Brad A. Denton

Brad is a founding partner of Denton Peterson Dunn. In more than 25 years of practice, Brad has represented businesses and individuals in many different areas.

Brad’s Legal Practice

Helping Small Businesses. Brad spends a lot of time working with small business owners. He has developed expertise in the areas of law that are important to small businesses. He helps business owners decide the structure of their businesses, whether corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies (LLCs), or something else. Businesses often have legal issues related to their employees, and so Brad has developed expertise in that area. And because legal disputes can happen, Brad can help his business clients prosecute and defend lawsuits. Brad’s clients turn to him for litigation as well as commercial matters.

Litigation. Brad has represented clients at every level in Arizona—everything from head counsel in multi-week jury trials in Superior Court to appellate counsel at the Arizona Supreme Court. Brad has also represented clients before Justice Courts, administrative tribunals such as the Office of Administrative Hearings, and many arbitrations and mediations. Brad has even served as a private arbitrator, where he has ruled on lawsuits brought by other lawyers—and as a mediator, where he tries to help the parties to a dispute reach a negotiated agreement.

Negotiating Contracts. Brad helps his clients draft and negotiate all kinds of contracts—partnership agreements, commercial leases, employment contracts, asset purchase agreements, settlement agreements, and much more. Brad also helps his clients collect their money if bills go unpaid.

Franchising Law. Brad helps clients who are involved in franchising—whether as franchisors or franchisees. Brad helps clients with the complicated process of drafting the franchise disclosure documents that are required by federal law, as well as registering under the franchise and business opportunity laws of various states. For many years he has been a member of the Franchise Forum of the American Bar Association. Brad also represents parties in disputes related to franchises. He recently won an arbitration award totaling more than $460,000 in a franchising dispute.

Brad’s Legal Ranking

For years, Brad has had the highest possible rating of “AV” at Martindale-Hubbell. This type of rating is gained by only about 10% of lawyers, and it is a distinction that can only be granted by ratings from experienced lawyers. It’s not a ranking that can be purchased or a system that can be “gamed,” like many other rankings out there that are created solely for marketing purposes.

Brad’s Education and History as a Lawyer

Brad began his practice working for several years at two large firms in downtown Phoenix: Jennings, Strouss & Salmon, PLC and Bryan Cave LLP. In 1998 he began his own law office in the East Valley with nothing but a phone and a fax machine, and his practice has grown consistently since then.

Brad graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in International Relations from Brigham Young University in 1990. He received his law degree with academic honors from the University of Chicago in 1995.

Brad’s Wide Variety of Clients and Cases

Brad represents clients from all over the United States. His clients literally hail from California to New York, from Georgia to Alaska, and many places in between. He represents numerous out-of-state clients who have business interests or litigation matters in Arizona. Brad also acts on behalf of clients in foreign countries (recently Mexico, France, Canada and Japan) who have legal or business interests in the U.S.

Some of Brad’s Recent Results

Some of Brad’s recent cases include:

• Winning an arbitration award totaling more than $460,000 in a case where Brad represented a franchisee who suffered losses as a result of the franchisor’s bad faith and breach of contract.
• Negotiating a $15 million buyout for his client, an appraisal management company, whose assets were sold to a national venture capital-funded operation.
• Negotiating a settlement payout totaling about $2.2 million ($1.5 million in overtime pay and almost $700,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs) for a collective action overtime case filed under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
• Acting as an expert on behalf of the defendant in a Fair Labor Standards Act overtime collective action case.
• Representing a franchisor in drafting its franchise disclosure document, assisting in decision-making regarding business strategy and compliance, helping negotiate customized deals with certain franchisees, registering the franchise nationwide, answering numerous legal questions about company structure and deals and how they relate to franchise law, and renewing franchise registrations.
• Taking over high-stress, high-risk litigation cases previously handled by other attorneys.
• Handling complicated contractual issues and legal malpractice (by the client’s former lawyer) related to an important aviation company.
• Obtaining five-figure sanctions against an opposing party in a contentious collections matter.
• Counseling with numerous business owners regarding a full spectrum of legal issues related to their operations.

Brad’s Other Experience and Volunteerism

Brad has traveled the globe, both for business and humanitarian reasons. His service began early in life, when he spent two years in Japan as a volunteer missionary. Since then, he and his family members have volunteered in the developing world many times, including:

• Working in leprosy colonies in India.
• Volunteering in mountain and jungle villages in Peru.
• Building a school in Uganda.
• Helping build community sanitation projects in Fiji.
• Working in orphanages in Mozambique.

Brad has also traveled recreationally to Belize, Pakistan, Guatemala, the Philippines, Russia, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Morocco, and many countries in Europe.

Brad is active in his local community as well. He and his wife have served as foster parents for more than 20 disadvantaged children in Maricopa County. He has also served as a “CASA,” an unpaid court-appointed special advocate for foster children in the Phoenix area. He has also served in various leadership and other positions in his church.