Total Credits: 3 Administrative Law Specialization, 3 CLE
The 2024 presidential election is already underway, and we will likely see many new federal and state election-related lawsuits in the months to come. Meanwhile, the slim prospect for new election legislation and the significant turnover among Arizona election officials will make this election cycle uniquely challenging
This seminar will provide an overview of recent election law developments, as well as a series of practical tips for the election law attorney. Please join us for this informative, useful, and entertaining seminar.
Topics will include:
Seminar Co-Chairs:
Sarah R. Gonski, Institute for Responsive Government
Eric H. Spencer, Snell & Wilmer LLP
Faculty:
Hon. Adrian Fontes, Arizona Secretary of State
Hon. Dana Lewis, Pinal County Recorder
Jim Barton, Barton Mendez Soto PLLC
Joshua Bendor, Arizona Solicitor General
Amy Chan, Arizona Secretary of State’s Office and the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission
Bo Dul, Office of Governor Katie Hobbs
Andy Gaona, Coppersmith Brockelman PLC
Karen Hartman-Tellez, Maricopa County Attorney's Office, Civil Division
Joseph Kanefield, Snell & Wilmer LLP
Kara Karlson, Arizona Attorney General’s Office
Mary O'Grady, Osborn Maledon PA
| Election Law Materials (2.6 MB) | 62 Pages | Available after Purchase |
Sarah Gonski is an election law attorney and policy expert who advises political committees, think tanks, and advocacy organizations at every stage of the political process. She focuses on developing and implementing bipartisan policy solutions to render the election process more voter-friendly, accurate, and efficient. Her consulting clients include the Institute for Responsive Government, the Center for Secure and Modern Elections, the Center for DMV Election Resources, and more. She also teaches Election Law at Arizona State University's College of Law. Prior to her policy and teaching work, she spent seven years in private practice working to secure and expand access to the democratic process. In that capacity, she litigated over 100 election law and voting rights cases across the country in both state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court. In 2020, she litigated nearly a dozen lawsuits defending President Biden from those seeking to overturn the results of the presidential election. Sarah lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and is a graduate of the University of Maryland-College Park and Harvard Law School.
Eric Spencer is a partner at Snell & Wilmer in Phoenix and primarily focuses his practice on election and political law. Eric most recently served as the State Election Director in the Arizona Secretary of State’s office from 2015-2018. Before his original stint at Snell & Wilmer from 2007-2014, Eric began his professional career as an infantry officer with the U.S. Army, where he achieved the rank of Captain following a 12-month tour of duty during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Among other awards and decorations, Eric was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and Combat Infantry Badge after having led nearly 250 combat missions and patrols in southeast Baghdad in 2006. Eric holds a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University, law degree from Duke University, and bachelor’s degree in political science (magna cum laude) from UCLA.
is an Arizona native born and raised on the border in Nogales. His active duty service in the United States Marine Corps solidified his love of country and made him a strong advocate of the US Constitution. He took this passion back to finish his undergraduate degree with summa cum laude honors at Arizona State University, and then to the University of Denver where he received his Juris Doctorate. After law school, Mr. Fontes worked for the Denver DA's Office prior to returning to Arizona to continue his prosecuting career with the Maricopa County Attorney and then the Arizona Attorney General. With the Arizona AG, he headed the Foreign Prosecution Unit in the Fraud and Public Corruption Section of that office. Mr. Fontes left government service for private practice where he made his way from working in local Justice Courts, through Superior Courts and eventually to several cases before the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Adrian Fontes lives in Phoenix with his wife Mona and their three daughters. He is an avid musician, college football fan and supporter of his community. Adrian Fontes is a member of the National Association of Counties Telecommunications and Technology Policy Steering Committee and is working on the requirements to achieve a Certified Elections/Registration Administrator (CERA) designation. CERA is the elections profession's highest designation. Adrian Fontes serves as the 29th Recorder and is the first Latino to serve as a countywide elected official in Maricopa County, Arizona.
practices political and government relations law at Barton Mendez Soto PLLC. He has defended many statewide ballot measure campaigns against challenges to their place on the ballot and constitutionality. He has also challenged and defended candidate petition the constitutionality of state laws regulating elections and campaign finance. Jim represented the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, the Citizens Clean Elections Commission and the Arizona Secretary of State as an Assistant Attorney General in the Arizona Solicitor General's Office. In that capacity, he also litigated election law cases, including Arizona Free Enterprise v. Bennett, for which he served as counsel of record before the United States Supreme Court. After receiving his Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the Arizona State University College of Law in 2005, Jim clerked for Arizona Chief Justice Ruth McGregor. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in physics and philosophy at Northwestern University and served as a submarine warfare officer in the United States Navy from 1993 to 1998.
