If you’re wondering what it takes to be one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona, experts say a leap of faith might be a good start.
“Don’t be afraid to try something new or take the lead,” says Jonathan L. Frutkin, principal at Radix Law. “As a lawyer, your clients are looking to you as the assertive voice of reason. Do your research, work hard and exceed their expectations. You’ll be rewarded in the end.”
Frutkin is among the Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona for 2020. The attorneys were selected from a pool of more than 2,000 of the state’s most talented and successful attorneys. The prestigious group of candidates is vetted by Az Business magazine’s editorial team in collaboration with industry experts, and then an algorithm — incorporating professional ratings, industry accolades, impact on the communities she/he serves, and impact on the legal profession — is used to make final selections.
So how can a young attorney build a career that will land her on a future Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona list? Since we live in an era of specialization — in sports, in medicine, in business — experts say it might not be a bad idea to follow that lead in the legal industry.
“Find an area of law that you have a passion for, learn as much as you can by reading, working hard, and finding a mentor or mentors to guide you,” says Steven N. Berger, shareholder at Engelman Berger, another attorney who has made the Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona list multiple times. “Treat other attorneys as you would hope to be treated. Details are crucial, but don’t lose sight of the big picture. Never lose sight of your client’s goal.”
Double-click the slideshow photos from the Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona reception to see them at full size and resolution.
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Another thing never to forget, according to some of the Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona, is that the client’s goals should always come first.
“Law is a service industry, much like the restaurant business,” says Jennifer A. Cranston, shareholder at Gallagher & Kennedy, one of AZRE magazine’s Most Influential Women in Arizona and a member of this year’s Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona. “The product can be excellent, but if the service is lousy, you won’t have happy customers, which means no repeat business or referrals.”
Do you know an attorney who should be considered for the 2021 list? Email Editor in Chief Michael Gossie at michael.gossie@azbigmedia.com.
Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona for 2020
Andrew Abraham
President and shareholder
Burch & Cracchiolo
Practice areas: Real estate law, real estate litigation, commercial litigation
Julia S. Acken
Member
Jennings Strouss
Practice areas: Labor and employment law
Hilary L. Barnes
Member
Allen Barnes & Jones
Practice areas: Corporate and consumer bankruptcy
Timothy J. Berg
Director
Fennemore Craig
Practice areas: Civil appeals, state constitutional and public law, public records law and public utilities regulation
Steven N. Berger
Shareholder
Engelman Berger
Practice areas: Bankruptcy and reorganization, creditor’s rights, loan workouts, business restructurings, business and real estate disputes, mediation
Keith A. Berkshire
Founder
Berkshire Law Office
Practice areas: Family law
Maureen Beyers
Partner
Beyers Farrell
Practice areas: Business litigation and arbitration
Laura Bianchi
Shareholder and partner
Bianchi Brandt & Hale
Practice areas: Cannabis business law and financing
Steve Biddle
Shareholder
Littler
Practice areas: Discrimination and harassment, workplace safety and health, labor-management relations, wage and hour matters
William D. Bishop
Founder
Bishop Law Office
Practice areas: Family law
Neal H. Bookspan
Shareholder
Jaburg | Wilk
Practice areas: Employment, real estate and construction-related matters
Heather J. Boysel
Managing Member
Gammage & Burnham
Practice areas: Healthcare, government relations and administrative law, litigation and alternative dispute resolution, real estate, land use, construction law
Heather Buchta
Office chair of the Intellectual Property Group
Quarles & Brady
Practice areas: E-commerce, software, technology and data privacy, with an additional focus on copyright and trademark prosecution
Edwin C. Bull
Shareholder
Burch & Cracchiolo
Practice areas: Real estate, land use and zoning
Robin E. Burgess
Shareholder
Sanders & Parks
