History

As Phoenix grew, so too did the client base, and 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, the retired Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court; and Frederick Martone (former Arizona Supreme Court Justice) and Neil Wake, currently United States District Judges. Other alumni who have gone on to become leaders in their political, judicial, civic and business careers include Jack Pfister, the former General Manager at Salt River Project and Thomas Trimble, the former General Counsel of Southwest Gas, 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 city politics until charter government came in the late 40’s. It is fairly well-known that Riney Salmon’s younger brother, “Button” Salmon, is the origin of U of A’s “Bear-Down” motto, but Riney was also interested in sports and was Commissioner of the Arizona-Texas pro-baseball league in the late 40’s.

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.

Building upon its client base, Jennings Strouss has expanded its reach regionally and now represents clients across the country, through its offices in Washington, D.C. and Arizona.

Jennings Strouss expanded its Washington D.C. office with the addition of experienced energy regulatory attorneys in 2004. The Jennings Strouss Energy Law Group, based in our Phoenix and Washington D.C. offices, brings more than 100 years of combined experience to the development and implementation of 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 Harriet (Hattie) Babbitt, the former U.S. Ambassador to the organization of American States (and wife of former Arizona Governor and the U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt), to our Washington, D.C. office.