Josh Bendor serves as the Solicitor General at the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. Previously, he was a partner at Osborn Maledon, where his practice included election litigation.
Amy B. Chan has served as General Counsel for the Secretary’s Office since March 2022. In over two decades as a lawyer, she has served as a legislative staffer, Director of Administrative Actions for Department of Real Estate, General Counsel for Department of Corrections, Administrative Law Judge for the Corporation Commission, and State Election Director under former Secretary of State Ken Bennett. In 2017 she was appointed to a five year term on the Clean Elections Commission by then-Senate Minority Leader Katie Hobbs, where she remains in that role as a holdover. From late 2013 through February 2022 she took time to raise her growing family and is pleased to have the opportunity to once again serve the Secretary and the people of Arizona.
Sambo (Bo) Dul joined the Secretary of State's office as the State Elections Director in January 2019. Before that, she was a partner in the Political Law Group at Perkins Coie LLP, where she focused on election and voting rights litigation, international anti-corruption compliance and investigations, and immigrant and refugee rights pro bono work. Bo grew up in Tempe and received bachelor's degrees in Economics, Political Science, and Spanish from Arizona State University. She received her Master's in Public Affairs from Princeton University and Juris Doctorate from New York University School of Law. After law and graduate school, she practiced law at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York and clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit before moving back home to Arizona six years ago. She and her husband, Ryan, have two little girls, Kora (4) and Lilah (1).
ANDY GAONA is a partner at Coppersmith Brockelman PLC, and focuses his practice in the areas of election and political law, public law, commercial litigation, appeals, and public records. He advises candidates, PACs, party organizations, nonprofits, and public bodies on issues of campaign finance, ballot access, and election-related litigation. In addition, Andy works closely with groups that sponsor or oppose ballot measures at both the state and local level from the drafting of ballot language to defending and prosecuting pre- and post-election challenges (and everything in between). Andy also litigates commercial, civil rights, public law, and public records matters for a diverse group of clients. He has been recognized as a Super Lawyers® “Rising Star” in business litigation since 2014, and by Best Lawyers® in the appellate practice since 2020 and in the commercial litigation practice since 2022. He was named one of Phoenix’s “40 Under 40” by the Phoenix Business Journal in 2022, and has been recognized by the Arizona Capitol Times as Arizona’s top political lawyer for the past two years, Andy serves on the Board of Directors of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest and also works on pro bono legal matters when possible. When he is not working, he is trying to keep up with his two ridiculously-cute daughters.
KAREN J. HARTMAN-TELLEZ is Senior Counsel in the Civil Division of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. She has practiced law in Arizona for more than twenty years in the areas of civil litigation involving constitutional, education, employment, civil rights, media, and political law issues. For the last fifteen years, a substantial portion of her practice has focused on representation of state and county election officials, litigating matters at all levels of state and federal courts. Earlier in her career, she spent several years in private practice, where her practice focused on media, constitutional, voting rights, and federal Indian law. In 2008, she spearheaded the Arizona Election Protection program, a non-partisan voter assistance program. Karen graduated magna cum laude from the College of Law at Arizona State University. After obtaining her law degree, she completed a judicial clerkship with the Honorable Ruth V. McGregor, Vice Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court.
Joseph A. Kanefield is a partner at Snell & Wilmer, where he advises clients on election law, campaign finance law, constitutional law, civil and appellate litigation, gaming law, licensure, state and local tax matters, procurement, and public-private partnerships. Joe has extensive experience as a litigator at all levels of federal and state courts. He previously served as Chief Deputy/Chief of Staff under Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich. Before joining the Attorney General’s Office, Joe was a partner at the national law firm Ballard Spahr, where he was the Practice Leader of the firm’s Political and Election Law Practice Group. Joe also served as General Counsel to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, advising Gov. Brewer and the State of Arizona in litigation involving the state budget, civil rights, immigration, gaming, and health care issues. Prior to joining the Governor’s Office, he served in the Arizona Secretary of State’s office as State Election Director and in-house counsel. He also was an Assistant Attorney General and an attorney with the Arizona Department of Revenue. Joe is a Professor of Practice at the University of Arizona College of Law and has taught election law since 2007. He is a past president of the State Bar of Arizona and currently serves as the Arizona State Delegate to the American Bar Association. Joe received his undergraduate degree from Arizona State University and his J.D. from the University of Arizona College Of Law.