Practice areas: Healthcare, medical malpractice, product liability, professional liability, municipal liability
Annette T. Burns
Founder
Annette T. Burns Law Offices
Practice areas: Family law, and focuses on acting as mediator and arbitrator
Flavia Campbell
Partner
Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie
Practice areas: Trademarks and copyrights
Anne Chapman
Attorney
Mitchell | Stein | Carey | Chapman
Practice area: White-collar criminal defense
Jennifer Cranston
Shareholder and member of the board of directors
Gallagher & Kennedy
Practice areas: Condemnation and valuation, insurance, public utilities
John Alan Doran
Member
Sherman & Howard
Practice areas: Labor and employment, litigation, trials, appeals
Daniel G. Dowd
Partner and president
Cohen Dowd Quigley
Practice areas: Commercial litigation, administrative disputes, internal investigations
Logan Elia
Partner
Rose Law Group
Practice areas: Business litigation, intellectual property law, cyber law, medical cannabis litigation, and appellate practice
James A. Fassold
Shareholder
Tiffany & Bosco
Practice areas: Appellate practice, probate administration and litigation
Matthew P. Feeney
Phoenix firm chair
Snell & Wilmer
Practice areas: Mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, SEC reporting and compliance, and corporate governance matters
Brigitte Finley Green
Shareholder
Engelman Berger
Practice areas: Public finance and federal tax law
Richard A. Friedlander
Attorney
Lang & Klain
Practice areas: Mediation, arbitration, construction litigation, commercial litigation
Jonathan Frutkin
Principal
Radix Law
Practice areas: Business law and commercial litigation
Garrick L. Gallagher
Owner and director
Sanders & Parks
Practice areas: Personal injury, mass torts, insurance litigation and coverage
Lauren L. Garner
Partner
Jaburg Wilk
Practice areas: Probate and trust litigation and mediation
Sean D. Garrison
Partner
Bacal & Garrison Law Group
Practice areas: Software license agreements, software and platform development agreements, software-as-a-service (SaaS) agreements, joint development agreements
Karen S. Gaylord
Partner
Jennings Haug Cunningham
Practice areas: Environmental law and litigation, energy and energy regulatory law, water law
James Goodnow
President and managing partner
Fennemore Craig
Practice areas: Business litigation, commercial contingency litigation, litigation
Benjamin Gottlieb
Founding partner
MacQueen & Gottlieb
Practice areas: Real estate, business, commercial cases
Stacey F. Gottlieb
Of counsel
Cohen Dowd Quigley
Practice areas: Complex commercial litigation, white-collar criminal defense
Andrew F. Halaby
Partner
Snell & Wilmer
Practice areas: Intellectual property and technology litigation, intellectual property and technology, commercial litigation, professional licensure
Angie K. Hallier
Partner
Hallier Lawrence
Practice areas: Divorce and family law matters, including litigation, mediation, collaborative divorce, and arbitration
Robert Haws
Chair of the Employment and Education Law Practice Groups
Gust Rosenfeld
Practice areas: Labor and employment, education law
Ben Himmelstein
Partner
Radix Law
Practice areas: Business break-ups, misappropriation of trade secrets, business torts, sales contracts, buy and sell agreements, and non-compete and non-solicit agreements
Kami M. Hoskins
Partner
Gordon & Rees
Practice areas: Employment law; bankruptcy, restructuring and creditors’ rights; commercial litigation
Donald W. Hudspeth
Principal attorney
Law Offices of Donald W. Hudspeth
Practice areas: Corporate and business law
Douglas A. Jorden
Partner
Jorden Hiser & Joy
Practice areas: Land use, zoning, municipal law, real estate, environmental and Indian law
Michael K. Kennedy
Co-founding partner, shareholder and member of the board of directors
Gallagher & Kennedy
Practice areas: Business litigation, professional liability, sports law
Jordan A. Kroop
Partner
Perkins Coie
Practice areas: Corporate bankruptcy, restructuring and reorganization
David L. Lansky
Member
Clark Hill
Practice areas: Represents buyers, sellers, investors, and lenders in a wide variety of complex commercial real estate transactions
Amy L. Lieberman
Founder
Insight Employment Mediation and Insight Mediation Group
Practice areas: Arbitration and mediation
Richard Lieberman
Chairman, Corporate, Securities and Finance Department
Jennings, Strouss & Salmon
Practice areas: Mergers and acquisitions, securities, corporate governance, finance and banking, employment, executive compensation, bankruptcy and corporate restructuring
John F. Lomax, Jr.
