PRACTICE HISTORY:

Mr. Gaines is the Managing Partner and Founder of the Gaines Law Group, established in 2018.  He has a General Practice serving the needs of Santa Cruz, Cochise, and Pima County.  His specialty for many years was litigation.  He was certified as a Legal Specialist in Personal Injury and Wrongful Death from 1992 to 2013.  He continues to be certified as a Trial Specialist by the American Board of Trial Advocates.  He is rated an “AV”/Preeminent Lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell, an organization that has been around for 150 years rating Lawyers.  Less than one out of ten Lawyers in the general population are rated “AV”/Preeminent.

From 1981 to 2013, Mr. Gaines was a Partner in the Udall Law Firm.  For much of that time, he had offices both in Phoenix and Tucson.  During this time, Mr. Gaines represented various Public Service Agencies, including the Tucson Police Department, Tucson Fire Department, and Department of Public Safety.  Beginning in the late to mid-1990s, Mr. Gaines shifted the focus of much of his practice to the representation of Healthcare Providers, including Hospitals, Doctors, Nurses, etc.  He also continued to represent companies making products and catastrophic personal injury cases.  He has for three decades, represented a number of insurers in bad-faith litigation and coverage issues.

Mr. Gaines regularly participates as a speaker in seminars involving his primary areas of practice.  He also speaks frequently before professional civic groups on risk management and other topics relating to his area of practice.

He has also served as Judge Pro Tem for approximately 10 years in the Pima County Superior Court.

PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS:

• Arizona Bar State Bar Association, Certified Legal Specialist in Personal Injury and Wrongful Death from 1992 to 2013.
• American Board of Trial Advocates, certified as a Trial Specialty Advocate – 1998 to present.

EDUCATION:

                   B.A. Anthropology, University of Arizona, 1976

1. D., University of Arizona, 1981

Law School Honors and Activities:

• Law Review: 2nd-year writer – 1979-1980
• Law Review Editor – 1980-1981
• Recipient Arizona Law Review Editor’s Award – 1979-1980
• Recipient, Corpus Juris Secundum Scholarship
• Recipient, Graduate Academic Scholarship – 1979-80; 1980-81

PUBLICATIONS:

• Case note, Arizona’s Consumer Fraud Act: A Standard of Conduct, 22 Ariz. Law Review 321 (1980)
• Contributing author to the following handbooks (representative only from 1990 to present):
  • NBI, Determining and Proving Damages, Assessing Evaluating Type of Damages Available in Tort Actions. (1990)
  • PESI, Preparing and Trying the Automobile Accident Case, Damages/Settlement (1990)
  • PESI, Arizona Tort Liability Issues in Work Site Accident Case
  • NBI, Personal Injury litigation Practice in Arizona, Evaluating Personal Injury Cases) (1991)
  • Arizona State Bar Association, Taking and Defending Depositions (1992)
  • Arizona Association of Defense Counsel, Professionalism and Ethics (1995)
  • Arizona State Bar Association and CAN Companies, The Minefields of Practice (1995 and 1996)
  • NBI, Medical Malpractice in Arizona (1995)
  • NBI, Proving, and Disputing Damages (1996)
  • NBI, Trying the Wrongful Death Case in Arizona (1996)
  • State Bar of Arizona, Medical Malpractice Case: From Case Screening to Jury (1997)
  • NBI, Winning Ways with Direct and Cross-Examination: Guiding Principles for the Civil Litigator in Arizona (1997)
  • NBI, Trying the Automobile Injury Case (1997)
  • CLE-Ops, Settlement Conferences, and Mediation (1998)
  • State Bar of Arizona, Mandatory Dispute Resolution – Is This the Future (1998)
  • State Bar of Arizona, Law of Insurance Bad Faith (1998)
  • NBI, Medical Malpractice in Arizona (1998)
  • CNA Dental Malpractice in Arizona (1998)
  • NBI, Personal Injury Settlements in Arizona: Practical Methods for Perfecting the Settlement of a Claim (1998)
  • NBI, Advanced Issues in Arizona Medical Malpractice Cases (1999)
  • Arizona State Bar Association, the Medical Malpractice Case: From Case Screening to Jury (2000)
  • NBI, Advanced Issues in Arizona Medical Malpractice (2001)
  • NBI, Powerful Evidence in Arizona Civil Litigation (2004)
  • Arizona State Bar Association, Nuts and Bolts Trial Courtroom Series-Use of Depositions and Statement at Trial (2004)

