• Arizona Legal Legacies
  • Meet the legends behind the law – Interviews with Arizona attorneys

University of Arizona Law,
class of 1954

State Bar of Arizona
member since 1954

Featured Case:
Spur Industries, Inc. v. Del E. Webb Development Co.108 Ariz. 178 (1972) 494 P.2d 700

(b. 1925-d. 2003) James Cameron was born in Richmond, California. His family described his early years as marked by tragedy, but says he was driven to become educated and successful. He attended the University of California in Los Angeles and earned his Bachelor of Arts in political science at the University of California in Berkeley in 1950. He earned his law degree from the University of Arizona School of Law in 1954 and began practicing law in Tucson. He and his young family later moved to Yuma where he first ran for judicial office. In 1960, Cameron was appointed to the Superior Court in Yuma County, and in 1964 was elected to the Arizona Court of Appeals. In 1971, Judge Cameron became Justice Cameron by an election to the Arizona Supreme Court. He was Arizona’s 27th Chief Justice, serving on the Supreme Court from January 4, 1971, to February 1, 1992, a total of 21 years.

(excerpt from http://www.supreme.state.az.us/media/archive/misc/CameronObit.htm)

 

 

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St. Louis University Law,
class of 1950

State Bar of Arizona
member since 1953

Jack Arnold was born in East St. Louis on Dec. 7, 1921. He  graduated  from East High in East St. Louis, IL,  received a first alternate appointment to West Point, and enlisted in the U.S. Army Infantry. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he transferred to and accepted a commission in the Army Air Corps serving two tours in Europe during World War II with the 323rd Bombardment Group, 456th Squadron as the Bombardier/Navigator on a B-26 Marauder. He completed 74 combat missions and earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses, plus numerous other medals. In 1950 he earned a law degree from St. Louis University and practiced law in St. Louis, MO before being recalled in 1951 to active duty in the Korean War. He was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, completing 30 combat missions as the Bombardier on a B-29 Superfortress, while also serving as a lawyer in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. He served in the U.S. Air Force Reserves, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel.  He was admitted to practice in Arizona in 1953  and for 22 years was a law partner with John P. Somers. In 1975, he was appointed as a judge on the Pima County Superior Court. (excerpt taken from legacy.com)

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University of Arizona Law,
class of 1920

State Bar of Arizona
member since 1917

Featured Case:
Bisbee Deportation Case

(b. 1891 - d. 1987) Ralph W. Bilby was born in 1891 ln Concho, Arizona. His family is considered one of Arizona's pioneer families.  The family farmed near Thatcher, where Bilby attended Gila Academy. In 1915, he entered the University of Arizona, graduating in 1920 with a degree in law.

After working with Frank E. Curley, a noted Tucson lawyer, he became an assistant to the U.S. Attorney,  formed a partnership with Ben B. Mathews and later with Ted K. Shoenhair. The Bllby and Shoenhair partnership lasted over fifty years.  Bilby was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1928 and again in 1948. He served as President of the State Bar in 1948-49.  He was also elected to membership in the American College of Trial Lawyers.

After  66 years in the legal profession, Ralph Bllby retired in July, 1986.

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University of Arizona Law,
class of 1952

State Bar of Arizona
member since 1953

Charles Edgar Ares was born September 11, 1926, in Tucson, Arizona.  His Father, Albert Frederick Ares, was a cotton farmer in Marana.  The family later farmed in the Flowing Wells area of Tucson, at Continental, and in Elfrida, where they worked on the Grizzle apple orchard.

Ares attended elementary schools in Southern Arizona.  He graduated from Tucson High School and joined the navy in 1944, when he was seventeen years old.  In 1946, after two-and-a-half years in the navy, Ares enrolled at the University of Arizona where he majored in political science, and in 1949 became a student in the College of Law.  He received his J.D. in 1952.

Upon graduation from law school, Ares spent a year as law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice  William O. Douglas. He then returned to Tucson and entered private practice, first with Harry Ackerman and then with Morris and Stewart Udall. For the first three years he was also Deputy County Attorney. 

In 1961 Ares joined the  New York University law faculty, returning to Tucson in 1966 to become Dean of the University of Arizona College of Law. After seven years he stepped down from the position of dean to become a full-time law professor.

 

 

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Brooklyn Law,
class of 1925

State Bar of Arizona
member since 1930

Featured Cases:
In re Gault 387 U.S. 1 (1967) 

(b. 1903, d. 1994) Amelia Dietrich Lewis was born in New York City, June 25, 1903. She attended Hunter College and then graduated from St. Lawrence University School of Law (now Brooklyn Law School) with an LL.B., in 1925. She later received an LL.M. from New York Law School. She was legislative assistant to the minority leader of the New York City Council and was an attorney for the Legal Aid Society. During World War II, Lewis served with the Office of Price Administration. In 1957, after the death of her husband, Maxwell Lewis, she moved to Arizona. Upon being admitted to the Arizona Bar in 1958, Lewis accepted the post of Deputy County Attorney for Navajo County. In 1970 she moved and set up practice in Youngtown, later moving her offices to Peoria.

In 1964 Lewis undertook the representation of Gerald Gault, a minor, in an appeal of his case. She appealed, first to the Arizona Supreme Court, then to the United States Supreme Court, where Gault’s conviction was overturned.

Lewis is a member of the New York Bar, the Arizona Bar, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the American Bar Association and the Maricopa County Bar Association. In 1988 Lewis was the first recipient of the Amicus Award of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. She has served on the Arizona Governor;s Advisory Council of Aging and is a volunteer for the American Heart Association in Sun City. She has also served the Arizona Democratic Party in a variety of capacities, including as a member of the State Executive Committee and as party parliamentarian.

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