Partner
Snell & Wilmer
Practice areas: Labor and employment, Native American affairs, energy and utilities
Patrick MacQueen
Founder and partner
MacQueen & Gottlieb
Practice areas: Real estate transactional law and real estate litigation
Gerald Maltz
Shareholder and president
Miller Pitt Feldman & McAnally
Practice areas: Business litigation
Michael C. Manning
Partner
Stinson
Practice areas: Business litigation, antitrust, governance, risk and compliance, real estate litigation
Nicole Maroulakos Goodwin
Managing Shareholder
Greenberg Traurig
Practice areas: Corporate governance disputes, financial services litigation, real estate litigation, post-acquisition disputes, health care litigation, and franchise litigation
Karen C. McConnell
Partner
Ballard Spahr
Practice areas: Mergers and acquisitions, private equity, securities and capital markets
Michael McGrath
Partner and board chair
Mesch Clark Rothschild
Practice areas: Debtor and creditor rights as well as commercial and real estate litigation and transactions
Alexandra Mijares Nash
Partner
Blythe Grace
Practice areas: Represents corporations and individuals in a wide variety of criminal and civil matters
Tracy A. Miller
Shareholder
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart
Practice areas: Represents management in all facets of labor and employment law and civil rights
Pedro J. Miranda
Partner
Squire Patton Boggs
Practice areas: Public finance
Michael D. Moberly
Shareholder
Ryley Carlock & Applewhite
Practice areas: Labor and employment, insurance defense, litigation
Jason B. Morris
Partner
Withey Morris
Practice areas: Land use, planning, zoning, and administrative law
Mark Nadeau
Co-managing partner, Phoenix office
DLA Piper
Practice areas: Television, aviation, real estate hospitality, energy, trade secret and unfair business practice matters
Tibor Nagy, Jr.
Office managing shareholder
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart
Practice areas: Labor and employment law
Edward F. Novak
Shareholder
Polsinelli
Practice areas: Government investigations, commercial litigation, healthcare litigation, attorney discipline, white-collar criminal defense
Randy Nussbaum
Attorney
Sacks Tierney
Practice areas: Bankruptcy, debtor and creditor rights, trustee representation, commercial litigation, real estate law, construction litigation
Shawn Oller
Office managing shareholder
Littler
Practice areas: Represents management and companies in all aspects of employment litigation arbitration and mediation
Kevin E. O’Malley
Shareholder and member of the board of directors
Gallagher & Kennedy
Practice areas: Insurance, public bidding and procurement, administrative law, professional liability, litigation, construction
Pamela Overton Risoleo
Shareholder
Greenberg Traurig
Practice areas: Class action litigation, products liability and mass tort, litigation, trial practice
James H. Patterson
Member
Dickinson Wright
Practice areas: real estate, land use and zoning, leasing, real estate acquisition and dispositions, real estate finance, corporate
Steven D. Pidgeon
Co-managing partner
DLA Piper
Practice areas: Mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and general corporate
Steven Plitt
Senior member
The Cavanagh Law Firm
Practice areas: Insurance law and insurance benefits, insurance litigation
Marlene A. Pontrelli
Member | Dickinson Wright
Practice areas: Family law, including dissolution and legal separation of marriage, business valuations, division of property, spousal support, post-dissolution modifications, premarital and post-marital agreements, paternity, child custody, parenting time, child support matters
Daniel P. Quigley
Partner and vice president
Cohen Dowd Quigley
Practice areas: Commercial litigation, including cases raising antitrust and intellectual property issues
Stephanie Quincy
Partner
Quarles & Brady
Practice areas: Labor and employment, trade secrets and unfair competition, financial institutions litigation, trade secrets
Cynthia A. Ricketts
Founding partner
Sacks Ricketts & Case
Practice areas: Complex contract and commercial litigation, consumer class action defense
Barbara Rodriquez-Pashkowski
Chair of the firm’s Real Estate and Commercial Sections
Gust Rosenfeld
Practice areas: Environmental law, natural resources, administrative law, litigation
David B. Rosenbaum
Partner
Osborn Maledon
Practice areas: Complex commercial litigation in the state and federal courts
