What happens when retaining an attorney is not an option during a divorce, bankruptcy, or other non-criminal type of legal matter? In Arizona, one option is to work with a legal document preparer who is certified under rules adopted by the Arizona Supreme Court.
Legal document preparers may provide general legal information—such as what form is needed and which deadlines apply—but may not give legal advice. All individuals and businesses offering such a service without the supervision of an attorney in good standing with the State Bar of Arizona must satisfactorily pass a Legal Document Preparer Program.
Several attorneys told AZ Free News they regularly refer people to a legal document preparer for matters that don’t necessarily need an attorney, such as an uncontested divorce without children. A legal document preparer is also much better than going it alone when affording an attorney is not an option, they say.
“It’s certainly something attorneys don’t want to publicize, but we would certainly rather see someone have the professional services of a document preparer than try to go it alone in court,” one attorney explained.
There are now dozens of legal document preparers throughout Arizona, all of whom must be certified under rules set forth by the Arizona Supreme Court. Some preparers work for themselves but most are employed by a business which also must be approved by the Court.
One of those is AZ Legal Documents by JoJo, owned and operated by Georgiana “JoJo” Aguilar, who began working in Cochise County as a paralegal in 2004. She later opened her own company and is certified as the company’s designated principal. This means she is responsible for every document that leaves the office even if one of her employees prepares it.
AZ Legal Documents by JoJo specializes in family law matters, including divorce and legal separation, child custody and child support, guardianships, and wills. Aguilar also offers services for bankruptcy, real estate, and several other non-criminal matters. Those areas of law have frequent rules changes, requiring Aguilar and her staff like all certified legal document preparers to undergo continuing education each year.
“We are able to ensure our customers have the correct form or forms needed for their situation,” she said. “We also have the experience to know what the Court needs to have with the form, which can save customers time and money.”
Another legal document preparer business is East Valley Legal which is owned by Chelsea Woodworth, who is a member of the Board of Nonlawyer Legal Service Providers.
Woodworth, who also owns a legal paraprofessional firm called Chelsea Legal PLC. in Mesa, worked as a Crime Victim Advocate, an Undercover Private Investigator, and for the Department of Homeland Security prior to entering the legal field in 2013. She is a Legal Paraprofessional with endorsements in Limited Jurisdiction Civil and Family Law, a Certified Legal Document Preparer, and an Advanced Certified Paralegal.
The experience Woodworth brings to the field is one reason she is a member of the Board of Nonlawyer Legal Service Providers.
The Board of Nonlawyer Legal Service Providers next meets Sept. 26 at the Arizona Supreme Court at 1501 W. Washington Street in Phoenix. The public may join the virtual meeting or attend in person.
On Tuesday, the Arizona Treasurer prohibited the use of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) scoring when determining investments. ESG scoring is comparable to a social justice scoring, sometimes dubbed a “social credit score.”
Revisions to the Arizona Treasurer’s Investment Policy Statement (IPS) declared that ESG factors were non-pecuniary and therefore had no material effect on the financial risk or return of an investment.
Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee and the members of the Board of Investment approved a new Investment Policy Statement. The adopted policy ensures that ESG ratings have no place in Arizona's investment making decisions.
Treasurer Kimberly Yee declared that ESG scoring enables malicious government manipulation of the private sector.
“Biden’s Administration uses big government overreach to manipulate the private sector in picking winners and losers based on radical ESG policies,” wrote Yee. “We must protect American free market principles and not allow environmental or social goals to dictate how taxpayer monies are managed.”
Biden's Administration uses big government overreach to manipulate the private sector in picking winners and losers based on radical ESG policies. We must protect American free market principles & not allow environmental or social goals to dictate how taxpayer monies are managed. https://t.co/Zqj25nDHoS
This wasn’t the first time this month that Yee took action to counter the effects of ESG scoring. Last week, the treasurer gave a major global financial firm, Morningstar, 30 days to prove that they weren’t complicit in its subsidiary company’s alleged boycott of Israel due to ESG policies. Without sufficient proof, Yee will place Morningstar on the state’s list of prohibited investments.
Yee’s opponent in the upcoming November election, Arizona State Senate Minority Whip Martín Quezada (D-Glendale), responded that he supports ESG scoring.
The Arizona state legislature attempted to outlaw ESG scoring discrimination through HB2656 during this past legislative session. However, State Representatives Joel John (R-Buckeye) and Michelle Udall killed the bill. John declared that he voted against the bill in accordance with his belief that such discriminations don’t exist.
However, firearms industry business owners testified earlier in the legislative session about the need for another bill, HB2473, because banks refused to do business with them because they deal with firearms. One testimony came from Ruger Firearms VPO Tim Powney, who shared that Bank of America cut short their decades-long relationship due to his being in the firearms industry. That decision was likely based on ESG criteria.
