Parsons Behle & Latimer

With a legal career that has spanned nearly 45 years, Gary G. Sackett currently specializes in legal ethics and professional responsibility—including conflicts of interest, confidentiality, attorney-client relationships, attorney work-product, disqualification issues, fee disputes and legal malpractice. As a private pilot, he also represents pilots who have issues before the Federal Aviation Administration as well as buyers and sellers of aircraft.

Capabilities

Biography

In addition to Mr. Sackett’s legal ethics counseling and representation, he practices in corporate and regulatory law—primarily in administrative litigation before local and state tax authorities, public service commissions, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and related appellate courts.

Mr. Sackett counsels companies in the areas of general corporate law, corporate and partnership governance and transactions and property tax matters. He has made presentations on legal ethics matters, including various CLE seminars, to a variety of organizations.

Grounded in a variety of land-use matters, Mr. Sackett served as a Millcreek Township Planning Commissioner; as Chair of the Salt Lake County Board of Adjustment; and as a Land Use Hearing Officer for the City of Millcreek.

Mr. Sackett serves as a Panel Attorney for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Legal Services program, representing clients in resolving matters related to the aviation industry, including FAA enforcement proceedings.

Prior to joining Parsons Behle & Latimer in 2022, Mr. Sackett practiced at Jones Waldo Holbrook & McDonough from 1999. Before joining Jones Waldo, he was an in-house attorney with Questar Corporation, leaving that company as General Counsel after 24 years.

Accomplishments

Academic

University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law, J.D. 1977

University of Southern California, Ph.D. Mathematics, 1969

Montana State University, M.S., Mathematics, 1962

Montana State University, B.S. 1961

Professional

Arbitrator, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)

Panel Attorney, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Legal Services Plan

Panel of Neutrals, American Arbitration Association—Commercial Dispute Resolution (inactive)

Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Utah College Law, 2000-02 (legal ethics; professional responsibility)

Visiting Professor of Law, Catholic University of Lublin, Poland, Fall 2006 (litigation and legal ethics)

Judge, Pro Tempore, Utah Third District Court, Small Claims Department, c. 1980–2010

Millcreek [Utah] Township Planning Commission, 2006-11; Chair, 2008-09

Salt Lake County Board of Adjustment, Chair, 2012-13

Millcreek City Land-Use Hearing Officer, 2018-2020

Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Contemporary Law (Univ. of Utah), 1976-77

Associations

Professional

Utah State Bar

Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee, Chair, 1987-1989

Ethics Advisory Opinion Committee, 1989-2006; Chair, 1993-2003

Distinguished Service Award, 2003

Distinguished Committee Award, Ethics Advisory Opinion Committee, 1994

Utah Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Rule of Professional Conduct, 1993-present

Credentials

Licensed

Utah

U.S. Dist. Court, Dist. of Utah

U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit