Sally Schneider Duncan

Sally Schneider Duncan is a retired Maricopa County Superior Court of Arizona Judge. After 18 years of resolving disputes on the civil, family, and criminal benches, she transferred her skills to a platform where she could help litigants reach mutually satisfying conclusions to costly and distracting litigation. At Convergent ADR, she serves as a mediator, arbitrator, discovery dispute master, and litigation strategist.

Her “been around the block” experience in all areas of civil litigation equips her to find solutions where others may not. She understands every corner of the courtroom both as a private practice litigator, public defender, and trial judge with dozens of trials. Before her appointment to the bench, Sally worked as an Assistant Federal Public Defender and was in private practice for 15 years–first at one of Phoenix’s oldest and most respected firms and later as a partner at two international law firms–where she handled complex commercial cases including contract, environmental, construction, professional discipline, regulatory compliance, insurance, real estate, employment, corporate compliance, trade secrets, and general business litigation.

She regularly serves as a guest lecturer and Adjunct Trial Practice Faculty at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, where she was invited to speak on Professional Responsibility and serve as a faculty member teaching Trial Practice Skills. She has also served as a judge presiding over mock trials.

Sally earned her B.A., with honors, summa cum laude, and her J.D. from the University of Arizona. She was admitted in Federal District Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, where she argued a case and learned that listening before you speak is the surest way to the surest way to find the best answer.