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Fighting for a child’s legacy, and making new law. When a child’s biological father died, the decedent’s parents claimed to be the only heirs because the child had been adopted by his mother’s husband. Kathi represented the child in an appeal, resulting in the published decision Matter of Estate of Ryan, 187 Ariz. 311, 928 P.2d 735 (App. 1996), and the determination that the adopted child retained inheritance rights from both biological parents.

Winning Supreme Court backing. The Arizona Supreme Court adopted Kathi’s position in a brief she’d written on behalf of her client, in an amicus brief filed in an appeal. In Mid Kansas Federal Sav. and Loan Ass'n of Wichita v. Dynamic Development Corp., 167 Ariz. 122, 804 P.2d 1310 (1991), the court found that the principles of merger and extinguishment did not apply and did not preclude a construction lender, which had acquired title to property at trustee's sale, from bringing a deficiency action against a developer for the balance due on a note.

“I analyze my clients’ trial court records with an unbiased, objective eye. Then I assist them in determining the validity and cost-effectiveness of an appeal, and ultimately provide them with meticulously researched, well-reasoned legal arguments written by an attorney with 20 years experience writing appellate briefs.”

“I love the challenge and the puzzle posed by an intricate statutory interpretation, an apparently conflicting series of cases, or a complex procedural dilemma.”

• Lead attorney in Jaburg & Wilk's Appellate Department.
• Filed more than 100 appellate briefs and petitions for review in the Arizona Court of Appeals, the Arizona Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Collaborates with firm’s bankruptcy lawyers to discern and prepare appellate briefs, including numerous bankruptcy appeals to the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel.
• Extensive experience in commercial litigation
• Prior to beginning her legal career, Kathi worked as an on-air radio and television news reporter, winning a 1982 Rocky Mountain Emmy for the series "The Phoenix Epidemic."

• Appointed Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Pro Tem
• Past chair of the Arizona State Bar Appellate Practice Section.
• Lecturer on a variety of appellate practice issues, including participation in annual Arizona State Bar seminar, "Bankruptcy Ambushes Lurking in the Legal Jungle."
• Organized and moderated 2001 Arizona State Bar convention seminar, "Don't Lose Your Appeal: Traps for the Unwary."
• Faculty member, Arizona Appellate Practice Institute.
• Also lectured on Uniform Commercial Code-Sales, attorney conflicts and disqualification, inheritance rights of adoptive children, the Arizona homestead statute, and more.
• Published articles include "Adoptive Child's Right to Inherit," Arizona Attorney, March 1997 and "Preserving the Family Farm in an Urban Age: Recent Changes to the Arizona Judgment Lien and Homestead Statutes," Arizona Attorney, September 1997.
• Master of the Bench, Horace Rumpole American Inn of Court
• Girls on the Run, Volunteer Running Buddy
• Hospice of the Valley, Volunteer
• Member of Arizona Women Lawyers Association.
• Temple Chai, Healing Committe

J.D., Arizona State University School of Law, 1986
B.A., University of California Los Angeles, 1977