Our Attorneys

Joshua W. Carden

Getting to know Josh: 

I like to refer to myself as a “strategic interpretive replicator” – someone who sees success in one area and reproduces it in another context. I can find someone else’s success story and translate it into my clients’ contexts, so that they do not have to repeat the mistakes of their colleagues and re-live the consequences.

In times of uncertainty, people and businesses have to choose where to spend their hard-earned money. As a result, I have developed a method for valuing cases based on anticipated outcomes, and I can thus create "alternative fee arrangements” that make high-quality legal services affordable again. And, no matter the outcome at the courthouse, I am always ready to go to the appellate courts to defend a good result or change a bad one.   

Employment Law

In the area of employment law, the question is not “if” you will run into problems – it’s “when.”  Let’s be honest, the myriad of federal and state employment laws facing employers has triggered more than one trip to the drugstore for some antacids.

I have helped both employees and employers work through the confusing swirl of rights and wrongs here in Arizona. My experience working on behalf of employees has heightened my awareness to the pitfalls that many employers may not even realize they face until it is too late.  Viewing each employer’s business through the lens of a potential lawsuit often sharpens the focus on where each of his business clients must make their changes to avoid those pitfalls. In employment law, an ounce of legal prevention is often truly worth a pound of lawsuit cure.  

Property Tax

If you had told me in law school that I would enjoy property tax issues, I would have probably punched you!  Yet, property tax has emerged as one of my favorite areas of law.  Together with Roberta Livesay, I assist county governments in Arizona with complicated matters invovling valuation, classification, and other       

Professional Memberships and Activities

State Bar of Arizona 

State Bar of Texas

Maricopa County Bar Association

Arizona Employment Lawyers Association

Blackstone Fellow

Allied Attorney of the Alliance Defending Freedom

Personal 

I have two daughters (18 and 15). Interests include reading, writing, piano (40+ years), shooting (not hunting), aviation, foreign travel, and saving for the weddings.

 

Roberta S. Livesay

Getting to know Roberta: 

Roberta has been practicing law in Arizona for over 25 years.  An experienced trial attorney, she also has extensive experience in appellate work, having appeared in both divisions of the Arizona Court of Appeals, the Arizona Supreme Court, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, resulting in over thirty published decisions.

She is recognized as an expert in property tax litigation, and has been called upon by the governor's office, the Maricopa County Assessor, and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors from time-to-time to participate in committees and study groups aimed at improving the property tax system in Arizona.  The cases she has litigated include every regional shopping center in Maricopa County, many major destination resorts, the largest hydroponic tomato greenhouse facility in the world, cement plants, and vast ranges of grazing property.  Her expertise in property valuation extends to eminent domain and other areas of law where the value of property or appraisal practice is at issue.

Roberta’s practice also includes real estate litigation and contract matters, probate litigation, major flood litigation, bridge and dam failures, diminished property value claims, and litigation concerning regulation of sand and gravel mining in floodplains.

 The practice area that she finds most personally rewarding, however, is adoption.  She has been privileged to represent birthmothers or adoptive couples in the adoption of over 40 children.  She finds it to be an honor and a blessing to assist couples in adopting their children, and to guide a birthmother through one of the most difficult --and loving-- decisions a parent can ever make.   

Areas of Practice:

  • Adoptions (All services free of charge to the birthmother)

  • Appeals

  • Civil litigation

  • Property tax appeals

  • Real estate 

    • Contracts

    • Leases

    • Litigation

  • Water law and floodplain management 

Education:

 J.D. Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona.

 B.F.A. University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois

 Memberships:

State Bar of Arizona

American Bar Association

Alliance Defending Freedom

Christian Legal Society

Affiliate Member Appraisal Institute

Affiliate Member International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO)