Becky Bartness is rated Martindale-Hubbell AV®-Preeminent™ and is listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers. She was a certified real estate specialist for over 15 years after graduating Cum Laude from ASU Law School and also practices commercial arbitration and mediation. Ms. Bartness has been licensed to practice law in all Arizona State and Federal Courts and the Ninth Circuit, and was a U.S. District Court Law Clerk to the Honorable Val Cordova and was an associate at Evans, Kitchel & Jenckes, then the largest law firm in Phoenix. She also served as General Counsel of Chase Bank of Arizona.
Ms. Bartness concentrates her practice in the areas of real estate, commercial, banking and environmental law, and commercial mediation. She regularly represents lenders, developers and homebuilders in real estate and environmental matters, commercial and real estate loan transactions, loan restructures, bank regulatory and compliance matters, general corporate matters, and loan work-outs. In addition, Ms. Bartness is a trained mediator, has an active commercial mediation practice and is available for speaking engagements relating to the process of mediation.
Ms. Bartness was General Counsel for Chase Bank of Arizona prior to joining the firm of Wilenchik & Bartness, P.C. in January of 1992.
EDUCATION
Ms. Bartness obtained her B.A. degree from Saint Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, graduating magna cum laude, in 1974. She attended graduate school at Michigan State University prior to graduating from Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, cum laude in 1979. Ms. Bartness has also had 80 hours of formal training in mediation, including 45 hours of training at Colorado State University.
Ms. Bartness has served as a Judge pro tem for the Maricopa County Superior Court and an arbitrator on the American Arbitration Association panel. Ms. Bartness actively served as a member of the Arizona State Bar Association Committee on Minorities and Women in the Law from 1990 to 2000 and was a member of the Arizona State Bar Association Committee on the Rules of Professional Conduct (Ethics) from 1983 through 1988. She has also served on the Executive Committee of the Maricopa County Bar Association’s Corporate Counsel Section. Ms. Bartness has served as a faculty member for the Arizona State Bar Convention, has served as a lecturer for the American Arbitration Association, and was an adjunct professor at Phoenix Community College. Ms. Bartness has been licensed to practice before all Arizona state and federal courts and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals since 1979. She is a member of the American Bar Association and the ABA’s Real Estate and Alternative Dispute Resolution Sections, and participates as a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the Arizona State Bar. Ms. Bartness is also an active member of the Association for Conflict Resolution and the Arizona Association for Conflict Resolution
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
After law school, Ms. Bartness was a law clerk to the Honorable Valdemar Cordova, Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, from 1979 through 1981. For the last four months of her clerkship she served as law clerk to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. After her judicial clerkships, Ms. Bartness was hired by what was then Arizona’s largest law firm, Evans, Kitchel and Jenckes for three years before becoming General Counsel of Meracor Development, a subsidiary of Merabank (aka Suncor). Thereafter, Ms. Bartness was appointed General Counsel of Chase Bank of Arizona for 4 years before re-entering private practice at Wilenchik & Bartness, P.C.
Ms. Bartness is also a mystery writer. Visit her book website, www.funnymysteries.com, for more information.
