MICHAEL ALLAN YARNELL
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MICHAEL ALLAN YARNELL
Curriculum Vita
April, 2007

Work Experience
Expertise
Qualifications
Publications
Legal Education Courses
Other Interests
Expertise

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Since retiring from the trial bench in January, 2005, Judge Yarnell has continued his interest in alternative dispute resolution and is available for mediation, arbitration, special master, and consulting services. See www.michaelyarnell.com.

Since leaving the bench, Judge Yarnell has acted as sole arbitrator, and as a member or chair of three arbitrator panels, in over forty single and multiple day private and American Arbitration Association Arbitrations. He has conducted over twenty private mediations and acted as court appointed special master in a number of Maricopa County Superior Court cases. All arbitrations, mediations and special master assignments have involved construction issues, real estate issues, employment issues, and commercial business disputes.

Judge Yarnell is a member of the American Arbitration Association national panel for Commercial Disputes, the national Construction Disputes panel, and the CRAV (Center for Responsible Appraisals and Valuation) panel. Since retirement from full time judging, Judge Yarnell has served as a court appointed special master in civil cases related to pretrial procedures and discovery disputes.

In the business law and commercial area, Judge Yarnell has lectured on the application of Arizona's broad mandatory civil pretrial disclosure rules, the use of special discovery masters, mandatory settlement conferences, the use of alternative dispute resolution in civil matters, and the use of interim comprehensive pretrial conference dates to help maintain firm trial dates. Judge Yarnell presided over in excess of 250 jury trials and handled thousands of cases.

Judge Yarnell has lectured on the topics of "Ethics and Professionalism in ADR" and "Discovery in Arbitration" at the Summer Academy in International Commercial Arbitration sponsored by the Georgia State University Law School in co-operation with at Johannes Keppler Universitaet, during May and June, 2009 and in June of 2011. The SAIICA program covers three weeks in Linz, Austria and one week in Dubrovnik, Croatia. See http://law.gsu.edu/saiica/

Judge Yarnell has been active on various court and bar association committees promoting alternative dispute resolution in civil matters for many years. Judge Yarnell completed a forty hour medication for judges course sponsored by the American Bar Association Alternative Dispute Resolution Section and Judicial Division and been faculty for the same course in Phoenix in the fall of 2004.

Corporate and Business Law

Prior to assuming the bench in 1991, Judge Yarnell gained thirty years experience in the areas of corporate and business law as a senior partner with the large general business practice firm of Streich Lang in Phoenix, Arizona. His practice included representing all types of business entities, owners, minority shareholders and management in various contexts including contract disputes, corporate control disputes, and disputes with regulatory agencies. Judge Yarnell has extensive experience with the drafting, administration and enforcement of real property security devices in residential and commercial settings; extensive commercial foreclosure litigation; significant real property litigation relating to title insurance issues, boundary disputes, lien priority disputes; various general commercial disputes, including property damage insurance coverage, partnership disputes, accountants liability disputes, and various corporate governance issues.

For instance, in one large business dispute case, Judge Yarnell represented a 50% deadlocked co-owner in a business dispute involving over twenty interlocking partnerships and corporations utilizing a State Court appointed equity receiver to manage and complete many ongoing multiple multi-million dollar construction projects. Judge Yarnell is well versed in the substantive law of business organizations, corporate governance, contracts, real estate, lending, construction law and business torts.

Maricopa County Superior Court, serving a population exceeding 3,500,000, is the sixth largest trial court by volume in the United States. See www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov After assuming the bench in 1991, Judge Yarnell has spent ten of the last thirteen years on a civil case assignment presiding over all nature of general jurisdiction business disputes. These disputes have included contract disputes, corporate control disputes, disputes with regulatory agencies, business torts and class actions. Judge Yarnell has developed a reputation for effectively aiding the parties in the management of all phases of complex commercial litigation.

Judge Yarnell also has developed an expertise in the area of lawyer and business ethics, spending five years as a member of the State Bar Of Arizona Committee on Professional Responsibility (Legal Ethics). Judge Yarnell received a special recognition award for his work on the ethics committee. Judge Yarnell currently teaches full time at the Phoenix School of Law as Associate Professor of Law. He teaches Property, is the Director of the Externship Program, and is Chair of the Distance Education Workgroup, among other duties.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Now retired from the bench and employed full time at the Phoenix School of Law as Associate Professor of Law, Director of Externships, Judge Yarnell is continuing his interest in alternative dispute resolution by being available for mediation, arbitration, special master, and consulting services. See www.michaelyarnell.com. He has been active on various court and bar association committees promoting alternative dispute resolution in civil matters for many years. Judge Yarnell completed a forty hour medication for judges course sponsored by the American Bar Association Alternative Dispute Resolution Section and Judicial Division and been faculty for the same course in Phoenix in the fall of 2004.

