Andy joined the firm in 1995 after graduating from the University of Colorado Law School. He has been a shareholder since 1998.

Community Leadership

Andy is an active community leader in Southwest Colorado. Andy has represented Ouray County on the Board of Directors of the Colorado River Water Conservation District (“the Colorado River District”) since 2006 and served as its Board President in 2009 and 2010 after serving as Vice President in 2009.  Andy was appionted in January of 2012  jointly by Governor Hickenloper, the Colorado Attorney General and the Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court  to sit on the Seventh Judicial District Judicial Nominating Commission and will serve on that commission for six years.    By appointment of the Colorado Supreme Court, Andy also currently serves on the Colorado Supreme Court Hearing Board Panel.  Andy previously chaired the Ridgway School District’s Strategic Planning Committee and in 2005 and 2006 lead that District’s successful efforts to increase teacher compensation and gain voter approval for the funding of construction a new middle/high school. Andy served the Ridgway School District as an appointed member of the Project Oversight Committee supervising the construction of both phases of Ridgway’s new secondary school.   From 2000 to 2006, Andy served his first term on the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Seventh Judicial District and Andy served as secretary to that commission. Additionally, Andy has served as Treasurer, Vice President, then President of the Seventh Judicial Bar Association. Between 1996 and 2000, Andy was a member and President of the Board of Directors for Partners of Delta, Montrose and Ouray Counties, a regional mentor program for troubled youth. Andy has also served on the Board of Directors for the Ouray County Historical Society and the Ouray County Nordic Council.

Education

After graduating from Shaker Heights High school, Andy attended Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. In 1990, he earned a B.A., Cum Laude from Kenyon’s History department and graduated with distinction. After a two year stint in Manhattan, Andy headed to law school at the University of Colorado in Boulder. At law school, Andy served as Co-President of the Public Interest Student Association, earned the Am Jur award for highest grade in Corporations law, and was an active participant in the school’s civil trial practice clinic. Andy’s studies included a heavy emphasis on Natural Resource Law. While in Boulder, Andy also trained as a mediator and mediated citizen disputes for the City of Boulder. Andy received his Juris Doctor in 1995 from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Personal Biography

Andy was born and raised in the Greater Cleveland, Ohio region. Andy’s love of the outdoors and his desire to be part of a small community lead him to Ouray County. Andy, his wife Kara and their daughters, McKinley and Kendall live in Ridgway. Andy regularly enjoys our region’s outdoor activities with his family and friends including, hiking, camping, mountain biking, fly fishing, hunting, nordic and tele-mark skiing.

Practice Areas

• Natural Resource Transactions and Litigation
• Real Estate Transactions and Litigations
• Water Rights Law
• Land Use Development
• Public Land Law
• Representation of private land owners in conservation easement matters, civil litigation, corporate entity formation and advising

In his role with the River District, Mr. Mueller has been involved in creating solutions and strategies to ensure continued economic prospertity in Colorado in light of a  future likely to bring  increased water shortages and greater human and environmental conflict.

Other Information

Andy was admitted to practice in the State of Colorado 1995, and to the U.S. District Court, District of Colorado and the U.S. Court of appeals, Tenth Circuit in 1996. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Colorado Bar Association and the Seventh Judicial District Bar Association.