This annual advanced probate and estate planning/trust seminar will present the latest in new cases, current legislation, drafting, litigation, artificial intelligence, and ethics, including one hour of CLE ethics credit. The team of Jerome Elwell and Mia Samartinean will present their valuable "New Cases/Recent Developments." The Hon. Jay Polk will alert us on recent Arizona legislation and will present "View From the Bench" with the Hon. Dean Fink, the Hon. Kenneth Lee and the Hon. Linda Wallace emphasizing effectiveness in the probate court in the virtual age. A highlight will be a presentation by Professor Derek Bambauer, Ph.D., with our own John Barron on "Artificial Intelligence in Estate Planning" with a demonstration of AI and information about the generation of Wills through AI. Other highlights will include comments of a family law specialist, Jeff Pollitt, pertaining to T&E practice, and a special presentation by T.J. Ryan, Ron Larson and Lou Comus on estate planning and drafting, with forms. We will cap off the day with John Fitzpatrick and Mark House focusing on recent litigation issues, including questions and considerations regarding confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege and in terrorem clauses, followed by a drawing for prizes and a sponsored happy hour. Lunch is included in the price, together with the happy hour after the seminar.
Topics Include:
Seminar Co-Chairs:
Ronald F. Larson, Esq., Larson Law Office
Marlene Appel, Marlene Appel, PLLC
Seminar Faculty:
The Hon. Dean Fink, Maricopa County Superior Court
The Hon. Jay Polk, Maricopa County Superior Court
The Hon. Kenneth Lee, Pima County Superior Court
The Hon. Linda Wallace, Yavapai County Superior Court
Commissioner Janette Corral, Maricopa County Superior Court
Special Guest: Prof. Derek Bambauer, Ph.D, University of Arizona
Marlene Appel, Esq., Seminar Co-Chair
John H. Barron III, Esq., Barron & Associates, P.C.
Louis F. Comus, Jr., Esq., Fennemore Craig, P.C.
Jerome K. Elwell, Esq., Warner Angle Hallam Jackson & Formanek, PLC
John R. Fitzpatrick, Esq, Frazer Ryan Goldberg & Arnold, LLP
Mark E. House, Esq., Becker & House, PLLC
Ronald F. Larson, Esq., Seminar Co-Chair
Jeffrey G. Pollitt, Esq., Jeffrey G. Pollitt, P.C.
T.J. Ryan, Esq., Frazer Ryan Goldberg & Arnold, LLP
Mia Samartinean, Berk Law Group
| AdvProbateMaterials-05052023 (11.8 MB) | 427 Pages | Available after Purchase |
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Updated and Additional Rules and Legislative changes
(459.4 KB)
Updates to the Rules and Legislative portions of the materials as well as an additional Rule petition. |
30 Pages | Available after Purchase |
RONALD F. LARSON, a Certified Estate and Trust Specialist by the State Bar of Arizona, is a sole practitioner with offices in Sun City and Scottsdale, Arizona. His practice is concentrated in the areas of estate planning, probate and small business legal problems. He graduated in 1970 from the University of Wyoming (B.S. with honors) and in 1973 from ASU's Sandra Day O'Connor School of Law (J.D., magna cum laude). Designated an Accredited Estate Planner by the National Association of Estate Planners (NAEPC), Mr. Larson is a frequent speaker at professional seminars on estate planning, probate and ethics. He is Past President of the Washington-based National Society of Tax Professionals (NSTP), where he edited the NSTP Estates, Trusts and Gift Tax Manual and was Technical Editor of The Federal Tax Alert, a national periodical for tax professionals. A Martindale Hubbell AV rated attorney, Mr. Larson is listed in The Bar Register of Preeminent Attorneys and in Southwest Super Lawyers and in Arizona's Finest Lawyers. Recently, Mr. Larson served on the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council and, previously, on the I.R.S.'s Information Reporting Program Advisory Committee, advising the Director of Practice and the I.R.S. Office of Professional Responsibility. He has also served on the Board of Directors of several professional and community organizations, including thirty years on the Gompers Habilitation Center Board where he held every office. He is a Past President of the Central Arizona Estate Planning Council and was a Judge of the Arizona Court of Military Appeals (1993-2011). Ron has been known to exhibit the following personal attributes:
• Still has textbooks and hornbooks from law school (and Gilbert's outlines, too)
• Known to sing his objections in court on occasion
• Enjoys presiding over mandated court arbitrations and thinks the fee is fair
• Knows when to hold 'em, knows when to fold 'em
• Cannot remember names, but remembers useless facts
• Has trouble making accurate line calls on the tennis court
• Can't hit with a wood and tees off with an iron
• Does the cat disappearance trick in his magic act: now you see him, meow you don't
• Never runs out of things to laugh at, because he has learned to laugh at himself
PHONE: (623) 933-4055 (Sun City) or (480) 365-0324 (Scottsdale);
FAX: (623) 972-9855; E-MAIL: RONALDLARSON@RFLPC.COM
concentrates her practice in the areas of probate, trust and G/C administration and litigation. She is a certified specialist in estate and trust law and a licensed fiduciary. She is the 2007 Recipient of the Eleanor Ter Horst Distinguished Service Award given by the Probate & Trust Section of the State Bar for superior knowledge in probate and trust law; consultation to the bar, the courts and the public; participation in related committees and projects and enhancement of public awareness of trust and probate issues. She is rated AV-Pre-eminent (30+ years) and Top Rated Lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell and has been listed by SuperLawyers, Arizona’s Finest Lawyers and Best Lawyers of America (2023 & 2025 Best Lawyer of the Year, 2023 & 2025 Best Law Firm, Phoenix: Elder Law, Trusts & Estates, Litigation - Trusts Estates). She has served as a Judge Pro Tem for the Probate/Mental Health Division of the Maricopa County Superior Court since 1988; and is a certified arbitrator and settlement judge in the probate and civil divisions. She attended Northwestern University and Arizona State University College of Law (JD 1977). She is a former member (1988-92) and co chair (1990-91) of the Executive Council of the State Bar’s Probate & Trust Section, and the State Bar’s Continuing Legal Education Committee (1991-95). She served on the Advisory Commission on Estate and Trust Specialization (1991-98 and 2012-16, chair in 2016), the board of the Maricopa County Bar’s Estate Planning, Probate & Trust Section and the Arizona Supreme Court’s Probate Rules Committee. She was a Senior Editor of the Probate Practice Manual, 5th ed.2014 and 6th ed. 2022. She served on the 2014-15 Alternative Dispute Resolution Policy/Training Group which developed new policies, procedures and mandatory probate ADR training for the Maricopa County Superior Court. She was a member of the Arizona Supreme Court’s Task Force from 2017 through 2019, which re-wrote the Rules of Probate Procedure. She was a faculty member for the State Bar’s College of Trial Advocacy (2014-2018) and the Arizona Supreme Court’s mandatory training program for court appointed attorneys and guardians ad litem. She is a Fellow of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel, and a member of the Sole Practitioner’s Probate Litigation Committee, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Arizona Fiduciary Assn and the Arizona Assn of Women Lawyers. She is a volunteer with the MCBA Probate Lawyer Assistance Program. She is qualified as an expert witness, special master, GAL, litigation conservator, arbitrator and mediator; and is a frequent speaker on probate and trust administration, GCs, litigation and professional ethics.
