John Gleason

John Gleason’s practice emphasizes legal and medical ethics, regulatory and administrative matters, as well as standard of care in legal matters, and ethics issues in business or government.

Prior to law school John spent twelve years as a police officer and major crimes Detective in the Toledo Metro area and with the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Department.

He served as Regulation Counsel for the Colorado Supreme Court from 1999 until his retirement in 2013. As Regulation Counsel he managed an office of the Supreme Court responsible for the regulation of Colorado attorneys and magistrates. . John served as counsel to the Supreme Court Attorneys’ Fund for Client Protection, State Board of Law Examiners, and as Special Counsel for the Commission on Judicial Discipline.

He also served as Director of Regulatory Services for the Oregon State Bar from 2013 to 2014.

Prior to his work for the Supreme Court, he was in private practice with a law firm in Denver for several years. John was also Of Counsel with Burns Figa & Will PC from 2014 until joining Recht Kornfeld PC.

In 2013 the American Bar Association Center for Professional Responsibility selected John for the Michael Franck Award. The Franck Award is the highest honor bestowed annually to one recipient whose career commitments in legal ethics and lawyer professionalism demonstrate the best accomplishments of lawyers.

In 2013 the Arizona Supreme Court selected John for the court’s Award of Merit for his nearly three years of work as Independent Bar Counsel/Special Prosecutor in the prosecution and disbarment of former Maricopa County District Attorney, Andrew Thomas and members of his staff. The widely publicized case is regarded as one of the most significant lawyer discipline cases in history.

The ABA Center appointed John as Chair of the ABA/CPR Policy Implementation Committee. The Policy Implementation Committee focused on implementation of recent revisions to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct and the Model Code of Judicial Conduct, the policies of the Multi-jurisdictional Practice Commission and other models and policies developed by the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility.

 John served as an adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. He is active in local community affairs and is on the board of directors for a metropolitan youth sports organization.

In April 2019 the Arizona Supreme Court appointed John to assist the court in an independent review of the Arizona State Bar’s regulatory and discipline system.

John is an Honorably Discharged Veteran.