions, access, and boundary disputes; business; commercial; associations; and indoor air quality matters.  Mr. Engle represents both plaintiffs and defendants and has been engaged as insurance defense counsel by a number of insurance carriers.  Mr. Engle’s experience includes having presided over both bench and jury trials, while serving as Judge Pro Tempore in the Superior Court of Maricopa County, Arizona. Mr. Engle is currently a partner at SHARP, STEINKE, SHERMAN & ENGLE, LLC in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

 

Dispute Resolution:

 

Gary Engle is an “attorney-mediator,” reflecting that he is a mediator with legal training and substantial experience practicing law in a variety of substantive areas over the course of his career.

 

Mr. Engle is a “problem solver” first and foremost.  He has been an avid student of the “art of dispute resolution” since becoming a lawyer in 1976 and has observed and studied various approaches to resolving disputes during his 37 years of experience as a trial lawyer and part-time judge.  From his studies, observations, and experiences, Mr. Engle has gained the insight that dispute resolution is often made more difficult by the preconception of the parties and their advocates, that dispute resolution is a “win – lose” experience, when in fact, the “art of dispute resolution” recognizes that the most effective and satisfying dispute resolution is a “win – win” experience.  Rather than viewing one another as bitter “adversaries,” as is customary and even cultural in current western society, parties who share a dispute are, in reality, “partners bound in dispute” and are generally best served by working together as “partners crafting their own solution.”

 

It has become evident to Mr. Engle, through observation and experience, that parties to a dispute frequently do not have a clear understanding of the specific issue(s) forming the dispute, nor have they carefully quantified the dispute or its outcome, within a realistic and meaningful economic framework.  Once again, the historic and current adversarial culture of dispute resolution fails to focus on the mutuality of the disputed issues and their solution but rather, tends to exploit and promote polarization as the starting point.

 

Mr. Engle has found that this change in perspective as to how one views and approaches the dynamics of problem solving, allows bridges to be built toward a platform of common interest between the parties, through which they are empowered to achieve their mutual goal of crafting a solution to their problem, and avoiding the expense, risk, and burden of litigation and the feelings of helplessness and acrimony, often associated with the litigation process.