Judge Dean M. Fink is the Presiding Judge of the Probate and Mental Health Department of the Maricopa County Superior Court. He has been on the Superior Court bench since June 2004. He began his judicial career as a commissioner. In August 2007, Governor Janet Napolitano appointed him as a judge. In addition to Probate/Mental Health, Judge Fink has served in the Family, Civil and Criminal departments of the Superior Court. He was also the Presiding Judge of the Arizona Tax Court from 2009 to 2014. Judge Fink currently serves on the Judicial Performance Review Commission of the Arizona Supreme Court. He previously served on the State Bar of Arizona’s Civil Practice and Procedure Committee, the Arizona Supreme Court’s Fiduciary Board, the Board of Directors of the Arts & Business Council of Greater Phoenix, the University of Arizona Student Life National Leadership Board, and the State Bar of Arizona’s Communications Advisory Committee. Judge Fink received his undergraduate degree in 1990 from the University of Arizona, where he served as the student body president. He received his law degree from the Columbia University School of Law in 1993. Prior to joining the bench, he worked at the law firms of Fennemore Craig, Kirkland and Ellis, and Lewis and Roca.
Jay M. Polk is a judge in the Juvenile Department of the Superior Court of Arizona for Maricopa County. From June 27, 2020 through July 2, 2023, he served as the Presiding Judge of the Probate and Mental Health Department, which since 2012 has experienced the greatest caseload growth of all the departments of that court. He served as the Associate Presiding Judge of that department from April 10, 2017, through June 26, 2020. From November 21, 2011, to April 7, 2017, Judge Polk was assigned to the Family Law Department and served as the Associate Presiding Judge of the Family Law Department for the Northeast Regional Court Center for approximately two of those years. He is the recipient of the Maricopa County Bar Association’s 2022 Judicial Officer of the Year Award. For nearly 20 years prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Polk limited his practice of law to contested and uncontested matters relating to guardianships, conservatorships, decedents’ estates, the abuse or exploitation of vulnerable adults, and estate planning for modest estates. In addition, he served as a mediator and arbitrator, as a guardian ad litem for minor children and incapacitated adults, and as judge pro tempore. Between 1999 and 2011, Judge Polk was an Arizona Licensed Fiduciary and, as such, served as a personal representative or special administrator for several estates, as well as the special conservator for an attorney. Before starting private practice, Judge Polk served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable E. G. Noyes, Jr., of the Arizona Court of Appeals (1993-94) and a law-trained bailiff for the Honorable Robert D. Myers of the Superior Court of Arizona for Maricopa County (1992-93). Throughout his career, Judge Polk has helped draft numerous legislative bills in areas including probate, mental health, criminal, and family law. In addition, he has been involved in drafting court rules and rule amendments in the Rules of the Arizona Supreme Court, the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure, the Arizona Family Law Rules, the Arizona Rules of Probate Procedure and rules of procedure for court-ordered mental health evaluation and treatment cases and rules of procedure for sexually violent persons cases. He also has been a frequent speaker on probate, mental health, and family law matters. He is an editor of the 2022 and 2014 editions of the Arizona Probate Code Practice Manual, was an associate editor of the 2000 edition of that publication, and has been a regular contributor to the Judicial College of Arizona’s Probate Benchbook. Judge Polk currently is serving his second term on the Judicial Executive Committee of the Judicial Branch of Arizona in Maricopa County. In addition, he is a member of the Strategic Planning Committee of the Judicial Branch of Arizona in Maricopa County. During his tenure on the family law bench, Judge Polk served as a co-chair of the Family Law Department’s Initiatives Committee and a member of that department’s Behavioral Health Committee. Between 2014 and 2015, Judge Polk assisted in creating the Superior Court of Arizona for Maricopa County’s intelligent probate forms, and he presently is in the process of updating all of that court’s Self- Service Center probate forms. Judge Polk also has served on several Arizona Supreme Court committees, including the Steering Committee on Arizona Case Processing Standards (2018 – 2019), the Probate Rules Committee (2006 – 2008), the Committee on Improving Judicial Oversight and Processing of Probate Court Matters (2010 – 2011), the Task Force on the Arizona Rules of Probate Procedure (2017 – 2019), and the Electronic Signatures Workgroup (2022 – present). While serving on those committees, he often chaired subcommittees