written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . march 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message fennemore craig p.c. headquarters phoenix arizona no . of offices 6 no . of attorneys nearly 200 no . of employees nearly 400 key people stephen good managing partner ; management committee amy abdo chris h. byrd jay kramer james goodnow sarah strunk chair board of directors ; kathy hancock executive director jay kramer chair commercial litigation amy abdo chair litigation section ; todd kartchner vice chair litigation section ; phil fargotstein chair regulatory section date founded 1885 website www.fclaw.com fennemore craig p.c. a leading american mountain west regional law firm for businesses . with nearly 200 attorneys the firm offers clients many legal services in both litigation and commercial transactions with offices in phoenix arizona tucson arizona ; nogales arizona ; las vegas nevada ; reno nevada and denver colorado . the law firm offers clients legal services in financial restructuring bankruptcy and creditor s rights commercial litigation estate planning government relations intellectual property etc. 1 fennemore craig is one of the oldest law firms in the mountain west first established in phoenix in the arizona territory in 1885 . 2 it is the oldest law firm in arizona . in 2008 the firm was listed number 220 on the the national law journal 250 nlj 250 3 a list of largest u.s. law firms by number of lawyers list of the largest law firms in the united states by the number of lawyers . of fennemore craig s nearly 200 attorneys the firm has 87 in best lawyers in america 4 66 is super lawyers 5 and 98 rated as av lawyers by martindale hubbell . the firm was recognized as a 2013 top ranked law firm 6 for having more than on in three lawyers with an av preeminent peer review rating . the firm has 19 shareholders recognized in chambers & partners 7 legal directory . in addition it has six litigation stars in benchmark litigation six in benchmark s plaintiff litigation stars category one in benchmark s appellate stars category and two in benchmark s top 250 women in litigation . 8 fennemore craig was awarded a 2012 gold standard certificate from the women in law empowerment forum wilef which profiled six of the firms female directors . fennemore craig was one of three nationwide firms to meet or exceed all six criteria set by wilef . 9 approximately 8 percent of the firm s directors and 19 percent of the associates are members of minority groups . contents 1 history 2 history of name changes 3 practice areas 4 honors and awards 5 offices 6 references 7 external links history edit richard sloan one of the founding members of what is now fennemore craig p.c. in his book memories of an arizona judge recalls his arrival in phoenix in 1884 the train slowed down and the brakeman stuck his head in the car door and shouted maricopa all out for phoenix i stepped from the train somewhat surprised that i was the only passenger to do so . sloan was joined by a fellow ohio law school graduate louis chalmers . in january 1885 they presented their credentials to the territorial supreme court . sloan & chalmers subsequently opened in downtown phoenix at what is now the intersection of washington and first avenue . sloan went on to serve as associate justice on the arizona territorial supreme court and as the 17th and final governor of the arizona territory . as governor he oversaw arizona s transition from a territory to statehood . when arizona became a state in 1912 edward kent joined the firm after serving on the territorial supreme court . kent authored the kent s decree which established water rights for nearly all of the salt and verde river systems . the kent s decree stood the test of time and still governs water rights in central arizona after seven decades . harry fennemore joined the firm in 1916 . fennemore drafted arizona s workmen s compensation law and sales tax act . fennemore also brought with him as a client the mountain states telephone and telegraph company the successor of which the firm represents to this day . for over a century fennemore craig has been involved in the development of arizona s telecommunications system through policy making and shaping administrative regulation of communications companies . jubal early craig and virgil bledsoe joined the firm in 1927 . craig helped organize the state bar of arizona contributed to the writing of the federal rules of civil procedure and helped form the maricopa county legal aid society . jubal craig s son walter craig joined the firm in 1936 . while with the firm walter served as the president of the arizona bar association and in 1963 became president of the american bar association a rare accomplishment for an attorney from a then small western state like arizona . craig also served as special counsel to the warren commission which investigated the assassination of president john f. kennedy . in 1963 following his service to the warren commission he served as a judge on the united states district court for the district of arizona until his death in 1986 . the state bar of arizona s walter e. craig distinguished service award is named after craig . it is awarded to the attorney who has manifested adherence to the highest principles and tradition of the legal profession and service to the public in the community in which he she lives . the following fennemore craig attorneys have received this award philip e. von ammon 1988 ; calvin h. udall 1993 ; kenneth sherk 1999 ; and neal kurn 2014 . phillip von ammon who joined the firm after serving as counsel to one of the firm s major clients the at & sf railroad . von ammon subsequently served as