The concept of ESG dates back to 2004 when former United Nations (UN) Secretary General Kofi Annan gathered just over 50 of the world’s top financial institution CEOs to discuss influencing markets via ideological criteria. Early prototypes of ESG scoring occurred through the New York Stock Exchange’s Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in 2006, then the Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative (SSEI) in 2007.
Almost all major companies rely on ESG criteria. Many model their ESG scoring systems after the Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics developed by the World Economic Forum (WEF), a globalist lobbying organization. “Stakeholder capitalism” is the attempt to modify corporations’ behaviors to benefit stakeholders instead of shareholders, necessitating corporate cooperation with government: something Yee claimed allows government overreach and free market subversion.
Leaders aspiring to ESG principles should expand their networks and get out of their comfort zones. @blackrock’s Pam Chan explains more on #MeetTheLeader W/@lindalacina
The WEF claims that ESG criteria are financially material. They argue that poor ESG scoring played a role in 15 out of 17 S&P 500 bankruptcies that occurred between 2005 and 2015.
This week, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs launched a campaign ad featuring a sheriff who denied the existence of the border crisis. Yet, Hobbs characterized the border situation as a crisis in her proposed plan to improve the border.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway denied that there was a border crisis last April when he rejected Arizona National Guard assistance for his county. Hathaway said that the only crisis Arizona suffered from was an economic crisis, seeming to insinuate that border restrictions prevented Mexican workers from contributing to the U.S. economy.
“We don’t have a migrant crisis on the border. We do not need to militarize our counties and have troops come to the border,” said Hathaway. “We have certain, very vocal sheriffs in this state who are trying to fan the flames on a supposed crisis.”
We need less talk and more action when it comes to securing the border. My highest priority is keeping Arizona communities safe which is why law enforcement like Sheriff Hathaway and Sheriff Nanos are backing my campaign. Watch here👇 pic.twitter.com/4IpFuUJgND
In the video, Hathaway said he was “tired of the talk” of other politicians and declared that Hobbs was the candidate who would take action.
Hobbs’ campaign video also featured Sheriff Chris Nanos. His remarks alluded to Hathaway’s past sentiments: that characterizations of the border as a crisis were overblown.
“She’s not here to politicize our border,” said Nanos.
Sheriff David Hathaway giving Governor candidate Katie Hobbs a tour of the beautiful ranchlands of Santa Cruz County. pic.twitter.com/LVBPpmxck4
— Sheriff David Hathaway, Santa Cruz County, AZ (@JamesDavidHath1) August 30, 2022
Hobbs’ views on the border have resulted in mixed messaging. In May, Hobbs said it was “ridiculous” that the border was a core issue for the governor’s race. In the preceding months, Hobbs flipped on her support for ending Title 42. Hobbs initially supported an immediate end to Title 42 before adopting her current perspective that Title 42’s demise would be a “rash decision” and a “disaster.”
Hobbs’ border plan pledged a “tough but fair immigration process” that would disincentivize illegal entry. She promised increased funding for border sheriffs and law enforcement, increased funding for border community centers and hospitals, increased funding for ports of entry, an increase and reallocation of work visas to address the labor shortage, a short-term plan to phase out Title 42, and citizenship for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients.
By comparison, Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s border plan issued a lengthier plan. Lake proposed the establishment of an interstate compact in which a commission would oversee border operations. States in the compact would declare an invasion; create a border security force that would arrest, detain, and deport illegal immigrants; and buck federal restrictions and regulations from federal border enforcement agencies.
Additionally, Lake promised to veto any budget that didn’t fully fund border wall completion, derive border construction funds from seized cartel assets, request border construction reimbursement from the federal government, expand the Arizona Rangers, destroy smuggler and cartel tunnels using Israeli military expertise, shoot down Mexican drones in Arizona airspace, increase the National Guards’ border presence and grant detainment authority, put a carveout in HB2810 to allow for civil asset forfeiture of cartel and trafficking assets, allow law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants under trespassing laws, create a special “border court” within the superior court to adjudicate illegal immigrant trespassing crimes, allow the Arizona Guard and National Guard to deport illegal immigrants, expand Governor Doug Ducey’s Border Strike Force Bureau, creation of a border task force for the tribal communities, institute a “Refuse and Lose” law that divests state funding from counties or municipalities that employ sanctuary policies, creation of a publicly-available illegal alien database, lobby Congress to remove Arizona from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals jurisdiction, have cartels designated as terrorist organizations, and require stricter screening for illegal immigrant minor placement.
A Sierra Vista-based company which started with just one government contract in 2017 has been named to Inc. Magazine’s 5000 fastest growing private companies in America, ranking in the top five in Arizona and number 158 nationwide with more than 3,200 percent growth the last three years.