Kara Karlson is an Assistant Attorney General who represents the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission, and other state agencies in election matters at trial and on appeal. Her practice covers a wide variety of election law disputes, including constitutional and Voting Rights Act litigation in federal and state courts, state-law based election challenges, petition challenges for candidates and initiatives, campaign finance complaints, and recount litigation. Additionally, she advises other state agencies and serves as lead litigation counsel for those agencies in high-impact litigation. Before coming to the Attorney General’s office, Kara worked at a boutique law firm in the Phoenix area which focused primarily on bankruptcy litigation and general civil litigation. She is admitted to practice in Arizona state and federal courts as well as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. Kara is very involved in the Arizona Women Lawyers Association, serving on the Steering Committee, as a co-chair to the Mother’s Forum, and the Leadership Appointments Committee. She also serves as Chair on the Developmental Disability Advisory Council, providing advice to the Division of Developmental Disabilities on how to provide the best services for approximately 46,000 Arizonans with developmental disabilities. Prior to becoming a lawyer, she worked on staff for political committees in the 2004 and 2006 election cycles. Kara is an Arizona Pioneer Descendant, with family roots in Arizona that stretch back to 1900. She married her junior high sweetheart, and they are blessed with two wonderful daughters.
is a partner at Osborn Maledon where she works on civil litigation, appeals and strategic advice and counseling, with an emphasis on public law issues. She has extensive experience in redistricting, campaign finance law, voting rights issues and other election law issues. Mary represented the 2011 Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, advising on all aspects of the redistricting process and defending the Commission in litigation in state and federal courts. Mary served as Arizona Solicitor General from 2002 to 2011 and in that capacity, she oversaw the State's campaign finance and election law work and worked on numerous constitutional challenges to Arizona state laws. She has worked on twelve cases on the merits before the United States Supreme Court. Mary earned her J.D. from Arizona State University. She also has an M.A. in History from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a B.A. in History from Arizona State University.
Dana Lewis was unanimously appointed County Recorder by the Pinal County Board of Supervisors on August 5, 2022. As the Recorder, Ms. Lewis has ensured all internal procedures are up-to-date and compliant with the Arizona Revised Statutes and Elections Procedurals Manual. She has improved security protocols with GPS-locked ballot transfer boxes, recorded surveillance of ballot drop boxes, and staunch audit trail worksheets. Ms. Lewis brought a fresh perspective on political observers and has invited all parties to be integrated into the early voting processes for Pinal County. She created the first Voter Education Working Group that meets monthly with area stakeholders of all parties. This group allows for the free flow of information and updates related to elections, voter registration, and early voting. This program reinforces the core concept that communication is key. After becoming Recorder, Ms. Lewis addressed staff concerns related to compensation, professional development, and physical security to encourage employee retention and prevent the loss of institutional knowledge. Recorder Lewis sits on the AZ Secretary of State's Committee for Election Official Certification Training and is Vice Chair of Arizona's Voter Information Database Steering Committee. She is a Certified Election Official for the State of Arizona and a current student of Auburn University, hoping to obtain her Master's Certificate in Election and Registration Administration. She began working for Pinal County in 2019 as an Election Specialist and accepted the position of Assistant to the Recorder in January 2022. Dana resides in Casa Grande and is a member of the 2023 Class of Dodie Londen Excellence in Public Service Program, AZRA, and the Republican Federated Women's Club. Additionally, she attends the Signal Peak Toastmasters Club and is a Casa Grande Historical Preservation Commission board member. An Air Force veteran, Dana spent eight years as a personnelist and security forces augmentee, leaving as a Staff Sergeant. She has two adult children - Jack and Shelby.
Jillian Andrews is Of Counsel at Herrera Arellano LLP. Her practice focuses on election and political law, nonprofit organization and compliance, campaign finance, and litigation. Prior to joining Herrera Arellano, Jillian was a litigator at Ballard Spahr LLP and previously served as a law clerk for Justice Ann Scott Timmer of the Arizona Supreme Court and Judge John J. Tuchi of the District of Arizona. In 2017, Jillian earned her JD from the University of Arizona, having previously earned a BA from U of A and serving as an AmeriCorps member in Washington, D.C. Public Schools.
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