president of the arizona bar association and as the firm s managing partner for many years . between 1954 and 1962 calvin udall served as the attorney for arizona in the titanic legal and political battle between arizona and california for control of colorado river water . udall was part of arizona s legal team in 1963 when the united states supreme court allocated the rights to colorado river water . without colorado river water growth of arizona s major cities particularly phoenix would never have materialized . udall also was a tireless supporter of diversity in the legal profession chairing the american bar association task force on minorities in the legal profession which issued its report in 1986 highlighting the lack of opportunities for minorities as lawyers and judges . he later served with a small group of legislators judges and lawyers as the ad hoc committee for minority opportunities in the arizona judiciary which subsequently became the commission on minority opportunities in the arizona judiciary through an administrative order of the arizona supreme court in 1990 . continuing the firm s enduring presence on water issues facing the southwest jim johnson was a principal negotiator and drafter of the arizona groundwater management act which was vital to balancing the growth in arizona with the available water supply . without the sustainable water supply that resulted from the state s groundwater management act growth in arizona would have slowed decades ago . in 1957 john o connor joined the firm . he met his future wife sandra day while they served as editors of the stanford law review . sandra day o connor went on to serve as the first female justice of the united states supreme court . when justice o connor was nominated for the supreme court in 1981 she relied on attorneys from the firm to help her prepare for her confirmation hearings . when justice o connor joined the supreme court in september 1981 she hired fennemore craig attorney ruth mcgregor as her first law clerk . in 1974 fennemore craig hired its first two female attorneys ruth mcgregor and toni mcclory . the firm subsequently became one of the first law firms in arizona to elect females as shareholders . citation needed the firm expanded into tucson in october 1989 and then into nogales in september 1999 with the addition of kim and hector arana and a robust cross border trade practice . fennemore craig opened a las vegas office in september 2006 welcoming attorneys from morse and mowbray and later that year it opened an office in denver with the addition of intellectual property attorneys from the dahl and chetlin firm . in july 2012 the firm welcomed 25 attorneys from jones vargas 10 a law firm with offices in las vegas and reno nevada . with this addition fennemore craig established an even larger presence in the mountain west ; doubling the size of its denver office in 2014 11 with the addition of 13 health care litigators and four health care real estate lawyers . in 2015 fennemore craig embarked upon its 130 year anniversary and added 19 lawyers in the las vegas and reno offices from the prominent lionel sawyer & collins firm . 12 the arrival of the lionel sawyer lawyers included the legendary sam lionel who co founded the lionel sawyer firm in 1967 with former nevada governor grant sawyer who has since died . sam lionel has been instrumental in the evolution of the legal profession in nevada . joining lionel was former u.s. senator richard bryan who also served as governor of nevada for two terms prior to serving in washington d.c. in the u.s. senate . history of name changes edit since its founding in 1885 fennemore craig has undergone the following name changes 1885 sloan & chalmers 1889 jamieson & chalmers 1902 chalmers & wilkinson 1912 chalmers & kent 1915 chalmers kent & stahl 1918 chalmers stahl fennemore & longan 1927 chalmers fennemore & nairn 1934 chalmers & fennemore 1935 fennemore craig allen & bledsoe 1955 fennemore craig allen & mcclennen 1968 fennemore craig von ammon mcclennen & udall 1969 fennemore craig von ammon & udall 1982 fennemore craig von ammon udall & powers 1987 fennemore craig a professional corporation 2004 fennemore craig p.c. the firm s namesakes harry fennemore and jubal early craig teamed up with the law firm in 1912 and 1927 respectively . 13 practice areas edit fennemore craig p.c. has a broad range of practice areas including antitrust and trade regulation ; appeals ; aviation aerospace and autonomous systems ; bankruptcy creditor s rights and restructuring ; business and finance ; business litigation ; energy telecom and utilities ; environment natural resources and endangered species ; employment and labor relations ; erisa and employee benefits ; estate planning and probate ; government affairs ; health care ; immigration ; intellectual property ; land use planning and zoning ; medical negligence defense ; mining law and public lands ; nonprofit and tax exempt organizations ; plaintiffs personal injury ; real estate ; renewable energy ; and tax . honors and awards edit in 2008 fennemore craig was listed as number 220 by the national law journal 250 a list of largest u.s. law firms by number of lawyers list of the largest law firms in the united states by the number of lawyers . 3 in 2007 fennemore craig was selected by bestcompaniesaz as the fifth in the best places to work among large employers in metropolitan phoenix . 14 fifty one fennemore craig attorneys in arizona including 46 in phoenix three in tucson one in nogales and one in las vegas were selected by their peers for inclusion in the best lawyers in america 2008 . 15 also forty fennemore craig attorneys in arizona were named to southwest super lawyers