or workgroups. From July 2018 to June 2019, Judge Polk served as President of the Arizona Judges Association, and he was a member of the Executive Board from June 2014 until June 2020. Since November 2016, Judge Polk has been a member of the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System Advisory Committee, and, since 2011, he has been a member of the Fiduciary Board, which regulates Arizona professional fiduciaries. Judge Polk has served as the Judicial Liaison to the Estate Planning, Probate, and Trust Law Section of the Maricopa County Bar Association since May 2017, and he has served as the Judicial Liaison to the Elder Law, Mental Health, and Special Needs Planning Section of the State of Bar of Arizona since September 2018. Since June 2019, he also has been the Judicial Liaison to the Probate and Trust Law Section of the State Bar of Arizona. While he was private practice, Judge Polk was actively involved in the Arizona Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the Probate and Trust Law and the Mental Health and Elder Law Sections of the State Bar of Arizona, and he served on countless committees of those organizations. Judge Polk received his juris doctorate degree from Arizona State University in 1992. He received his bachelor’s degree in political science, with honors, from the University of Chicago in 1989. Since 2016, Judge Polk has participated in the Latina Mentoring Project, which provides mentoring relationships for Latina undergraduate and law students. Since June 2021, Judge Polk and his wife have been members of the West Point Parents Club of Arizona, which is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to promoting the well-being and continued success of the United States Service Academies. From 2004 to 2006, Judge Polk served as President of The Council For Jews With Special Needs (now known as Gesher Disability Resources). In addition, he was a member of that organization’s Board of Directors from 1998 through 2007. Since 2006, Judge Polk has been a manager of Council Properties, L.L.C., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gesher Disability Resources that owns two other limited liability companies that manage group homes for persons with disabilities. When he was in private practice, Judge Polk volunteered for the Maricopa County Volunteer Lawyers Program. For two decades, he and his wife co-chaired the University of Chicago Alumni Club of Phoenix and the University of Chicago Alumni Schools committee. Judge Polk has been the recipient of numerous professional awards, including the following:
• Judicial Officer of the Year Award, Maricopa County Bar Association 2022,
• Bridging the Gap Award, Maricopa County Bar Association Family Law Section 2017,
• Craig C. Gordon Outstanding Arizona Chapter Member Award, Arizona Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Attorneys 2011,
• Leadership Award, Arizona Fiduciaries Association 2009,
• Eleanor ter Horst Distinguished Service Award, State Bar of Arizona Probate and Trust Law Section 2008,
• Selected for inclusion in 2011 Southwest Super Lawyers and Arizona’s Finest Lawyers, and
• Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated while in private practice.
Professor Derek E. Bambauer is Professor of Law at the University of Arizona, where he teaches Internet law and intellectual property. His research treats algorithms, cybersecurity, Internet censorship, and intellectual property. A former principal systems engineer at Lotus Development Corp. (part of IBM), Professor Bambauer spent two years as a Research Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. At the Berkman Center, he was a member of the OpenNet Initiative, an academic consortium that tested and studied Internet censorship in countries such as China, Iran, and Vietnam. At Arizona, Bambauer is the co-founder of the IP & Entrepreneurship Clinic, which offers legal services to start-ups. He holds an A.B. from Harvard College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. CV available: https://law.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/bambauerdcv0318.pdf
John H. Barron, III is a member of Barron & Associates, P.C., Of Counsel to DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy, PC, and is the managing partner of the Phoenix office. He received
his B.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Arizona, and is admitted to the State Bar of Arizona (May, 1990) and the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, as well as the State Bar of Georgia. John has served as co-chair and secretary for the Mental Health, Elder Law and Special Needs Section of the State Bar of Arizona multiple times, served on the Mental Health Legislation sub-committee, and completed his tenure on the Arizona Supreme Court Probate Rules Task Force which drafted the new Arizona Rules of Probate Procedure, effective January 1, 2020. He is an associate editor of the 4th, 5th, and 6th editions (6th edition released 2022) of the Arizona Probate Code Practice Manual.
