Grady Gammage Jr.

Grady Gammage Jr. is a founding member of Gammage & Burnham and a highly respected leader in Arizona’s legal and public policy landscape. With more than 40 years of experience, his practice focuses on the intersection of real estate, development, zoning, water, and public policy. A sought-after speaker and author, Grady’s contributions to Arizona’s growth and legal community have had a wide-reaching impact.

Grady’s practice includes representing major commercial, industrial, retail, and residential projects, with a particular focus on Arizona’s most iconic master-planned communities. A key figure in the creation of the Urban Lands Act in the 1980s, Grady played a central role in making State Trust Land available for development.

Over the course of his career, Grady has been instrumental in numerous public-private projects, including the development of Tempe Town Lake and innovative redevelopment incentive programs in Arizona. He has also worked extensively with cities and towns to revise land use ordinances and has litigated land use and election issues related to development. His work in urban development has helped shape Maricopa County’s growth and policies.

In addition to his legal practice, Grady has had a profound impact on Arizona’s water policy, serving on the Central Arizona Project (CAP) Board of Directors for 12 years and leading the board as president during a critical period of federal litigation. His leadership helped restructure the federal-state relationship in water rights, solidifying his reputation as one of the state’s foremost authorities on water policy.

Grady is a committed educator, teaching land use regulation at both the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. He also served as a Senior Fellow at ASU’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy and the Kyl Center for Water Policy.

A prolific speaker, Grady is in high demand, regularly presenting on topics such as urban growth, regulation, local politics, sustainability, and transportation. He has authored two books on the Phoenix metropolitan area, with his most recent work, The Future of the Suburban City: Lessons from Sustaining Phoenix, published in 2016. Grady’s expertise has made him a frequent guest on NPR, PBS, and in major media outlets, including The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek.

Grady has been a Southwest Super Lawyer for more than twenty years and was named Lawyer of the Year twice. He was named by AZRE magazine as “one of the ten most influential people in the history of Arizona commercial real estate,” and by the Phoenix Business Journal as one of the Valley’s most admired CEOs and executives. He is a member of the Maricopa County Bar Hall of Fame and has received the Richard Ely Distinguished Educator Award, the Frank Lloyd Wright Spirit Award, the Jerry Colangelo Impact Award, the Historic Planning Pioneer Award, and the Southwest Airlines “Smart Award” for contributions to heritage education in Arizona.

Court Admissions

• State Bar of Arizona
• United States Court of Claims

Speaking Engagements

• The Suburban City, Clean Air, and Transportation, Keynote Address for Valley Metro Clean Air Campaign Annual Event (2016)
• Sustaining the Suburban City, Utah National Public Radio (2016)
• Status of Commercial Development, Commercial Executive Magazine Panel Moderator (2016)
• Water Resources and Land Use Planning, American Planning Association National Conference (2016)
• The Sun Corridor, Create Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce (2016)
• Western Water Rights Status, Western Growers Annual Meeting (2015)

Publications

• The Future of the Suburban City: Lessons from Sustaining Phoenix (2016)
• Phoenix in Perspective: Reflections on Developing The Desert – Herberger Center for Design Excellence, Arizona State University (1999), Second Edition (2003)

Professional & Community Involvement

• Morrison Institute for Public Policy, School of Public Affairs, College of Public Programs, Arizona State University, Senior Fellow
• Kyl Institute for Water Policy, Advisory Board Member
• Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Senior Sustainability Scholar
• Arizona State University Masters of Real Estate Development program, Adjunct Faculty
• Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University, Adjunct Faculty
• Center for the Study of Race and Democracy, Advisory Board
• Celebracion Artisticas de las Americas, Board of Directors
• Aquila Municipal Trust and Aquila Funds Trust, Board of Directors
• Maricopa County Bar Association, Member
• 2016 Arizona Business Leaders in Real Estate Law, AZ Big Media