Nemean Solutions provides a variety of services to the U.S. military, as well as state and federal agencies in support of America’s Defense, Intelligence, and Aerospace sectors. It ranks #5 of the 154 honorees based in Arizona, with those companies accounting for $18.5 billion in total revenue and more than 12,000 jobs, according to the magazine.
The company’s three-year growth also ranked #4 of the 120 businesses nationwide in the Government Services industry to make the 5,000 list in 2022. They far outpaced their Arizona competitors MO Studio (ranked 2,088) and Vector Solutions (ranked 4,743).
Nemean Solutions was founded by Craig Mount and Simon Ortiz in Mount’s kitchen in Sierra Vista with plans to offer intelligence contracting at the U.S. Army’s Fort Huachuca. Today it employs nearly 80 full-timers and dozens of part-timers as a certified SBA 8a Native Hawaiian-Owned and veteran-operated company.
Mount, a former Sierra Vista city councilmember, told AZ Free News he and Ortiz started the company with $5,000. It then took six months for the two former U.S. Army members to get all the clearances necessary to work at secured military installations before receiving about $80,000 in contracts.
Two year later, Nemean Solutions had its SBA 8a certification which allows the company to receive sole source service contracts of up to $100 million per award. Today, Mount serves as president and Ortiz as CEO of the company which could end the year with more than $8 million in revenue.
“We want to thank our partners at Ho’okahua Hawaiian Foundation, our fantastic mentors at Trideum Corporation, our amazing banking team at Bank of America -Chris Patty, Christa Williams and Edward Spenceley- for putting the fuel into the machine, the ever patient Kelly McBride and her outstanding team at Global Dynamic Consulting, Inc. keeping the wheels on, and all our amazing industry teaming partners,” Mount said.
But most of all, he acknowledged “the Pride of Nemean” as he calls the company’s “incredible employees and their families who dedicate their professional time, energy, talent and experience to deliver Unbreakable Values and Superior Solutions to our nation’s military in fourteen states.”
Ortiz also gave credit to two Sierra Vista business development experts for their support over the years with Nemean Solutions’ growth.
“Mark Schmidt and his team at the Cochise College Small Business Development Center have been amazing in championing for Sierra Vista’s small business community and for us at Nemean,” Ortiz told AZ Free News. “Also, we would be remiss in not giving credit to Mignonne Hollis of the Arizona Regional Economic Development Foundation for helping us establish our headquarters in Sierra Vista.”
Nemean Solutions is a key Cybersecurity services provider for U.S. Army 7th Signal Command (Theater), U.S. Army NETCOM, U.S. Army CSLA, and the U.S. Air Force, offering Risk Management Framework support services and Cyber Electromagnetic Activities Subject Matter Support and Emerging Threat for U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force commands.
It also employs expert Administrative and Project Management Professionals to support critical missions for the U.S. Army including the Intelligence Center or Excellence, U.S. Army Mission Command Center of Excellence, and Army Research Office.
Other Nemean Solutions employees are experts in Military Support, Military Intelligence and Intelligence Operations Support, providing critical mission support for the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence, U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence, U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence, and U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command.
And the company currently provides vital Information Technology Services for U.S. Army CECOM, U.S. Army NETCOM, and the U.S. Navy through a leadership team which has over a decade of Department of Defense Joint Live, Virtual, and Constructive Modeling & Simulation and Experimentation Support.
In addition to the recent recognition by INC. Magazine, Nemean Solutions was the recipient of the 2022 SBA Arizona Small Business Development Center’s Success Award, the 2021 and 2020 HIRE VETS Platinum Medallion awards from the U.S. Department of Labor, and the 2021 SBA SBDC Arizona Veteran-Owned Congressional Business Economic Impact Success Story.
Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee divested $143 million from Unilever because its subsidiary, Ben & Jerry’s, boycotted Israel — inspiring multiple other states to follow suit. Arizona law prohibits state funds from going to entities that boycott Israel.
In the weeks after Yee’s decision, Texas, New Jersey, New York, and Florida pulled their investments from Unilever. Altogether, their divestments totaled well over $500 million. Yee said the series of events were a testament to Arizona’s leadership in an interview with AZ Free News.
“It was truly a movement,” said Yee.
These divestments all occurred last fall, but it wasn’t until late June that Unilever decided to sell Ben & Jerry’s in the Israel area, effectively ending boycott. Yee recounted how Unilever informed her immediately that they sold their Ben & Jerry’s business in the West Bank to an Israeli-owned manufacturing company. However, Yee explained that she was hesitant to reinvest in Unilever because of their delay in complying. Yee issued the ultimatum last September.
“My response to them was, ‘What took you so long?’” said Yee.
