If you’re wondering what it takes to be one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona, experts say you might want to start subscribing to the “it takes a village” philosophy.

“Find and develop mentors and those who will serve as your champions,” says Leonardo Loo, Phoenix office managing partner for Quarles & Brady and a member of the firm’s Business Law, Finance and International Services Law practice groups. “Rarely is success achieved without the assistance and influence of others.”

Loo is among this year’s Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona. The prestigious group is chosen by Az Business magazine’s editorial team in collaboration with industry experts. The attorneys were selected from a pool of more than 2,000 of the state’s most talented and successful attorneys. Selections are based on each lawyer’s professional success and ratings, impact on his or her law firm, impact on the communities she/he serves and impact on the legal profession.

Do you know an attorney who should be considered for the 2020 list? Email Editor in Chief Michael Gossie at michael.gossie@azbigmedia.com.

Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona for 2019

Andrew Abraham

President and shareholder, Burch & Cracchiolo

Practice areas: Real estate law, real estate litigation, commercial litigation

Business advice: “Stick to the basics-listen to what your customers want, be timely and responsive. Business relationships are built on trust. Once you establish that relationship, nurture it. Be proactive. Put your clients interests ahead of all else, including your own.”

Lynne C. Adams

Partner, Osborn Maledon

Practice areas: Education law, representing charter schools, school districts, community colleges and universities

Shawn K. Aiken

Shareholder, Aiken Schenk Hawkins & Ricciardi

Practice areas: Commercial litigation, mediation, arbitration

Cindy C. Albracht-Crogan

Partner, Cohen Dowd Quigley

Practice areas: Business litigation

Thomas C. Arendt

Member, Jennings Strouss

Practice areas: Acquisition and development, leasing, and real estate workouts and foreclosures

Charles L. “Chick” Arnold

Senior partner, Frazer Ryan Goldberg & Arnold

Practice areas: Mental health law, elder law, estate planning

Mark E. Barker

Partner, Jennings Haug Cunningham

Practice areas: Business law, banking and finance, construction law, surety and fidelity law, commercial litigation

Hilary L. Barnes

Member, Allen Barnes & Jones

Practice areas: Corporate and consumer bankruptcy

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

Shareholder, Berkshire Law Office

Practice areas: Family law, appellate law

Leo Beus

Co-founder, Beus Gilbert

Practice areas: Accountant and lawyer liability, intellectual property, litigation, officer and director liability, securities and investment fraud

Maureen Beyers

Partner, Beyers Farrell

Practice areas: Business litigation and arbitration

Fay W. Bidlack

Member, Jennings Strouss

Practice areas: Business and real estate transactions, restructuring and bankruptcy, creditor’s rights, commercial litigation

Brian H. Blaney

Chair and shareholder, Phoenix Corporate Practice, Greenberg Traurig

Practice areas: Capital markets mergers and acquisitions, private equity and corporate

Nik Boca

Managing attorney, Cantor Law Group

Practice areas: Family and juvenile law

Garland A. Brown, Jr.

Co-founder, Weiss Brown

Practice areas: Technology law, intellectual property

Robin E. Burgess

Shareholder, Sanders & Parks

Practice areas: Healthcare, medical malpractice, product liability, professional liability, municipal liability

Rebecca Lynne Burnham

Of counsel, Real Estate Practice, Greenberg Traurig

Practice areas: Real estate, land development, land use, infrastructure finance, sports facilities and entertainment venues

Business advice: “Excellence in execution is a given at the top levels of this profession. In addition to serving the needs of the client today, leading practitioners also keep a close watch on the horizon, anticipating change and making the adjustments necessary to be prepared to address it when it comes.”

Anne Chapman

Attorney, Mitchell | Stein | Carey | Chapman

Practice area: White-collar criminal defense

Robert M. Charles, Jr.

Partner, Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie

Practice areas: Business bankruptcy, commercial lawsuits, business transactions

John J. Checkett

Founder, The Checkett Law Firm

Practice areas: Complex civil litigation and health care

George C. Chen

Partner and board member, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Practice areas: Intellectual property, including patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets

Joseph T. Clees

Shareholder, Ogletree Deakins

Practice areas: Labor and employment counseling, labor relations, employment law, litigation, trade secrets, unfair competition

Business advice: “Be humble and caring and challenge the status quo. Listen very carefully to your clients, colleagues and competitors. Recognize your limitations and compensate by surrounding yourself with the best and most diverse talent — then get out of their way.”

