Articles

Southern Arizona Legal Aid’s Volunteer Program recognizes Thom K. Cope

Article By Lila Sol, Director, Volunteer Lawyers Program Every month, Southern Arizona Legal Aid’s (SALA) Volunteer Lawyers Program (VLP) recognizes a legal professional for their legal volunteerism. Thom K. Cope, Esq., is the July 2024 Outstanding Volunteer of the Month Award Recipient. In addition to being an attorney for 52 years, Thom is an author, […]

Anchors Aweigh! Burial at Sea

            Today, many people are conscientious about the environment when they are planning the final disposition of their body, or when a loved one is to be laid to rest. As such consideration is given to burial in a mausoleum, or cremation with inurnment, scattering of cremains or other environmentally sound ways to dispose of […]

Pima County Bar Foundation Announces New Deb Elkins Volunteer of the Year Award

Mesch Clark Rothschild could not be more thrilled with the PCBF announcement of the new Deb Elkins Volunteer of the Year Award. This is the perfect tribute to a leader in the Tucson Legal Community and a passionate literacy volunteer. Deb spent 34 years working with Michael McGrath and 25 years with Mesch Clark Rothschild when they […]

Joint Tenancy is not the Estate Planning Holy Grail

Joint Tenancy is truly the “hypocrite” of all estate planning techniques because it appears deceptively simple and predictable, yet problematic upon closer inspection.  All too often, one who uses joint tenancy buys into the lie that because property will eventually transfer to the survivor of two joint tenants upon the death of the first, that Joint Tenancy is truly the […]

Work/Life Balance
Point/Counterpoint

Co-written with Sandra Jones There is a movement among young adults in China referred to as “Lying Flat,” which means rejecting a traditional lifestyle of careers, marriage, parenthood, and homeownership. Instead, those lying flat pursue a restful, minimalist lifestyle that prioritizes experience over possessions. Initially, the concept of lying flat may seem alluring: escaping the […]

The Supreme Court Might Limit LGBTQ+ Families’ Rights and How Estate Planning Lawyers Can Help

Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644, is a landmark civil rights case in which the United States Supreme Court ruled (5-4) that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court […]

Court Upholds Employer-Mandated Vaccination Policy

As we previously wrote, there did not appear to be any legal barrier to employers requiring its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to continue working. As anticipated, the EEOC issued guidance in late-May stating employer-mandated vaccination policies for employees physically entering the workplace do not violate federal employment non-discrimination laws, subject to […]

The New Generation of Tri-Pellate Lawyer

On January 15, 2021, the news leaked that Governor Doug Ducey would appoint to the bench of the Superior Court Mesch Clark Rothschild’s very own Gary J. Cohen—the original Tri-Pellate lawyer!  With his elevation, Gary has passed his mantle to a new generation of tri-pellate lawyers, Alex Winkleman and Bern Velasco.  Stepping into the Hon. […]

Oh, but I Don’t Have Enough Money to Create a Trust

This is a tale of two estates. The Estate of Lisa:  Lisa was a well-respected estate planning attorney who knew the benefit of a trust-based estate plan, which includes a Revocable Living Trust “Trust.” Lisa left behind a very simple and very old Last Will and Testament because she thought revising her estate plan to […]

The Pitfalls of Incentivizing Employees to Get Vaccinated

This is a follow-up to my article about mandating vaccines. The threshold question employers must ask is, “Do I really want to mandate vaccines?” My previous article discussed the few exceptions and cautions when an employer does mandate vaccinations. So, let us assume an employer wants to mandate the vaccine but does not want to […]