Thomas J. Salerno
Partner
Stinson
Practice areas: Bankruptcy and restructuring
Brian J. Schulman
Head of Litigation Group
Weiss Brown
Practice areas: Securities litigation and regulatory compliance, financial services litigation and regulatory compliance, real estate litigation, franchise law, Indian law
Darin Sender
Founding partner and attorney
Sender
Practice areas: Zoning and land use law
John G. Sestak
Member
Jennings Strouss
Practice areas: Corporate, administrative, creditors’ rights, securities litigation, real estate, employment, professional negligence, and environmental matters
Nonnie L. Shivers
Shareholder
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart
Practice areas: Employment law, including an emphasis on complex but proactive compliance projects, such as 50-state compliant wage deductions and lawful parental leave programs
Leon Silver
Managing partner
Gordon & Rees
Practice areas: Commercial litigation, retail and hospitality, privacy, data and cybersecurity, securities litigation, employment litigation
Frances R. Sjoberg
Partner
Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie
Practice areas: Intergovernmental agreements, tribal business transactions, real estate and complex project management
K. Thomas Slack
Partner
Beale Micheaels Slack & Shughart
Practice areas: Represents plaintiffs in catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases including trucking, automobile, railroad crossing and workplace accidents
Wendi A. Sorensen
Shareholder
Burch & Cracchiolo
Practice areas: Personal injury and wrongful death litigation, mediation and arbitration
Christopher S. Stachowiak
Attorney | Osborn Maledon
Practice areas: Domestic and cross border mergers, acquisitions, angel and venture capital financings, public and private securities offerings, joint ventures, technology licensing
Matt C. Sweger
Partner
Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie
Practice areas: Corporate and finance transactions, with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, capital raising, formation of new businesses
Christopher D. Thomas
Partner
Perkins Coie
Practice areas: Environmental and natural resource permitting and related federal, state and administrative litigation
William L. Thorpe
Thorpe Shwer
Practice areas: Represents both large and small enterprises in complex commercial and tort matters
Andrew B. Turk
Senior counsel
Clark Hill
Practice areas: Construction law, healthcare litigation, tort, and insurance litigation
Debora Verdier
Partner
Manning & Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez, Trester
Practice areas: Employment law-defense
C. Bradley Vynalek
Partner
Quarles & Brady
Practice areas: Litigation and dispute resolution; real estate and construction litigation; banking and financial institutions; fiduciary, trust and probate litigation
E. Jeffrey Walsh
Shareholder, commercial litigation
Greenberg Traurig
Practice areas: Commercial litigation, construction law, real estate litigation, trial practice, arbitration and mediation
Paul M. Weiser
Managing shareholder, Arizona office
Buchalter
Practice areas: Commercial real estate
Scott K. Weiss
Attorney
Weiss Brown
Practice areas: Corporate and securities, financing, mergers and acquisitions
Dennis Wilenchik
Member and manager
Wilenchik & Bartness
Practice areas: Complex civil litigation, business and real estate law, contract and business disputes, criminal law, civil and criminal appeals
Lonnie J. Williams, Jr.
Partner | Stinson
Practice areas: Represents large companies in discrimination lawsuits and in intellectual property cases
Lori L. Winkelman
Attorney
Phoenix Law Group
Practice areas: Pharmacy benefits and operations; compliance counseling; contracting; corporate restructuring, bankruptcy, and creditors’ rights
Susan M. Wissink
Director, management committee member, chair of Fennemore Craig Foundation
Fennemore Craig
Practice areas: Corporate and mergers and acquisitions
Michael B. Withey
Partner
Withey Morris
Practice areas: Handles larger, complicated re-zonings; negotiates the differing development and re-development agreements with municipalities and counties throughout Arizona
Grant Woods
Shareholder
Gallagher & Kennedy
Practice areas: Government affairs and lobbying, litigation, plaintiff’s personal injury and wrongful death
Mark G. Worischeck
Managing shareholder
Sanders & Parks
Practice areas: Insurance coverage, aviation, personal injury