John R. Clemency

Shareholder, Polsinelli

Practice areas: Bankruptcy and financial restructuring, bankruptcy litigation, loan enforcement and creditor’s rights

John L. Condrey

Partner, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani

Practice areas: Construction, insurance, environmental/toxic tort, tort and product liability, employment law, professional liability defense, commercial litigation

Jennifer Cranston

Shareholder and member of the board of directors, Gallagher & Kennedy

Practice areas: Condemnation and valuation, insurance, public utilities

Vaughn A. Crawford

Partner, Snell & Wilmer

Practice areas: Class action litigation, personal injury, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, product liability litigation, professional liability litigation

Barbara J. Dawson

Partner, Snell & Wilmer

Practice areas: Class action litigation, commercial litigation, financial services litigation, internal investigations and regulatory compliance, SEC reporting and corporate governance

William M. Demlong

Senior member, The Cavanagh Law Firm

Practice areas: Litigation, insurance coverage, bad faith litigation, products liability, personal injury

John E. DeWulf

Partner, Coppersmith Brockelman

Practice areas: Commercial litigation, securities litigation, bet-the-company litigation

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

Susan M. Freeman

Partner, Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie

Practice areas: Civil appeals and business bankruptcy

Leah S. Freed

Office managing shareholder, Ogletree Deakins

Practice areas: Management-side labor and employment law

Jonathan Frutkin

Principal, Radix Law

Practice areas: Business law and commercial litigation

Business advice: “Don’t be afraid to try something new or take the lead. 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.”

Garrick L. Gallagher

Owner and director, Sanders & Parks

Practice areas: Personal injury, mass torts, insurance litigation and coverage

Michael L. Gallagher

Co-founding partner, shareholder and member of the board of directors,  Gallagher & Kennedy

Practice areas: Sports law, products liability, litigation

Grady Gammage, Jr.

Founding member, Gammage & Burnham

Practice areas: Government relations and administrative law, land use, real estate, public-private partnerships

Lauren L. Garner

Partner, Jaburg Wilk

Practice areas: Probate and trust litigation and mediation

Karen S. Gaylord

Partner, Jennings Haug Cunningham

Practice areas: Environmental law and litigation, energy and energy regulatory law, water law

John T. Gilbert

Partner, Radix Law

Practice areas: Commercial litigation, business and real estate law and business acquisitions

Paul E. Gilbert

Co-founder, Beus Gilbert

Practice areas: Transactions and litigation involving real estate development, zoning and land use law

Amy J. Gittler

Principal, Jackson Lewis

Practice areas: Employment law and labor counseling and litigation, wage and hour, non-competes and unfair competition

Business advice: “Don’t allow other people to set limits on what you can do. With hard work, you can accomplish whatever you set as your goal.”

Yale F. Goldberg

Senior partner, Frazer Ryan Goldberg & Arnold

Practice areas: Federal and state tax controversy, civil and criminal tax litigation

James Goodnow

President and managing partner, Fennemore Craig

Practice areas: Business litigation, commercial contingency litigation, litigation

Susan D. Goodwin

Member, Gust Rosenfeld

Practice areas: Public and municipal law, land use, election law, construction law

Stacey F. Gottlieb

Of counsel, Cohen Dowd Quigley

Practice areas: Complex commercial litigation, white-collar criminal defense

Timothy R. Hyland

Senior member, The Cavanagh Law Firm

Practice areas: Insurance bad faith, insurance coverage, tort and civil litigation defense

Carolyn J. Johnsen

Member, Dickinson Wright

Practice areas: Commercial bankruptcy, restructuring

Joe Kanefield

Partner, Ballard Spahr

Practice areas: Government relations, regulatory affairs and contracting, political and election law, media and entertainment 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

Geoffrey S. Kercsmar

Managing member, Kercsmar & Feltus

Practice areas: Commercial litigation, intellectual property litigation

William G. Klain

Partner, Lang & Klain

Practice areas: Business litigation and appeals

John F. Lomax, Jr.

Partner, Snell & Wilmer

Practice areas: Labor and employment, Native American affairs, energy and utilities

Business advice: “Practicing law is a long and steep learning curve. Be patient and curious.”

Leonardo Loo

Phoenix office managing partner , Quarles & Brady

Practice areas: Mergers and acquisitions, commercial financing, international transactions, securities, general corporate law

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 Leonard Street

Practice areas: Business litigation, antitrust, governance, risk and compliance, real estate litigation

Nicole Maroulakos Goodwin

Phoenix office managing shareholder, Greenberg Traurig

Practice areas: Business litigation, financial services litigation, real estate litigation

Michelle Ray Matheson

Partner, Matheson & Matheson

Practice areas: Labor and employment, including wrongful termination, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, severance agreements, non-compete agreements and unpaid wage claims

Karen C. McConnell

Partner, Ballard Spahr

Practice areas: Mergers and acquisitions, private equity, securities and capital markets

Paul J. McGoldrick

Partner, Shorall McGoldrick Brinkmann

Practice areas: Mediation, arbitration, civil litigation, personal injury, professional liability

Tracy A. Miller

Shareholder, Ogletree Deakins

Practice areas: Represents management in all facets of labor and employment law and civil rights

Pedro J. Miranda

Office managing partner, Squire Patton Boggs

Practice areas: Public and infrastructure finance

Jason Barclay Morris

Partner, Withey Morris

Practice areas: Land use and zoning, real estate transactions, government affairs, liquor law, professional and business licensing

Business advice: “The most important advice I would offer is, the significance of relationships. Phoenix is a small town from a real estate prospective so your relationships and good reputation can help you advance, or will be the quickest path to your decline.”

