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WHAT IS A CERTIFIED SPECIALIST?
Although not critical, a Certified Specialist is a certification given by the State Bar of Arizona for attorneys who have demonstrated a sufficient level of experience and knowledge in a given area of law to qualify for recognition in this regard. For example, Mr. Palmisano is a Certified Specialist in Criminal Law. To accomplish this, he had to complete a certain minimum amount of Felony Jury Trials from start to finish [10], and also have recommendations from Superior Court Judges, Prosecutors, and other Defense Attorneys. Finally, he had to take a written test, and obtain a vote from the State Bar of Arizona, and has to be recertified every 5 years.
Here is a thread to the State Bar of Arizona which shows the various Certified Specialization fields recognized by the Bar as well as a list of specialists in various fields.
Naturally, being a Certified Specialist is a useful benefit for a client, although it is not atypical for Attorneys to practice in more than one area of law. For instance, Mr. Palmisano has practiced in a myriad of legal areas with great success and enjoys exercising his legal talent in various areas of law which interest him. It should be of note that there are also many attorneys who are extremely talented who possess no particular Specialization, and therefore it should never be considered that Certification in and of itself is anything more than one of many criterion when choosing an attorney or law firm.
As a final note, Mr. Palmisano wishes the prospective client to recognize a very important but rarely discussed concept of legal experience which, in his opinion, exceeds many advantages suggested by Certification. This criterion is directly related to Litigation experience. In essence, it has been his experience that an attorney with a lot of Jury Trial Experience [whatever the area of law] is a far more valuable asset in many instances than a Certified Specialist in a given area. This is because Litigation Experience, which involves strategic and tactical planning, crushing cross examinations, and the fine art of persuasion, are, in many respects, a far more lethal weapon for a client than a lawyer who is simply 'conversant' in a particular field of law. The simple fact is that Jury Trial Skills are hard earned, require a minimum of 50 to obtain sufficient experience to be worthwhile, and can be applied to any area of the law.
Nearly all of our attorneys have extensive Jury Trial Experience and this litigation experience is nearly priceless for two important reasons. First, a good or great litigator can obtain sufficient understanding of any area of law and apply his/her trial skills to give any client a major advantage. Second, given that a significant majority of lawyers in general 'fear' a Jury Trial much as 'unbelievers' once feared the 'Rack' during the Inquisition, the client obtains a substantial amount of leverage when working through a legal matter. In another section, we will investigate the power of 'Leverage' and precisely how this benefits our clients during the course of legal representation. Suffice it to say for now that Litigation gives Leverage and this in turn creates measurably better options for the client, regardless of the field of law required for representation.
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