Our Practice

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Colleen Auer’s practice is focused on general commercial litigation and business transactions.  Since her admission to the California bar in 1990, Ms. Auer has handled a broad range of commercial litigation matters as an associate attorney with major law firms in California and Arizona.  She is also well-versed in contract preparation, business employment issues and policies, employment investigations, and general transactional and regulatory work, as a former in-house counsel for the Town of Prescott Valley, Arizona for the City of Minot, North Dakota and for BASIS Educational Group, a charter-school management company.  

Ms. Auer is licensed to practice law in 3 states – Arizona, California, and North Dakota.  She is also admitted to practice in several federal courts, including the District Court of Arizona, the District Court of North Dakota, the District Court for the Central District of California, and the 8th and 9th Cir. Court of Appeals.  

Ms. Auer’s clients benefit from her ability to analyze legal issues from the perspective of both a corporate lawyer – in terms of consistency, efficacy, risk reduction, and cost-effectiveness for the entity – and an outside litigator – in terms of weaknesses, loopholes, and litigation and liability risk.  Ms. Auer offers her business clients fee arrangements suited to the type and level of legal services they require and is adept at crafting documents and contracts fitted to their unique needs and assisting with the defense and development of their business interests.  

Ms. Auer’s clients also benefit from her legal experience practicing before state and federal courts, at both the trial and appellate level, during the many years she litigated consumer class actions, general business litigation matters, employment matters, education matters, and civil rights matters, among others, as a private attorney.

Ms. Auer is a member of the American Bar Association (Litigation Section).  She has also served as Faculty at Conferences on the topics of Arizona Water Law and Public-Private Partnerships.

Ms. Auer’s community activities include preparing high school students for moot court competitions and judging those competitions; assisting victims of Domestic Violence in obtaining Temporary Restraining Orders; and, providing pro bono immigration services.

 Elaine Ryan’s practice is focused on debt collection and general commercial litigation.  For over 30 years Ms. Ryan has represented numerous skilled nursing home and assisted living providers located in several states, including the largest skilled nursing provider in Arizona, in the collection of their accounts receivable and related matters.

Ms. Ryan is licensed to practice law in 10 states – Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.  She is also admitted to practice in several federal courts, including the District Court of Arizona and the 9th Cir. Court of Appeals.  

Ms. Ryan’s clients benefit from her over 30 years of experience in which she has come to learn of her clients’ business operations, the regulatory framework in which they operate, and their need for cost effective representation.  Ms. Ryan offers her collection clients several levels of service options to best suit the amount at issue and the likelihood of recovery.   Ms. Ryan also has had much success in negotiating settlements with debtors by offering them creative alternatives to cash payment plans that prove to be mutually beneficial to both parties.  She has also successfully obtained payment from insurance companies and other third party payors, including Medicare.

Ms. Ryan’s clients also benefit from her legal skills in having appeared before state and federal courts, at both the trial and appellate level, throughout the United States in the many years she represented consumers in class actions against several major retailers, insurance companies and lending institutions.  She also has appeared before several state and probate courts in connection with her general and commercial collections practices.

Ms. Ryan is an AV Rated attorney and is a member of the American Bar Association (Litigation Section), Maricopa County Bar Association and Arizona Women Lawyers Association. She is a past member and officer of the Horace Rumpole Inn of Court.

Ms. Ryan’s community activities are many, and have included serving as a board member, officer and chairwoman of the East Valley Boys & Girls Club, serving on the Valley of the Sun Boys & Girls Club committee, participating as a member of the East Valley Partnership, and serving on the ethics committees of skilled nursing facilities.

Jane L. Mead has worked alongside Elaine Ryan since 1992, first as a legal assistant providing general litigation support, and advancing to a senior paralegal focusing on providing collection and related services to health care industry clientele, including skilled nursing facilities, assisted living communities, at home service providers, and more.  Prior to working with Elaine Ryan, Jane was employed as a paralegal with firms providing probate and commercial collections services.  Jane has a great track record of working with debtors in this somewhat delicate area of collections, with consideration given to preserving our clients' image as caring providers of a vulnerable population.  Jane also is known for her ability to "think outside of the box" and develop solutions to resolve what sometimes appear as insurmountable obstacles.  She also has received rave reviews from clients who appreciate her real time case status updates and quick response to client inquiries.