Current Issues in Juvenile Law Practice

Overview:

The faculty has over 100 years of Trial and courtroom experience. This program will feature perspectives from all areas of practice as well as from three different parts of the State.  The program will feature perspective from the Bench and will touch on all aspects of the trial from preparation through closing.   Emphasis will be related primarily to Juvenile trials. A special emphasis will be on Cross Examination.

Panelists:

Judge Ramirez has been on the bench since September of 2022. His current assignment consists of both dependency and delinquency matters, as well as guardianships and conservatorships of minors. Prior to the bench, he was a Bureau Chief at the Pinal County Public Defender’s Office in charge of the Trial Unit, Juvenile Unit, and Justice Courts. He handled all matters from misdemeanors to homicides, including capital cases. He started his career in at Cooper & Rueter LLP in Casa Grande where he was a general practitioner with most of his cases in juvenile law and criminal defense.

Jennifer Hill has been practicing in the areas of family law and juvenile law since 2010 and as a sole practitioner since 2019.  Ms. Hill has represented parties in the areas of family law, dependency, delinquency, guardianship and criminal defense.  Since 2019, Ms. Hill has worked primarily as a contract attorney for Pinal County handling dependency cases and, more recently, delinquency, best interest attorney, and guardian ad litem in family and guardianship cases. 

Nicole Severson has practiced in Pinal County for twenty-two years, four years at Cooper & Rueter, LLP, and for the last eighteen as a sole practitioner. Ms. Severson has practiced in the areas of family law, probate, dependency, delinquency, and criminal law.  Since 2016, Ms. Severson has served as a retained attorney in Pinal County handling dependency cases. Ms. Severson is a member, and Past President, of the Pinal County Bar Association and has been a member of the Juvenile Law Section Executive Council since 2018, currently serving as Chair-Elect.

John Foley is a senior attorney at the firm of Gillespie, Shields, and Taylor. Mr. Foley has been a litigator since 1981.  He has virtually tried every type of case there is in juvenile, criminal, and civil.  He has also served as General Counsel to the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs.  He has been both a prosecutor and defense attorney.  Since being admitted to the Arizona Bar he has primarily represented Parents in Dependency cases and currently deals in civil rights litigation.