Douglas C. Northup

Director, chair of Business Litigation Practice Group, Fennemore Craig

Practice areas: Business litigation, commercial contingent fee litigation, insurance coverage for policyholders, business and personal injury tort litigation

Christina M. Noyes

Member, Gust Rosenfeld

Practice areas: Business law, entity formation and structure, mergers and acquisitions, franchisor and franchisee transactional representation, trademark and copyright

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

Pamela Overton Risoleo

Shareholder, Litigation, Greenberg Traurig

Practice areas: Class action litigation, products liability and mass tort, litigation, trial practice

Scott I. Palumbo

Founding partner, Palumbo Wolfe & Palumbo

Practice areas: Personal injury and wrongful death

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

Jody K. Pokorski

Partner, Snell & Wilmer

Practice areas: Real estate acquisitions, development and dispositions, leasing, master-planned communities and subdivisions, project finance

Stephanie Quincy

Partner, Quarles & Brady

Practice areas: Labor and employment, trade secrets and unfair competition, financial institutions litigation, trade secrets

Business advice: “Be a sponge – soak in everything about the partners you work with (and the partners you don’t), the firm’s clients, current events and both the legal and business communities locally, regionally and even nationally that you can. And, get a mentor, or even a few.”

Joseph P. Richardson

Member, Gammage & Burnham

Practice areas: Business organizations and commercial transactions

Cynthia A. Ricketts

Co-founding partner, Sacks Ricketts & Case

Practice areas: Complex contract and commercial litigation, consumer class action defense

Thomas J. Salerno

Partner, Stinson Leonard Street

Practice areas: Bankruptcy and restructuring

Darin Sender

Founding partner and attorney, Sender

Practice areas: Zoning and land use law

Nonnie L. Shivers

Shareholder, Ogletree Deakins

Practice areas: Employment law, management litigation, labor and employment

Bradley Shwer

Founding partner, Thorpe Shwer

Practice areas: Business and commercial litigation, personal injury defense, franchise litigation, products liability

Leon Silver

Managing partner, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani

Practice areas: Commercial litigation, retail and hospitality, privacy, data and cybersecurity, securities litigation, employment litigation

Business advice: “Whether you are putting on a case or trying to grow an office, you have to stick to the principles that you believe most important. You may fail, but you will find that failing on your own terms, teaches, while just doing what someone tells you to do holds little value.”

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

Sheryl A. Sweeney

Shareholder, Ryley Carlock & Applewhite

Practice areas: Energy, water, environmental, electric utility and special taxing districts law

Christopher D. Thomas

Partner, Perkins Coie

Practice areas: Environmental and natural resource permitting and related federal, state and administrative litigation

Debora Verdier

Partner, Manning & Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez, Trester

Practice areas: Employment law-defense

E. Jeffrey Walsh

Shareholder, commercial litigation, Greenberg Traurig

Practice areas: Commercial litigation, construction law, real estate litigation, trial practice, arbitration and mediation

Kathleen L. Wieneke

Partner, Wieneke Law Group

Practice areas: Governmental liability defense, employment law

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

Christine Whalin

Partner and certified criminal law specialist, DM Cantor

Practice areas: Criminal defense

Nancy L. White

Partner, Steptoe

Practice areas: Corporate, mergers and acquisitions, finance, insolvency and restructuring

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

Lawrence E. Wilk

Shareholder, Jaburg Wilk

Practice areas: Bankruptcy litigation, creditor’s rights, workouts, financial fraud, Ponzi schemes, real estate and foreclosure

Susan M. Wissink

Director, management committee member, chair of Fennemore Craig Foundation, Fennemore Craig

Practice areas: Corporate and mergers and acquisitions

Business advice: “The best lawyers are not only smart and driven, but understand their client’s businesses and try to help their clients accomplish their goals. Also, the difference between a good lawyer and a great lawyer, in my opinion, is the great lawyer volunteers in the community to help those in need.”

Mark G. Worischeck

Managing shareholder, Sanders & Parks

Practice areas: Insurance coverage, aviation, personal injury

Joyce K. Wright

Partner, Snell & Wilmer

Practice areas: Commercial real estate, corporate and finance transactions, zoning and land use, master-planned communities and subdivisions, renewable energy

Cathleen Yu

Chair of Phoenix Business Law Practice Group and national Investor Services Team, Quarles & Brady

Practice areas: Business law, investor services, mergers and acquisitions, tax-exempt organizations, corporate governance and compliance, commercial contracting

Kurt M. Zitzer

Partner, Meagher & Geer

Practice areas: Insurance coverage, commercial litigation, professional liability