Thomas A Zlaket
Managing Attorney
Thomas A. Zlaket, P.L.L.C.
Tom Zlaket was graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1962. He received his law degree in 1965 from the University of Arizona, and earned a Master of Laws from the University of Virginia in 2001. In 2002, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Law degree from the University of Arizona.
Admitted to practice in Arizona and California, he has been a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers since 1982, and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates since 1972. Mr. Zlaket has tried several hundred jury trials to a conclusion in his career and has been lead counsel on countless other matters before state and federal courts at both the trial and appellate levels.
Mr. Zlaket served on the faculty of the Arizona College of Trial Advocacy for several years. He has also taught at the Hastings College of Trial Advocacy and the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. He most recently served as a Professor of Practice at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, teaching a class on Professionalism.
Mr. Zlaket is a past president of the State Bar of Arizona, a Founding Fellow of the Arizona Bar Foundation, and a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Mr. Zlaket practiced law in Arizona from 1965-1992, when he was appointed to the Arizona Supreme Court as an Associate Justice. In 1996, he served as Vice Chief Justice, and from 1997-2002 he was the Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court. Since his retirement from the state court in 2002, he has served as Chief Judge of the Tonto Apache Tribal Court of Appeals, and as a Judge Pro Tem of the San Carlos Apache Tribal Court. Mr. Zlaket still maintains an active law practice in Tucson, Arizona.
Mr. Zlaket has been the recipient of numerous honors, including the Chief Justice Richard W. Holmes Award of Merit from the American Judges Association, the James A. Walsh Outstanding Jurist Award from the State Bar of Arizona, the Paul C. Reardon Award from the National Center for State Courts, the Distinguished Citizen Award from the University of Arizona, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law.
Among his many other activities, Mr. Zlaket has been a trustee of the Nature Conservancy (Arizona Chapter); a member of the D-M 50, a support group for the men and women serving at Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson; a board member and Chairman of the Tucson Airport Authority; and a member and past president of the Tucson Conquistadores, an organization supporting youth athletics in Pima County, Arizona.