Judge Yarnell is a member of the American Arbitration Association national panel for Commercial Disputes, the national Construction Disputes panel, and the CRAV (Center for Responsible Appraisals and Valuation) panel. He is a registered neutral with National Arbitration Forum. Judge Yarnell has frequently served as an arbitrator on both American Arbitration Association arbitrations and other private arbitrations since retirement from the bench. Since retirement form full time judging, Judge Yarnell has frequently served as court appointed special master in civil cases related to pretrial procedures and discovery disputes. During the last two years Judge Yarnell has served on over thirty mediation, arbitration or special master matters.

In the business law and commercial area, Judge Yarnell has lectured on the application of Arizona's broad mandatory civil pretrial disclosure rules, the use of special discovery masters, mandatory settlement conferences, the use of alternative dispute resolution in civil matters, and the use of interim comprehensive pretrial conference dates to help maintain firm trial dates. Judge Yarnell has presided over in excess of 250 jury trials and handled thousands of cases.

Teaching and Educational Administration

Judge Yarnell was Assistant to the Dean at Phoenix School of Law from May 1, 2006 to August 1, 2006, for special projects at the Phoenix School of Law, undertaking discrete projects related to the new law school's efforts to obtain provisional accreditation from the American Bar Association. Since August 1, 2006, he has been full time Assistant Clinical Professor of Law. At Phoenix Law Judge Yarnell teaches Property, is Director of the Student Externship Program, is chair of the Distance Education Workgroup, is on the Curriculum Committee, is on the committee developing the General Practice Skills course, and serves on the Intellectual Property Task Force. See www.phoenixlaw.org.

Judge Yarnell received his Masters Of Arts In Education while still on the bench. He has organized and taught many continuing legal education courses for over thirty years in the many areas, including: complex litigation, civil court procedure, court technology, conflict resolution, real estate law, commercial law, and construction law. A list of recent courses taught is attached in Appendix A.

Judge Yarnell is an Adjunct Professor – Judicial Education, Courts & Technology, Online Legal Education, of the University of Canberra, Canberra, AU. In late 2005 we spent six weeks in Australia lecturing on jury reform and court technology at the invitation of the Canberra University School of Law and Australia's Court Room Of The Future project. Judge Yarnell developed and presented a series of workshops in Canberra, Melbourne, and Sydney. Judge Yarnell's draft paper "Arizona Jury Reform: Past, Present and Future" is available on the website www.michaelyarnell.com/papers.html.

During 2005 Judge Yarnell prepared and presented a one week seminar on corporate governance and ethics to the Chamber of Auditors of Romania through USAID (Carana Corporation). Judge Yarnell previously presented a one week seminar on corporate governance to country leaders and the private sector in Georgetown, Guyana.

Judge Yarnell co-taught Legal Practice and Theory as an adjunct law professor at Arizona State University Law School, Spring Semester, 2002. He has completed the National Institute Of Trial Advocacy (NITA) faculty training program in Bolder, CO, and serves as faculty on NITA's Phoenix Regional Deposition Skills program.

Judge Yarnell has previously taught law related graduate and undergraduate school courses at the University Of Phoenix.

Distance Education

In January, 2004, Judge Yarnell completed a thirty two semester hour online academic masters program with the University of Phoenix. This program involved twenty five to thirty five hours each week of online activity over a period of nineteen months. Judge Yarnell maintained a 4.0 (straight A) average for all courses.

Judge Yarnell helped develop, populate and maintain the Maricopa County Superior Court Civil Department's Intranet civil judge web portal known as "Blackstone."

Judge Yarnell completed the National Judicial College's program "Distance Learning: A Faculty Development Workshop For Judicial Educators," February 28 - March 4, 2005, and the Distance Learning Workshop, March 5-9, 2007. He is working with the National Judicial College in the development of a Court Technology For Judges distance learning course.

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2356 E. Cheryl Dr., Phoenix, AZ 85028-3614
Phone: 602.791.3364   Fax: 602.288.7730
E-mail: info@michaelyarnell.com