Total Credits: 3 CLE, 3 Ethics
The Arizona Chapter of the American College of Trial Lawyers presents a lively discussion on ethics in trials!
JoJene Mills, member of the Supreme Court’s Attorney Discipline Probable Cause Committee, will moderate pre-trial, trial and post-trial ethical issues for both criminal and civil attorneys.
Chairs:
Thomas P. Burke II, Udall Law Firm LLP
Laura Udall, Laura E. Udall PLLC
Faculty:
John Ager, Sandweg & Ager PC
Maria Aguilera, Evo A. DeConcini U.S. Courthouse
Shawn Aiken, Shawn Aiken, PLLC and Aiken Law Firm, PLLC
Peter Akmajian, Schmidt Sethi & Akmajian
Stephen Bullington, Jones Skelton & Hochuli PLC
Katherine Corcoran, Broening Oberg Woods & Wilson PC
Tom Henze, Henze Cook Murphy PLLC
Joseph E. Mais, Perkins Coie LLP
JoJene Mills, Law Office of JoJene Mills, P.C.
Dimitra Sampson, United States Attorney's Office
Rick Unklesbay, Pima County Attorney's Office, Retired 2021
John Ager attended The University of California, Berkeley as an undergraduate and the Arizona College of Law. He recently completed the Pepperdine Law School, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, “Mediating the Litigated Case” program. John has been litigating personal injury cases involving catastrophic injuries and death representing both plaintiffs and defendants for more than 25 years. He has successfully tried many cases to verdict. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, where he currently serves on the Arizona State Committee, as well as a national grant review committee. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and past president of the Arizona Chapter, where he continues to serve on the Executive Committee. He is a member of the American Association for Justice and the Arizona Association for Justice, where he currently serves on the Executive Committee. He is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell. Since 2016, he has been recognized annually by Best Lawyers in America for his work in personal injury cases and was awarded lawyer of the year in 2022 and 2024. Since 2015, he has been recognized annually by Southwest Super Lawyers for his work in medical negligence cases. He served as chair of the State Bar of Arizona College of Trial Advocacy for eight years. He currently serves on the State Bar of Arizona Civil Practice and Procedure Committee, where he has chaired many subcommittees. He is a frequent lecturer and author on issues related to civil practice and medical negligence claims.
Peter Akmajian is a 1984 graduate (with distinction) from the University of Arizona College of Law. He clerked for the Honorable Frank X. Gordon from 1984-85. He has been in private practice since 1985 with O’Connor Cavanagh in Phoenix and Tucson, the Udall Law Firm and now with Schmidt, Sethi & Akmajian, where he represents patients and their families in medical malpractice and other personal injury cases. Peter is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a member of ABOTA.
began as a prosecutor in 1981 with the Pima County Attorney's Office and retired in 2021. In that time he has served as a deputy county attorney, supervisor of violent crimes, Chief Trial Counsel and Chief Criminal Deputy. Currently he runs a program in the office called the Conviction Integrity Unit in which claims of innocence are evaluated and resolved. In his career Mr. Unklesbay has tried over 100 first degree murder cases to jury including more than 20 that were tried as death penalty cases.
Shawn Aiken has 36 years’ experience as a trial lawyer and 26 years' experience as a neutral in business litigation and arbitration, especially misrepresentation, unfair competition, business tort, and contract cases. In 2015, he was admitted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is listed in “The Best Lawyers in America”® (2007-2024) in commercial litigation, mediation, and arbitration and Super Lawyers’ “Top 50 Arizona Lawyers” (2009-2024). He has mediated over 800 cases and arbitrated over 300 cases to final award. He was selected by Best Lawyers in America as Lawyer of the Year 2012 and 2015 (Mediation, Phoenix) and 2019 and 2021 (Arbitration, Phoenix). In 2017, he was appointed to the CPR Panel of Distinguished Neutrals: Arbitrator and Mediator, Real Estate Panel, and Phoenix ADR Panel. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Civil Trial Mediators and the Academy of Court-Appointed Masters.
