About

My early career as a trial attorney began on the other side of the fence, in the offices of a major insurance defense firm. It was there that I acquired the experience, the skills, and the special insight into defense strategy that has served me so well in the field of personal injury law. Notable among my successful verdicts was the landmark Sparks vs. Republic National Life Insurance Company case, a $4.5 million award to my client. To this day, it is the defining case for insurance bad faith, and yet it is only one of several other multi-million dollar jury judgments won in my career. I am certified by the State Bar of Arizona as a specialist in "wrongful death and bodily injury litigation" and have been recognized in Best Lawyers in America, as a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers, as well as being a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. I am also an elected member on the Arizona State Bar Board of Governors and served as Secretary/Treasurer on the Executive Committee, not to mention my involvement in the Working Group which helps implement the State Bar's new Social Justice, Diversity & Inclusion goals as well as chairing the State Bar Panel on the same subject. I was recently inducted into the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, made up of the best 500 trial lawyers in North America. He serves on the Finance Committee of this elite , I am an Adjunct Professor at the University of Arizona College of Law teaching Trial Advocacy, am a Judge Pro Tem in the Pima County Superior Court, and have been recognized by the Arizona State Bar as Member of The Year, and is the recipient of the Walter Craig Distinguished Service Award. I am also an active member of the University of Arizona Law College Association where I'm currently leading the effort to establish the new Tom Mauet Advocacy Center at the UA Law College and a member of the "A New Day in Court" steering committee, an initiative intended to renovate student courtrooms, establish an endowed faculty chair of advocacy, and support student experiential learning in an effort to completely modernize and transform the student experience at University of Arizona Law. Originally from Mansfield, Ohio, I've been in Tucson since my undergraduate years at the University of Arizona and as a graduate of the University's College of Law. A father of four, I am active in the community as the Natural Resources Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission in Pima County and am especially involved with youth activities - as a coach in Little League, President of the FC Tucson Youth Soccer Board of Directors, and President of the Catalina Foothills High School Booster Club. I have also been a member of the President's Club at the University of Arizona, where me and my late wife Ann established the Tara Nicole Schmidt "Have a Dream" Memorial Scholarship at the UA. This scholarship has funded, and continues to fund, the educational pursuits of worthy Arizona high school graduates.

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