Andrew Shoemaker

Mediation and Other ADR Services

“Andrew is level-headed and is an exceptional problem-solver.” Chambers USA 2025

Andrew Shoemaker is a full-time mediator and arbitrator of complex business and land use disputes. He brings more than 30 years experience as a civil and criminal trial lawyer to cases involving corporate governance and fiduciary duties, investments and securities, banking and financial services, accounting, executive departures, intellectual property, and land use and development. He is especially drawn to disputes involving multiple-parties, longstanding relationships, regulatory issues, and matters where emotion, economics and principle are all in play, and he is tenacious in his effort to help parties reach resolution.

Andrew built that experience as a founding member of Shoemaker Ghiselli + Schwartz, a partner at Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells), an enforcement attorney with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a special assistant U.S. attorney, and a federal law clerk. He also served as mayor pro tem of Boulder and chair of its planning board, and he teaches negotiation and mediation at the University of Colorado Law School.

Approach to Mediation

Andrew brings a trial lawyer’s practicality and a professor’s process discipline to every mediation, and the work begins well before the session. Once retained, he holds separate pre-mediation conferences with counsel for each party to understand the legal and business issues, the people involved, and what has stood in the way of settlement. From those conversations he recommends a process that fits the case, whether that means a phased agenda, joint sessions or caucuses, targeted information exchange, or multiple sessions over time.

At the table, Andrew combines careful facilitation with practical settlement tools, including reality testing, risk analysis, and decision-making support. He keeps an eye on value creation, helping parties generate options and, where possible, structure deal terms that widen the path to resolution. He also attends to the human factors that block agreement (emotion, risk assessment, and fairness concerns) so parties can assess their positions candidly and make clear choices.

Andrew conducts the majority of his mediations in person, as he finds that process to be most effective.  He will conduct virtual negotiations if requested by the parties. He follows the American Bar Association’s Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators, makes written disclosures at the outset of every engagement, and treats pre-session communications as confidential mediation communications under the Colorado Dispute Resolution Act. To preserve that level of preparation, he limits his caseload and generally handles no more than one mediation per week.

Background and Subject-Matter Focus

Andrew’s ADR work is grounded in decades of litigation and public-service experience, including disputes involving:

• Corporate governance, fiduciary duties, partnerships, minority shareholder rights, valuation, dissolution, and “business divorce” conflicts

• Investments, disclosures, and alleged securities fraud (including complex instruments and fund vehicles)

• D&O insurance coverage issues

• Executive departures and employment-agreement disputes

• Contracts and complex business tort claims

• Financial accounting and reporting issues governed by GAAP and auditor’s compliance with applicable professional standards (including GAAS and PCAOB)

• Consumer protection issues

• Patent infringement and other IP disputes

• Land use and development approvals, zoning/entitlements, federal agency approvals, land exchanges, and development agreements

• Public-policy and elections-related matters

Recent Representative Mediations

•         Investment bank “business divorce.” A departing founder of a healthcare investment bank alleged disproportionate distributions to his co-founder and an improper management appointment under a disputed operating agreement. The parties presented competing expert valuations and disputed whether the departure was voluntary or a constructive termination.

•         Investment and derivative claims. An investor group alleged securities fraud in connection with an investment in a cannabis operation, along with derivative claims for improper distributions and diversion of assets to the majority shareholder. Valuation, and the effect of the alleged fiduciary breaches on value, were central.

•         Corporate control and shareholder duties. Majority shareholders contended that a minority shareholder violated the bylaws in attempting to take control of the company. The dispute turned on day-to-day operational control, which version of the bylaws governed, and the fiduciary duties of majority and minority owners.

•         Seven-party development dispute. Six adjoining landowners and Pitkin County were involved in four lawsuits concerning the development of a 35-acre parcel.  The disputes involved agreements stretching back over forty years and arising out of a 1983 Colorado Supreme Court decision.  Issues included the county land use code, development approvals, HOA governance, Rule 106/mandamus claims, a preliminary injunction, anti-SLAPP motions, and other related issues. 

•         Ten-party development dispute. Neighbors alleged trespass and destruction of property arising from a development project; the developers counterclaimed that a coordinated social-media campaign was aimed at disrupting the project. The mediation addressed an extensive procedural history and the application of Colorado’s anti-SLAPP statute in a developing area of law.

Fees, policies and scheduling.