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Meet Andrew McGuire, Newly Elected President of ACAA
By: William Bock, General Counsel, League of Arizona Cities and Towns
October 2013
Andrew McGuire was just elected president of the Arizona City Attorney's Association (ACAA). The ACAA is an association of all municipal attorneys in the
state of Arizona-both in-house attorneys, as well as attorneys representing cities and towns on a contract. The ACAA has an annual conference where city
and town attorneys can get together and discuss current municipal legal issues, and get CLE credits. The ACAA also has a roundtable discussion at the Annual
League of Cities and Towns Conference.
As Andrew begins his year-long term as president, we asked him some questions.
Tell us a little about your background, and where you were educated:
I moved to Arizona in 1986 to attend Arizona State University, where I received a Bachelor of Science in Urban Planning. I received my J.D. from Gonzaga
University School of Law in 1995, after which I returned to Arizona to begin my legal career and to get married. I was fortunate to spend my first few
years working for Bill Farrell, a man who truly understood the role of a municipal attorney. While the hours spent traveling to and from meetings with
Bill were a tremendous incubator for developing my skills in municipal law, the greatest thing he taught me was the value of our colleagues in this practice
area. Bill immediately introduced me to everyone in the ACAA because he valued, as I do, the vast wealth of experience in this organization. The almost daily
free exchange of that experience is a credit to the character of the members of the ACAA.
What is your background and experience in municipal law?
I am beginning my 19th year of municipal practice. I have had the privilege over the years to represent a large number of the cities and towns in the state in
one capacity or another, but my 13 years serving in the "first chair" as a City Attorney have been nothing short of invigorating. This is the last truly general
practice area of law; nearly every day brings a new challenge. To better meet those challenges, eight years ago I moved my small-firm practice to Gust Rosenfeld
so that I could provide my municipal clients with the even broader range of expertise of a firm that has been representing municipalities since 1921.
Do you have any plans or goals for the ACAA in the next year?
I do not expect to bring any great innovations to the ACAA; I just want to help keep the ship moving forward by building upon the great work of many incredible
attorneys who have held the position before me (some unwillingly). My hope is that 20 years from now I can look back at my time with the ACAA and know that I
have contributed some small part to the mountain of knowledge and experience in the group.
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League of Arizona Cities and Towns
1820 W. Washington St.
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Phone: 602-258-5786
Fax: 602-253-3874
http://www.azleague.org
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