At Barton Mendez Soto, we firmly believe that every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. That’s why we built a law firm singularly focused on one goal: equity and justice for exploited individuals and communities.

 

We protect and expand the rights of Arizonans who are fighting to receive fair and just treatment. That includes:

• Representing workers, unions, and advocacy groups in court to protect against discrimination, harassment, and other infringements on their rights and freedoms.

• Providing community-engagement and policy-change counsel. That includes engaging and educating Arizonans on their rights as well as passing laws through the initiative process and advocating for policies that elevate those rights.

• Building coalitions. We collaborate with and advise other organizations and groups to strengthen our communities.

 

We are a team of passionate, accomplished lawyers who have a long history of successfully preserving and strengthening civil rights and democracy. We’ve taken on historically significant causes in Arizona such as defending the Fair Wages and Healthy Worker Act and the Predatory Debt Collection Protection Act in both pre-election and post-election lawsuits - and won.

 

Nine years ago, BMS lawyer Jim Barton successfully defended the Fair Wages and Healthy Workers Act against a challenge to its position on the ballot, and then after it passed, a challenge to its constitutionality.  The Act was back in the news as it pushed the Arizona Minimum Wage over $15 per hour.  {Click here to read more about it}  We are proud to continue working with LUCHA for justice in Arizona!

 

Barton Mendez Soto is honored to have represented River Chunnui, a courageous transgender and nonbinary educator who refused to be silenced in the face of attacks. We encourage you to listen to River's statement to the Peoria Unified School District School Board where they faced their attackers who sit on the board {Click here for the link} and also read The Phoenix New Times coverage Peoria school district settles with trans teacher in harassment suit.  Note, she responded with the Family Prism Project: https://familyprism.org/

 

You don't get to change the rules because you don't like the outcomes. That is the message of a unanimous Arizona Supreme Court decision rejecting efforts to block citizen initiatives that are unliked by city governments. We are proud to have fought this to the end, because we are about protecting and expanding the rights of folks who push back we government isn't working for them. {Click here to learn more}

 

Partner Jacqueline Mendez Soto helps to explain the travesty that is the current regime’s attacks on the Fourteenth Amendment and citizenship. {Click here to learn more}