Franklin Dodge

Franklin D. “Troy” Dodge has been a shareholder/member of Ryan Rapp Underwood & Pacheco, P.L.C., Phoenix, Arizona, a general business law firm of approximately 18 attorneys for 22 years. His practice is concentrated in the areas of business bankruptcy, creditors’ distressed commercial real estate assets, commercial, corporate and real estate litigation and transactional matters with an emphasis in the area of commercial contracts, real estate and business workouts, sale and acquisition of business assets, corporate and partnership law and arbitration and mediation.            After engaging in private practice and as a corporate counsel for energy companies for thirteen years in Los Angeles and San Diego, Mr. Dodge was the Vice President and General Counsel of AZL Resources, Inc., Phoenix, AZ, from 1981 to 1984, assisting that American stock exchange company with its successful merger acquisition by TOSCO. From 1984 to 1988, Mr. Dodge was Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel of TransAmerican Natural Gas Corporation, Houston, Texas, where he was a member of the management team that successfully reorganized that $1 billion plus Chapter 11 energy conglomerate. From 1988 to 1990, Mr. Dodge served as the chief legal officer and Vice President-Law of Greyhound Financial Corporation (later known as FINOVA), Phoenix, Arizona, one of the larger creditors in TransAmerican’s Chapter 11, where his area of emphasis was commercial litigation, bankruptcy, creditors’ rights and workouts and loan documentation regarding the company’s borrowers. In 1990, Mr. Dodge went back into private practice to represent the U. S. Government, as the conservator and/or receiver of virtually all of the failed savings & loan associations in Arizona, as well as in California and Texas, addressing the resolution of commercial real estate assets and the securitization and documentation of such transactions. Since 1995, he continued to represent business investors/purchasers of those failed institutions’ assets and thereafter debtor businesses, secured creditors, trade creditors, trustees and creditor committees in business reorganizations. He also represented borrowers, creditors and business and financial entities in commercial workouts and receiverships involving commercial contractual, financial and real estate transactions, and handling all such matters in Federal, state and bankruptcy courts’.            Mr. Dodge received his A.B. degree from Stanford University and his J.D. degree from the University of Texas School of Law. He received a Certificate for Advanced Mediation from the Straus Institute of Conflict Resolution, Pepperdine University. Since 1994, he has held the Certified Business Bankruptcy Specialist designation of the American Board of Certification and the State Bars of Arizona, California and Texas. He is licensed to practice in the Federal and state courts of Arizona, California and Texas. He is rated “AV Preeminent” by Martindale-Hubbell.               In addition to his law practice, Mr. Dodge has served as a Judge Pro Tem for the Maricopa County Superior Courts for the past 20 years where he has mediated Family and Civil Court Settlement Conferences and has sat on Civil Jury Short Trials and Probate/Mental Health calendars. He has served as an Arbitrator for the Maricopa County Superior Court in mandatory arbitration matters since 1994. In addition, Mr. Dodge serves as a Mediator and has mediated litigated claims in the Superior Court’s Justice Court and Probate Court mediation programs as well as private commercial mediation. He is also on the approved Panel of Mediators for the U. S. Bankruptcy Courts for the District of Arizona. He has served as an arbitrator on the Commercial Panel of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) as well as on the Mediator Panel and as a member of the Phoenix Advisory Council to the AAA. He is also a Public Arbitrator with FINRA and an arbitrator for the Better Business Bureau. He is the past Chair of the Maricopa County Bar Association ADR Committee (2000-2002) and the past Chair of the State Bar of Arizona ADR Section (2002-2003). In 2005, he received the Certificate of Recognition of the Trial Courts of Arizona in Maricopa County for his service and assistance in ADR. He has been a member and on the board of directors of the Arizona Chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution (“ACR”). Mr. Dodge has lectured to State and local bar associations, businesses and organizations on business bankruptcy, distressed assets and Alternative Dispute Resolution, as well as published articles on some of these topics.Mr. Dodge holds the position of a Master in the Arizona Bankruptcy American Inn of Court, a Senior Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America and a member of the Commercial Law League of America. He is a member of the Federal Bar Association, Phoenix Chapter and a member serving on the Boards of the Turnaround Management Association and Risk Management Association (Arizona Chapters).