Early in his probate practice, as a private practitioner in Tucson, John was a special deputy Pima County attorney handling mental health litigation for Pima, Pinal, Yuma, and La Paz counties. He subsequently served as a deputy Maricopa County attorney representing the Maricopa County Medical Center Psychiatric Annex with respect to court-ordered behavioral health treatment and later, representing the Maricopa County Public Fiduciary in the administration and litigation of estate, guardianship, conservatorship and mental health matters.
Returning to private practice in 1997, John established himself as a litigator of matters relating to estates, trusts, guardianships, conservatorships, exploitation and/or abuse of vulnerable or incapacitated adults, Adult Protective Services actions, eligibility for persons entitled to mental health, developmental disability, and ALTCS related assistance - practicing in the trial, appellate, and administrative courts. In addition to the specific practice of law, he has also been a presenter and keynote speaker at seminars related to probate and mental health law such as the annual “Advanced Issues in Probate and Estate Planning” seminar, as well as in-service training programs related to probate, guardianship, and mental health law for medical personnel. John was the instructor for the Arizona Supreme Court Fiduciary Training Program, Decision Marking module, and continues to participate in the drafting of guardianship, conservatorship, surrogacy, and mental health statutes through legislative committees and on behalf of stakeholders. Barron & Associates, PC of Counsel to
DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy, PC | 602.252.8100 | www.azprobatelawyers.com
, JR., was a director (now retired) of the Phoenix law firm of Fennemore Craig, P.C., where his primary areas of concentration were probate and trust administration, taxation and estate planning. He received his B.A. degree from Antioch College and his J.D. degree from the Vanderbilt University School of Law. He has frequently lectured before bar and civic groups, has served as commissioner and judge pro tem. for probate matters in the Maricopa County Superior Court, and as a volunteer mediator in the Maricopa County Superior Court probate mediation program. He has also served as contributor/editor on five editions of the State Bar of Arizona Probate Code Practice Manual and on the Probate Rules Committee of the Arizona Supreme Court. He is a retired member of the State Bar of Arizona, was a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America (1986-2018) under the category Trusts and Estates, in Southwest Super Lawyers (2009-2018)(Arizona and New Mexico), and in Arizona's Finest Lawyers (2011), and was presented the 2012- 2013 Eleanor ter Horst Distinguished Service Award by the Probate and Trust Law Section of the State Bar of Arizona.
is admitted to practice in the Arizona Supreme Court and all lower courts within the state. He has been admitted to practice law in Arizona since 1989. In 2008, Mr. Elwell was admitted to the United States Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States. He is also a member of the American Bar Association. Since 1989, Mr. Elwell has practiced law at Warner Angle Hallam Jackson & Formanek PLC. Mr. Elwell's law practice is devoted to elder law issues with specific focus on administration and litigation involving contested and uncontested decedent's estates, trusts, advanced directives, guardianships, and conservatorships. Much of Mr. Elwell's experience has focused on emergent circumstances where estates, trusts, or individuals are threatened with economic or medical harm unless prompt action is taken. He received his Bachelor of Science-General Business from The University of Arizona in 1986, and his Juris Doctorate from The University of Arizona College of Law in 1989. (5/2019)
JOHN R. FITZPATRICK is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and has more than 35 years of legal experience, the last 32 of which have been with the Phoenix law firm Frazer, Ryan, Goldberg & Arnold, LLP, where he is a senior partner, member of its management committee, and the senior litigator in its significant and growing trust and estate litigation department. John's state-wide trust and probate litigation practice covers a wide variety of topics, including validity contests, interpretation disputes, beneficiary rights and fiduciary duties, appointment, removal and priority disputes, creditor controversies, financial exploitation claims, forfeiture controversies, as well as accounting, fee and surcharge disputes. John received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Notre Dame after graduating with honors from Arizona State University. He has served the judiciary as a Judge Pro Tempore of the Superior Court and of the Justice Courts. He is the former Chairman (2018-2019), Chair-Elect (2017-2018) and Secretary (2015-2017) of the Executive Council of the State Bar’s Probate and Trust Section. John enjoys a long-standing AV Preeminent®* rating from his peers and is named a "Top Rated Lawyer in Trusts & Estates" by Martindale-Hubbell and American Lawyer Media. He was also named among "Arizona's Finest Lawyers," "Southwest Super Lawyers," and "The Best Lawyers in America" in the field of Trust & Estate Litigation, where he was chosen for this year’s “Lawyer of the Year” award. Also a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, John is a frequent speaker at professional education seminars in his field, including CLE by the Sea, the State Bar Convention, and the State Bar's annual Advanced Probate presentation. John can be reached at jfitzpatrick@frgalaw.com or (602) 277-2010.