JoJene Mills has practiced law since 1985, representing patients and other injured people. JoJene graduated from the Arizona State University College of Law and owned her own practice, the Law Office of JoJene Mills, P.C. since 2005. She was President of the Arizona Association for Justice in 2003, served on the Civil Practice and Procedure Committee for the State Bar of Arizona, acted as co-chair of the Committee on Courts for the American Association for Justice and currently serves on the Attorney Discipline Probable Cause Committee for the Arizona Supreme Court. She served as faculty at the State Bar of Arizona’s College of Trial Advocacy, and as a lecturer at the Arizona State University and University of Arizona Colleges of Law and the University of Arizona College of Medicine. She is listed in “The Best Lawyers in America”, in “Superlawyers” and is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. She was named “Trial Lawyer of the Year” by the Arizona Association for Justice in 2015. JoJene acted as a lobbyist for patients and consumer rights with the Arizona legislature and the U.S. Congress and appeared in the Arizona Supreme Court as “friend of the Court” in numerous cases on behalf of patients. JoJene no longer accepts cases but occasionally consults with other trial lawyers. She is writing her dissertation for a Ph.D. in English Literature at the University of Arizona.
Dimitra Sampson is an Assistant United States Attorney in Phoenix, handling mostly violent crimes prosecutions for the last 15 years. In addition to her trial work there, she has held various management positions in the office throughout the years, including Chief of the Criminal Division and serving as the Executive Assistant United States Attorney. Prior to joining the United States Attorney’s Office, she was an associate with Renaud Cook Drury Mesaros, PA from 2004 through 2008. She started her legal career as a Deputy County Attorney in Maricopa County in 1998. Dimitra was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers in September 2018.
Kate’s practice is solely focused on defending health care providers. She was recently selected as the 2023 “Lawyer of the Year” in Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants in Phoenix with Best Lawyers. She is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers (www.actl.com), which is extended only by invitation, after careful investigation, to those experienced trial lawyers who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality. Membership can never be more than 1% of the total lawyer population of any state or province. Kate is the current Chair of the Arizona State Committee of the ACTL after serving as Vice Chair from 2019-2021. She was lead trial counsel in a 2019 multi-million dollar medical malpractice/wrongful death case that was recognized as a Significant Defense Verdict in Arizona Attorney Magazine, a publication of the State Bar of Arizona. She has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America in the practice area of Medical Malpractice Law- Defendants since 2020.
To date, Kate has first-chaired dozens of trials, including trials in Yavapai, Pinal and Pima Counties, and continues to sustain a heavy trial calendar. Her jury trials have involved the defense of a hospital, an assisted living facility, dentists and physicians. A substantial portion of her practice is dedicated to defending dentists, including appearing before the Arizona Board of Dental Examiners.
Kate grew up in the suburban D.C. area, moving to Arizona to attend the University of Arizona in Tucson. She graduated with a B.A. in English and Political Science in 1996 and then went on to earn her J.D. from the University of Arizona in May 1999. Immediately after law school, Kate clerked for the Hon. Michael Cruikshank in Pima County. She then moved to Phoenix to join the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office as a Deputy County Attorney. Kate prosecuted hundreds of felonies, including numerous jury trials, in the three years she spent working for the County Attorney’s Office.
Kate left the County to begin her civil litigation practice and found her niche defending health care providers when she joined the firm in 2005. She became a partner in 2011 and was then elected to shareholder in 2015.
Laura Udall is a criminal defense attorney in private practice in her hometown of Tucson, Arizona. She attended the University of California at Berkeley for her undergraduate degree and received her law degree from the University of Utah. Following law school she clerked for the Honorable Alfredo Marquez for District Court in Arizona. She then went to work at the Pima County Public Defender for 4 years. In 1992 she and Dan Cooper opened their firm, Cooper and Udall PC, and practiced together until 2021 when she opened her solo firm Laura E. Udall PLLC. Laura has tried over 110 cases to jury verdict. She is qualified as learned counsel for capital work in both Federal and State jurisdictions. She has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Arizona teaching trial advocacy since 2010. Laura was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2017.
