In September 2009, our attorneys and staff observed the 20th anniversary of the founding of our law firm. As part of that observance, we compiled this narrative chronicling the firm's early days and its growth during the last two decades.

In the summer of 1989, amid chaos in the real estate investment market and the collapse of the savings and loan industry, four attorneys at Beus Gilbert & Morrill – John J. Hebert, Joseph A. Schenk, Carolyn J. Johnsen and Terry A. Dake – decided that it was a favorable time to create a new law firm.

On September 1 of that year, Hebert Schenk Johnsen & Dake opened for business in an executive office suite on Central Avenue. The firm operated in its temporary quarters for less than two months before relocating to the Missouri Commons at 1440 E. Missouri Ave., which would be its address for the next 15 years.

Armed with favorable business conditions and a clear vision, the firm was successful from the outset, funding its start-up and early operations through cash flow instead of borrowed funds.

The firm’s core services were complex bankruptcy and litigation, and the founders were committed to being a “boutique” offering a limited scope of legal services provided at a very high level.

WHILE THE SCOPE of the firm’s legal services was intentionally narrow, expanding the number of attorneys was part of its business plan from the outset.

In early 1990, the partners extended invitations to two former Beus Gilbert litigation colleagues, Shawn K. Aiken and Philip R. Rupprecht, who became the firm’s first associate attorneys. They were joined three months later by D. Lamar Hawkins, who had recently graduated from the Arizona State University College of Law. Shawn and Phil became shareholders in 1991, and Lamar, a bankruptcy attorney, joined the shareholder group in 1995.

Unlike their counterparts at many other highly skilled law firms, the founders did not incorporate the leveraging of associates into their business model. That philosophy endures today, as evidenced by the fact that, in the firm’s 20-year history, only one law school hire (Hawkins) has become a shareholder.

The founding group sustained its first loss in 1993, when Terry Dake left to start his own firm, and the firm name was changed to Hebert Schenk & Johnsen P.C.

THROUGH MOST OF its first decade, the firm adhered to its original strategy to confine its practice areas to bankruptcy and litigation. But as its client base grew, and as its clients’ legal needs became more diversified, the firm decided to diversify its service mix.

In expanding the firm and its practice areas, the shareholders sought attorneys who possessed two essential qualities: the skill to practice at a high level, and the personality and values to preserve the firm’s chemistry.

In 1999, business litigation and personal injury attorney Alfred W. Ricciardi, with whom many of the firm’s attorneys had practiced at Beus Gilbert and who had considered being one of the co-founders, finally came over from Robbins & Green. In the same year, Cathey L. Joseph (real estate law) and Mark W. Roth (bankruptcy) brought their practices from Lorance & Thompson. Two years earlier, Barbara Lee Caldwell and the firm established an of-counsel relationship that continues to this day.

In 2000, Carolyn Johnsen became the second co-founder to leave when she accepted a leadership role in the bankruptcy department at Gallagher & Kennedy and, later, Jennings Strouss. After her departure, the firm name was shortened again, to Hebert Schenk P.C.

FIRM GROWTH RESUMED in 2003 with the additions of two more former Beus Gilbert colleagues, Robert C. Van Voorhees and commercial litigator Stephen C. Rich, who had moved on to other firms. Before coming to Hebert Schenk, Steve had practiced with personal injury and DUI attorney Richard M. Gerry, and in 2005 Richard became the latest addition to the firm’s shareholder group. Richard arrived shortly after the firm’s relocation, in late 2004, from its Missouri Avenue offices to more spacious and conveniently located facilities in the Camelback Corridor, at 4742 N. 24th St.

ONE OF THE most notable chapters in the firm’s history occurred in 2008, when, soon after Cathey Joseph had left to start a firm, Jack Hebert and Mark Roth accepted positions in the Phoenix office of what is now Polsinelli Shughart. With Jack’s departure, the firm underwent its most significant name change, becoming Aiken Schenk Hawkins & Ricciardi P.C.

The departures of three shareholders sparked a renewed emphasis on firm growth and service diversification, including the 2009 additions of Hon. James E. Padish (domestic relations and criminal defense) his associate, Kellie N. Wells, trademark and franchise litigator André H. Merrett, and a bankruptcy associate, Christopher R. Chicoine. To meet clients’ needs in the areas of taxation and business and estate planning, Aiken Schenk forged a very productive of-counsel relationship with Charles F. Myers, P.C. In 2010, the firm added J. Tyrrell Taber, one of Arizona's most prominent personal injury and election law attorneys.

Aiken Schenk Today

During its 20-year history, Aiken Schenk has distinguished itself in the Arizona legal community through:

• its shareholder-intensive structure;

• the collegiality of its attorneys;

• its strong personal and professional relationships with attorneys in competing firms;

• the extraordinarily high professional level at which its attorneys serve and respond to the needs of their clients; and

• the regard in which its attorneys are held in the Phoenix legal community.

Shawn Aiken and Richard Gerry are four-time Super Lawyers® selectees, and Joe Schenk has received that honor twice. Super Lawyers also ranked Shawn (whose practice includes mediation and arbitration services) among Arizona’s top 50 attorneys for 2009 and 2010 and featured him on the cover of the 2010 Southwest Super Lawyers magazine.

In May 2009, the Arizona Trial Lawyers Association named Gerry its “Outstanding Trial Lawyer for 2008” for his $36 million jury verdict in Graham v. ValueOptions.

Lamar Hawkins’ leadership among Arizona bankruptcy attorneys includes chairmanships of the Bankruptcy Advisory Commission and the Bankruptcy Section of the State Bar of Arizona.

Al Ricciardi has received national recognition for his achievements in dairy regulation and products liability.

Steve Rich is known not only for his aggressiveness in litigation but also for his commitment to public education in Arizona through service on the Arizona School Facilities Board and the Tempe Union High School District Governing Board.

Phil Rupprecht is a recognized authority in asset protection and offshore financial planning and has lectured on those topics to audiences around the world.

AS AIKEN SCHENK Hawkins & Ricciardi enters its third decade, it reaffirms its commitment to continued firm growth, achievement for the benefit of its clients, and preserving the values and work ethic that have consistently propelled and distinguished the firm since its creation in 1989.