Mark E. House is a partner at Becker & House, PLLC. Mark’s primary focus is on trust and estate litigation. His litigation background includes will contests, financial exploitation, fiduciary litigation and most other contested matters involving an estate or trust. Additionally, Mark has the expertise to represent fiduciaries administering an estate or trust involved in litigation. Mark has an excellent background in estate planning and all aspects of estate, gift and income taxes and tax planning. Because of his experience with complicated estate tax issues, Mark is often retained to provide guidance in estate litigation where tax problems are likely to arise. Mark speaks regularly on topics ranging from drafting to avoid litigation to the income tax issues of trust funding and has been an Adjunct Professor at Arizona State University School of Law, where he teaches Trusts and Decedents Estates. He formerly taught at Arizona Summit Law School from 2009 - 2018, where he taught Trusts and Estates, Estate and Gift Tax, Estate Planning, Federal Income Taxation, and Remedies. Mark also serves as a Judge Pro Tempore for the Maricopa County Superior Court. Mark is a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Mark received his B.S.B.A. degree in Business Economics from Northern Arizona University in 1995 and received his J.D. degree, with distinction, in 1998 from Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jeff focuses his practice on complex financial divorce litigation, business valuation litigation, prenuptial agreement litigation, mediation engagements and family law appellate cases. Arizona Supreme Court Attorney Discipline Probable Cause Committee 2011-2020; State Bar of Arizona Certified Family Law Specialist; Fellow, American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers; Best Lawyers in America; State Bar Family Law Rules Committee 2024; Arizona Supreme Court Rules of Family Law Procedure Task Force; Past Chair, State Bar Executive Council Family Law Section; Past Chair, Maricopa County Bar Association Family Law Section; Past Member, State Bar Member Assistance Committee, Family Law Practice and Procedure Committee and Consumer Protection Committee; Frequent speaker at basic through advanced State and County Bar Family Law and Probate Seminars; Author: “The Drahos Formula,” “Drahos and Its Progeny,” “Separate Property Business Litigation Under Rueschenberg,” “Apportionment Under Arizona Case Law,” “The Trouble with Math and Law,” “125-plus Arizona Family Law Cases,” “The Preliminary Injunction and Its Effect on Estate Planning,” “Registration, Enforcement and Modification of Foreign Orders Under UIFSA,” “Valuation Reports and Valuation Experts,” “Interspousal Torts,” “Integrity” and “Tracing Commingled Assets; The Status of Arizona Law.” He received his J.D. from Arizona State University, his M.B.A. from the University of Kentucky and his B.B.A. from Eastern Kentucky University. Jeff@ComplexDivorceLaw.com
T. J. Ryan is a senior partner with the law firm of Frazer Ryan Goldberg & Arnold, LLP, in Phoenix. T.J.'s practice encompasses virtually all aspects of estates and trusts, including estate and business planning, probate and trust administration, and litigating contested issues related to estates and trusts. An AV Preeminent rated attorney by Martindale-Hubbell, Best Lawyers in America selected T.J. as "Lawyer of the Year" in Trust Litigation for 2015. In 2017, the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) named T.J. as a Fellow of the college. T.J. received his law degree from the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona in 2002, after graduating with a BBA from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Along with colleagues Darren Case and Brent Nelson, T.J. is the co-author of the Arizona Estate Planning and Probate Handbook, published by Thompson Reuters as a part of the Arizona Practice Series. T.J. has assisted with the editing of the Arizona Probate Practice Manual and the Arizona Attorneys’ Fees Manual (both publications of the Arizona State Bar) and served on the Task Force which revised the Arizona Rules of Probate Procedure in 2017-2019. T.J. served as the President of the Maricopa County Bar Association in 2015. T.J. is a native of Phoenix, Arizona who enjoys golf, Crossfit™, baseball, and spending time with his wife and two sons.