REPRESENTATIVE PROFESSIONAL LECTURES (REPRESENTATIVE ONLY FROM 1990 TO PRESENT:

• Lecturer at all above seminars resulting in the above publications.
• Lecturer: Taking and Defending Depositions sponsored by the Arizona State Bar Association, Phoenix (1992)
• Lecturer, Litigating Products Liability Case, sponsored by Pima County Bar Association (1992)
• Lecturer, Professionalism, and Ethics, sponsored by the Arizona Association of Defense Counsel (1995)
• Lecturer, the Minefields of Practice, and author of supplement to the text, sponsored by the Arizona State Bar and the CAN Companies (1995 and 1996)
• Medical Malpractice in Arizona, sponsored by the National Business Institute (1995)
• Lecturer, Proving and Disputing Damages, sponsored by the National Business Institute (1996)
• Lecturer, Trying the Wrongful Death Case in Arizona, sponsored by the National Business Institute (1996)
• Lecturer, Medical Malpractice Case: From Case Screening to Jury, sponsored by the State Bar of Arizona (1997)
• Lecturer, Winning Ways with Direct and Cross-Examination: Guiding Principles for the Civil Litigator in Arizona (1997)
• Lecturer, Trying the Automobile Injury Case, sponsored by National Business Institute (1997)
• Lecturer, Settlement Conferences, and Mediation, sponsored by CLE-Ops (1998)
• Lecturer, the Law of Insurance Bad Faith: A Balanced Perspective, sponsored by the State Bar of Arizona (1998)
• Lecturer, Medical Malpractice in Arizona, sponsored by National Business Institute (1998)
• Lecturer, Risk Management Seminar for Dentists (1998)
• Lecturer, Dental Malpractice in Arizona, sponsored by CAN Insurance Co. (1998)
• Lecturer, Personal Injury Settlements in Arizona: Practical Methods for Perfecting the Settlement of a Claim, sponsored by National Business Institute (1998)
• Lecturer, Advanced Issues in Arizona Medical Malpractice Cases, sponsored by National Business Institute (1999, 2000, 2001)
• Lecturer, the Medical Malpractice Case: From Case Screening to Jury, sponsored by the Arizona State Bar Association (2000)
• Lecturer, State Bar of Arizona Course on Professionalism, Tucson Community Center, April 6, 2001
• Lecturer, Current Trends in Professional Liability, Litigation, sponsored by the professional Liability Underwriter’s Society (2001)
• Lecturer, GE Med Protective Medical Malpractice Risk Management Seminar: March 26, 2002.  Sheraton Hotel, Tucson, Arizona
• Lecturer, State Bar of Arizona Course of Professionalism, June 8, 2002, Westin La Paloma, Tucson, Arizona
• Lecturer, Masters in Trial, sponsored by Foundation of the Arizona Board of Trial Advocates, April 4, 2003, Hilton El Conquistador Resort, Tucson, Arizona
• Lecturer, Smart Practice, Not Malpractice, sponsored by Health Agencies of the West, Inc., May 22, 2023, Radisson Hotel City Center, Tucson, Arizona
• Lecturer, Arizona’s New Year in Evidence, sponsored by CLE West, June 20, 2003, Radisson Hotel City Center, Tucson, Arizona
• Lecturer, Risk Management, sponsored by Tucson Orthopedic Institute, July 15, 2003, Tucson, Arizona
• Lecturer, Risk Management, sponsored by CAN Insurance, Embassy Suites Biltmore, September 29, 2003, Phoenix, Arizona
• Lecturer, Risk Management, sponsored by CAN Insurance, Radisson Tucson City Center, September 30, 2003, Tucson, Arizona.
• Adjunct Faculty Arizona College of Law – Taking and Defending Deposition (2018 to present)
• Faculty Arizona State Bar Trial College (1991 – present)

PROFESSIONAL AND CIVIC ASSOCIATIONS:

• State Bar of Arizona – 1981 to present.
• Pima County Bar Association – 1981 to present.
• Chairman of Disciplinary Committee for State Bar of Arizona 1987 – 1994
• Defense Research Institute
• American Bar Association, Section on Professional Liability
• American Board of Trial Advocates Tucson Chapter, President 1998, Vice President, 1997; Secretary 1996 and Treasurer 1995
• Faculty Member of the Arizona Trial College