History

As Phoenix grew, so too did the client base.  The Firm continued to recruit outstanding young legal talent, including Jon Kyl, who went on to serve four terms as a United States Congressman in Arizona before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994, where he served until 2013; Charles Jones, retired Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court; Frederick Martone, former Arizona Supreme Court Justice and current Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona; and Neil Wake, current Senior United States District Judge of the United Sate District Court of Arizona. Other Firm alumni who have gone on to become leaders in their political, judicial, civic, and business careers include Jack Pfister, former General Manager at Salt River Project; Thomas Trimble, former General Counsel of Southwest Gas; Greg Stanton, former Mayor of Phoenix; as well as Irv Jennings who was active politically and ran for the U.S. Senate on the Wendell Wilke Republican ticket in 1940, losing to Ernest McFarland. Mr. Jennings was also a behind-the-scenes power in Phoenix politics until the charter government came in the late 1940s. It is fairly well-known that Riney Salmon’s younger brother, “Button” Salmon, is the origin of U of A’s “Bear-Down” motto. He was also the Commissioner of the Arizona-Texas pro-baseball league in the late 1940s.

The growth in Phoenix led the firm to open an office in Peoria in 1997.  Building upon its client base, Jennings Strouss expanded its reach regionally and nationally, and opened an office in Washington, D.C., with the addition of experienced energy regulatory attorneys in 2004. The Jennings Strouss Energy Law practice group, based in our Phoenix and Washington, D.C. offices, brings more than 100 years of combined experience to develop and implement effective business solutions to our electric power and natural gas clients across the nation.

In 2006, Jennings Strouss merged with Robbins & Green, adding several talented attorneys, including Wayne Smith and Jack Rudel, to our Phoenix office, as well as the highly regarded, now alumna, Harriet (Hattie) Babbitt, the former U.S. Ambassador to the organization of the American States and wife of former Arizona Governor and the U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, to our Washington, D.C. office.  Mr. Smith and Mr. Rudel are still practicing with the Firm today.

The continued growth in Phoenix also caused the Firm to outgrow its previous office locations and relocate to its current office location in CityScape in 2010.  Around 2013, Jennings Strouss further expanded its services with a group of five attorneys joining the Firm to create the Construction, Fidelity, and Surety practice group.  That same year also marked the beginning of the Firms Family Law & Domestic Relations practice.  In 2017, the Firm opened an office in Tucson to expand its services to southern Arizona.

Jennings Strouss has built its reputation around its litigation services, health care, real estate, finance and utility law attorneys. With the development of new technologies, Jennings Strouss has emerged as a leader in the rapidly expanding fields of technology law, e-commerce and biotechnology, and life sciences.

As Jennings Strouss enters its 80^th year of practice, the Firm continues to serve its clients, in Arizona and Washington, D.C., in traditional practice areas while adapting its practice to serve client needs in such rapidly developing fields.  Few firms in Arizona can match the tradition of outstanding legal talent and community leadership that Jennings Strouss has and continues to produce.  Because of this, the Firm is well-positioned to continue competing and thriving in an increasingly complex and competitive legal and business environment.  The Firm looks forward to the opportunity to continue its contributions to the legal community and the communities at large in which it serves.