Honorable Kenneth Lee was appointed to the Pima County Superior Court on April 17, 1997. He is currently assigned to the Probate Bench and currently serves as Presiding Judge of the Probate Bench. His prior bench assignments have been a civil assignment from 1997 to 2002, a criminal assignment from 2002 to 2006, a family law assignment from 2006 to 2008, a civil assignment from 2008 to 2013, and a criminal assignment from 2013 to 2018. He previously served two terms as the Civil Presiding Judge from 1999 to 2000 and 2008 to 2010. In addition, he served four terms as the Associate Presiding Judge from 2001 to 2002, 2004 to 2005, 2011 to 2014 and 2015 to 2018. Judge Lee is currently a member of the Arizona Supreme Court Steering Committee on Data-Based Court Performance and Data Standards and was previously on the Committee for Superior Courts. In the past, he has been a member of the Arizona State Bar Committees on Civil Jury Instructions and Civil Practice and Procedure. From 2000 to 2002 he served as secretary of the Arizona Judges Association. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Lee was trial attorney in Tucson for 16 years. He practiced at the firms of Davis and Eppstein, P. C. from 1981 to 1986 and Haralson, Kinerk & Morley from 1986 to 1997. The major areas of practice were plaintiffs’ medical malpractice and other complex, personal injury cases.
Mia Samartinean grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona. Mia graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. She received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law. She is licensed to practice in Arizona, and is a member of the State Bar of Arizona and the Maricopa County Bar Association. Mia brings unique enthusiasm and empathy, a fresh perspective, and valuable experience in civil litigation. She focuses her practice on trust and estate matters, probate, guardianship, conservatorship, elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
Commissioner Janette Corral is an Arizona native who received her BA from the University of Arizona in Political Science and Spanish and her JD from the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. Prior to her appointment, Janette spent her legal career at the Maricopa Office of the Public Defender where she was an attorney in the Criminal Mental Health Unit and represented Seriously Mentally Ill individuals in therapeutic and probation violation courts. In that role, Janette collaborated with treatment providers and the Regional Behavioral Health Authority to ensure her clients were receiving appropriate treatment. Janette often worked closely with guardians, both private and at the Public Fiduciary. Janette also represented individuals in Rule 11 court, where her clients' competency was at issue. For individuals who were found not competent and not restorable, she advised her clients regarding possible outcomes in subsequent Title 36 and/or Title 14 proceedings. In her role, she also served as a mentor and resource to other attorneys and presented on topics related to Criminal Mental Health. Prior to attending law school, Janette worked for J.P. Morgan Chase in Emerging Markets and Affordable Housing where she partnered with local nonprofits to assist her customers in achieving their dreams of homeownership. Janette is currently on the board of the Maricopa County Justice Museum and Learning Center and has been involved with the Los Abogados Hispanic Bar Association. She is married, has two small children, and a teenage stepdaughter.
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