offering mediation and arbitration services. “This is all part of the trend across the country to resolve cases outside of going to trial,” he says.
“One of the things I didn’t understand as a new lawyer that I do now with age and wisdom is that experience really does matter,” he
says. “That is why it is called the practice of law. You increase in knowledge and skill year after year. When you are a new attorney you
don’t realize how much you don’t know.”
Ellsworth is one of just 29 lawyers in the state accepted into the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Becoming a fellow of the
academy and becoming a certified family law specialist by the State Bar of Arizona were big achievements, he acknowledges. Ellsworth
was also recently appointed to serve on the Arizona Board of Legal Specialization. He notes that while these accomplishments are very
important to him, he is most pleased with the referrals he receives from judges and people throughout the community, including many
whom he doesn’t even know.
“That makes me feel good about my accomplishments,” he says. “Your reputation as an attorney is one of the most valuable things
you can have and even though we are in a big town it is still a small legal community. Judges learn early who the ethical attorneys are.
Having a good reputation is a huge asset and an important benefit to your clients.”
Ellsworth says that when he was a young attorney looking for role models, he looked no further than Phoenix attorney, John Herrick.
“I looked at John and the way he practices and said, ‘That is the kind of attorney I want to be.’ He is a gentleman and a professional and
he influenced the way I practice law.”
Family Ties
Practicing law runs in the Ellsworth family. “My two older brothers are both attorneys practicing in Arizona,” he says. “I also have
two sons-in-law who have chosen law as their profession.” Ellsworth, who excelled in reading and writing in school, also considered
those strengths when deciding on a law career. “They lend themselves really well to being an attorney,” he says.
How did he end up specializing in family law?
“The field sort of chose me,” he says, recounting how he took on a friend’s divorce case for free when he was first starting out. “He
asked if I could help and I thought, ‘How hard could that be?’” he laughs. Ellsworth later went to work for the Mesa firm of one of his
brothers, which had a lot of family law cases coming in that he took on. “It just evolved from there.”
He opened Ellsworth Family Law 10 years ago after leaving a partnership at another practice.
“Part of the reason I started it was that I wanted to have a specialty, boutique law firm,” he says. “I didn’t want to be part of a firm that
did everything. In addition to working as an attorney, one of the things I enjoy about the practice is the challenge of running a law firm,
the business side of it. I like being able to create jobs and employ people.”
The firm employs two associate attorneys. Like Ellsworth, attorney Glenn D. Halterman, who has been with the firm since 2006, is
also a certified family law specialist by the State Bar of Arizona. Attorney Spencer
T. Schiefer has practiced since 2011 and focuses on family law and personal
injury. Schiefer is also Ellsworth’s son-in-law.
“Both are excellent attorneys and litigators and aspire to the highest ethics,”
Ellsworth says about his associates.
The office is managed by Ellsworth’s wife, Gail. Three paralegals, two legal
assistants and other support staff round out the team.
In developing his own firm, Ellsworth considered the culture he wanted at
work. “I’ve worked at firms where the environments were stuffy and oppressive,”
Ellsworth says. “I didn’t want that here. I wanted everybody to enjoy coming to
work and to enjoy the environment we work in, so I’ve worked hard to make it
that way. I wanted us to work as a team and I think we work together really well.”
“That said, we are here for the client and our first concern is dealing with client
issues and addressing them quickly,” he continues. “I have a policy that when
anything comes into the office, such as court orders or correspondence from
other attorneys for example, the items are immediately scanned into the system
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