Jay Parmelee

Jay has been in civil and business litigation for more than a decade. He has extensive experience negotiating and litigating all kinds of business disputes: run of the mill contract disagreements, fights between owners, collections, etc. His expertise is in disputes regarding employment, including wage claims, discrimination or harassment claims, and non-competition agreements. His background in workers’ compensation and insurance litigation gives him a broad understanding of the needs and growing pains of small businesses, and he does a lot of work as de facto “general counsel,” advising clients on their policies and practices as they encounter new and unfamiliar legal territory.

Some of Jay’s recent matters include:

• Negotiating settlements on behalf of both employers and employees in race or disability discrimination lawsuits.
• Negotiating wage dispute settlements.
• Drafting asset purchase agreements, employment contracts, non-disclosure agreements, operating agreements, and other contracts and documents.
• Foreclosing on secured property when debtors refuse to repay loans.
• Helping potential buyers perform due diligence on target businesses.
• Fighting overbroad non-compete agreements on behalf of employees.
• Counseling with numerous business owners regarding a full spectrum of legal issues related to their operations.

Jay attended Pepperdine University School of Law (now Pepperdine Caruso School of Law), earning both a master’s degree and his J.D. He has been a member of the California bar since 2010, and joined the Arizona bar in 2018. He is licensed to practice in the state and federal district courts of California and Arizona. Before relocating to Arizona and joining Denton Peterson Dunn, he worked at a boutique firm in California, first as a law clerk, then as a junior attorney, and then as its senior civil litigation attorney.

While most of Jay’s clients are local, he has represented clients from New York in the east to California in the west, as far north as Washington and as far south as Texas.  He also represents international clients, including clients from Spain, Ireland, and Hong Kong. Despite his best efforts, he has not yet been able to represent a Nigerian prince or Nelson Mandela’s widow in their efforts to export gold from Africa to the United States.

Jay is a native of Ventura County, California. He’s a proud husband and father, and spends his spare time traveling, gaming, and volunteering.