Aaron M. Duell named shareholder at Burch & Cracchiolo
The law firm of Burch & Cracchiolo, P.A., announced Aaron M. Duell has been elected shareholder effective January 1, 2024. Duell is a civil litigator who focuses his practice on employment law and commercial litigation.
Prior to joining Burch & Cracchiolo, Duell clerked for the Honorable Dominic W. Lanza at the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. Prior to that, he worked at the Arizona Attorney General’s Office in the Government Accountability and Special Litigation unit. There, he was awarded the 2017 “Emerging Star Award” for the Civil Litigation Division. Duell pursued legal action against cities, counties, and towns deemed to have violated state law and the Arizona constitution. In addition, Duell investigated and prosecuted violations of the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act.
Duell received his J.D. from the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law in 2016. While there, he contributed to the Jurimetrics Law Journal: ABA Section for Science and Technology. Duell received the Paul Holloway Trial Advocacy Award, three CALI Awards, and was named a Pedrick Scholar. He earned his B.A. in both Political Science and History, magna cum laude, from Arizona State University in 2011.
Duell is a 2023 Southwest Super Lawyer “Rising Star” and a 2024 Best Lawyers in America “One to Watch.” He is licensed to practice in Arizona and is admitted to the U.S. District Court, District of Arizona.
R. J. Bucky Slomski named Burch & Cracchiolo Shareholder
The law firm of Burch & Cracchiolo, P.A. is proud to announce R.J. “Bucky” Slomski has been named a Firm Shareholder effective January 1, 2024. He joined Burch & Cracchiolo in 2020 and focuses his practice on catastrophic injury, wrongful death, motor vehicle and trucking collisions, and victims of medical malpractice. Between 2022-2023 Slomski, in partnership with Burch & Cracchiolo shareholder Todd Julian, obtained several multi-million-dollar settlements, including a $4.25MM wrongful death claim, a $2.25M pedestrian hit by drunk driver claim, and a $1.35MM catastrophic motorcycle collision claim.
Slomski received his undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University in 2012, and his Juris Doctor from Arizona Summit School of Law in 2015. He received his license to practice from the State Bar of Arizona in 2016. Prior to joining Burch & Cracchiolo he practiced at The Law Offices of Raymond J, Slomski, P.C., and was trained by his late father in medical malpractice.
Slomski is a member of the Arizona Trial Lawyers Association, where he was named a Top 40 Under 40 Civil Plaintiff Attorney 2019-2023, and the State Bar of Arizona. In 2020-2023 he was named a Southwest Super Lawyers Rising Star, a designation awarded to only 2.5% of young attorneys in Arizona. In addition, Slomski is a Best Lawyers in America “One to Watch.”
Slomski is a member of the board of directors of Feeding Matters, a non-profit that strives to improve the system of care for children with pediatric feeding disorder through advocacy, education, support, and research.
Husch Blackwell adds 5-attorney team in Phoenix
Husch Blackwell begins the year with further national expansion with the addition of five supply chain and logistics attorneys, Julie Maurer, Andy Kleiner, Aaron Schepler, Loren Ungar, and Joseph Baratta. They join the firm’s Transportation industry group in the Phoenix office.
The five bring a combined eight decades of supply chain and logistics experience providing a complete suite of services, including serving as national counsel on corporate and regulatory matters and defending clients in jurisdictions throughout the country in the areas of transportation, specifically cargo, and complex commercial litigation. Maurer will join the firm as partner while Kleiner, Schepler, and Ungar join as senior counsel. Baratta joins as an attorney.
“Julie and her team are well respected in the industry and their additions to the firm serve as an important piece of our strategic emphasis on continuing to develop our transportation practice,” said Jeff Sigmund, partner and leader of the firm’s Technology, Manufacturing, and Transportation industry group. “In addition to their litigation experience, they have a strong autonomous vehicles practice, advising clients on novel legal issues in this evolving area, and we are excited to add their experience to the services we are able to deliver to our clients.”
“Husch Blackwell’s culture and focus on its clients was incredibly appealing,” Maurer said. “In addition, the firm is in growth mode. We are extremely excited to be a part of that and look forward to helping grow its transportation and supply chain capabilities.”
The firm added nearly 120 new attorneys in 2023. This group comes just weeks after the December announcement of the addition of an 11-attorney intellectual property team in Minneapolis.
Kutak Rock elects 17 attorneys to firm partnership
Kutak Rock LLP has elected 17 new partners from its attorney ranks in seven of the firm’s 19 offices—Atlanta, Denver, Minneapolis, Omaha, Scottsdale, Spokane and Washington, D.C. The promotions became effective on January 1, 2024.
“In each of our new partners we see talent and dedication combined with a demonstrated commitment to unmatched client service,” said John Petr, Chair of Kutak Rock. “These attorneys bring diverse experiences, perspectives and industry knowledge and we look forward to their continuing contributions to the growth and success of Kutak Rock. We are excited to welcome them to the partnership.”
Over half of Kutak Rock’s new partner class identifies as diverse, and a quarter identifies as races and ethnicities other than white/Caucasian.
The Arizona-based attorneys elected to the partnership are:
Reshma A. Amin (Scottsdale) represents commercial lenders and commercial developers in multi-jurisdictional real estate and financing transactions, including transactions involving multifamily projects, retail centers, medical office buildings, hotels, and general business assets. Her real estate practice includes matters related to acquisitions, dispositions, leasing, property management, and construction. Her commercial lending practice includes drafting and negotiating loan documents, conducting due diligence, and title and survey reviews. Reshma has also represented various institutional lenders in documenting commercial loans involving fee-owned real estate, tribal land, ground leases, and non-real estate assets.
Jon D. Finch (Scottsdale) focuses his practice on public finance and serves clients in taxable and tax-exempt financings throughout the country. He serves as bond counsel, lender’s counsel, developer’s counsel and issuer’s counsel in a variety of complex public finance transactions.
Philip A. Overcash (Scottsdale) is a seasoned litigator with more than 20 years of complex civil, commercial and real estate litigation experience. He has successfully represented a wide array of clients in legal disputes involving contracts, real estate, construction defects, insurance coverage and bad faith, employment law, trademarks and trade secrets, and appeals.
Kathy A. Steadman (Scottsdale) primarily practices in the areas of employee benefits, public pension, insurance and other regulatory matters. She routinely represents and counsels clients in their dealings with Arizona regulatory agencies, including the Arizona Department of Insurance, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System and the Arizona Department of Health Services. She counsels clients in connection with compliance matters under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), ground ambulance transport and certificate of necessity matters, The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), and related state and federal laws.
Isaiah Wilson II (Scottsdale) advises emerging and middle market companies on securities compliance, equity and asset purchase and sales, venture capital funding and corporate governance. In addition, he advises industrial investor clients concerning their alternative investments and provides general corporate counsel regarding equipment purchases, sponsorship agreements, consulting agreements and other general commercial transactions.