I am pleased that Unilever overturned the decision made by Ben & Jerry's and changed their course of action to boycott Israel as I had requested in September of 2021. I continue to be concerned about the woke decisions of Ben & Jerry's Board of Directors. See full statement: pic.twitter.com/GSoJWdR6uF
Yee observed that Unilever ultimately realized the great financial risk that came with supporting Ben & Jerry’s political activism.
“The response by Unilever was such that they thought there are dollars to be lost by partnering with a company, Ben & Jerry’s, that doesn’t stand with American values,” said Yee.
Yee added that her hesitation was vindicated when Ben & Jerry’s decided to sue Unilever. The ice cream giant requested an injunction, arguing that Unilever’s move to resume Ben & Jerry’s ice cream sales throughout Israel violated its core values. Ben & Jerry’s lost their case last Monday.
That means the ice cream giant doesn’t own and won’t profit from its brand in Israel.
Unilever's arrangement means Ben & Jerry's in Israel will be owned and operated by AQP. Our company will no longer profit from Ben & Jerry's in Israel.
Ben & Jerry’s announced its boycott last July. The company asserted that Israel was occupying the West Bank and Gaza illegally, which it recognized as the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). The company’s plan was to end its partnership with the licensee that manufactured and distributed its ice cream in Israel. The license agreement would’ve expired at the end of this year.
At the time, Ben & Jerry’s denied that their boycott was part of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. They claimed that they would stay in Israel through a different business arrangement, which they haven’t clarified.
The company pledged to disclose this new arrangement before the end of this year, according to what Unilever toldReuters in February. It appears that the arrangement either never came to fruition, or a satisfactory one wasn’t produced by the end of June, when Unilever announced it would sell Ben & Jerry’s in Israel.
Unilever may not be the only company that Arizona won’t invest in due to Israel boycotts. This past week, Yee announced that Morningstar, a major global financial services company, may be placed on the state’s list of prohibited investments if it doesn’t prove that its subsidiary, Sustainalytics, isn’t boycotting Israel. Although Arizona doesn’t have public funds invested in Morningstar currently, it would prevent future investments.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Last Tuesday, hundreds of concerned Gilbert citizens enlivened a town council study session with vocal opposition to funding any rail project — not even a survey.
Most of the council expressed confusion about the citizens’ discontent, denying intent on establishing a commuter rail in the town. Councilwoman Kathy Tilque stated repeatedly that there were no plans to bring a commuter rail to Gilbert, and that it probably wouldn’t ever happen. Mayor Brigette Peterson and councilmembers Scott Anderson, Yung Koprowski, and Scott September echoed Tilque’s sentiment throughout the study session, which neared two hours.
“I’m just trying to figure out why we have so many upset people thinking we’re spending taxpayer dollars to bring a commuter rail here,” said Tilque.
Earlier this year, the council proposed a $289,000 consulting contract for a feasibility study on establishing a commuter rail. Council discussion on the subject revealed similar divisions that persisted in last week’s discussions.
When Peterson repeated that Gilbert hasn’t issued plans to build a commuter rail, the citizens shouted “Lies!” Peterson insisted she was telling the truth, further claiming that Gilbert wouldn’t have any say over the establishment of a commuter rail on existing rail lines. Vice Mayor Aimee Yentes rebutted that the town’s actions over the years conflicted Peterson’s claim.
Yentes told AZ Free News that the council’s denial of commuter rail planning was “semantics,” pointing out a February 2018 development agreement, Resolution No. 3955, that Peterson signed onto while a councilwoman. That development agreement described the possibility of a light rail as well as a commuter rail, further conflicting with another one of Peterson’s claims in a July statement that the term “light rail” was used by outside groups and individuals, and that “there are no plans, discussions, or any considerations to construct or extend a light rail” to Gilbert.
The development agreement further noted that the town of Gilbert would be responsible for the cost of future development of a transit station at Cooley Station Village Center. According to a 2018 study on commuter rails conducted by the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG), nearly all commuter rails require a dedicated local sales tax to operate.
During the study session, Yentes asserted that the community’s discontent stems from the council’s unwillingness to take a definitive stance for or against a commuter rail, not a misunderstanding over the town’s role as one of several decision makers on establishing a commuter rail.
“Clearly they’ve been planning for it. They’ve done studies. They’ve dedicated transit stations. They’ve entered into a development agreement that tried to bind us to it. There’s lots of things that Gilbert can do to either plan to do it or be a thorn in their side,” said Yentes.
Yentes proposed an ordinance to prohibit the use of town resources for the furtherance of commuter and light rail development. That would also prohibit additional taxes and application of funds to carry out related studies. It will be voted on during next Tuesday’s town council meeting.
Yentes warned that the city of Phoenix’s commuter and light rails “cannibalized” their transportation budget to the extent that the city couldn’t fix potholes, prompting citizens to pass an additional sales tax in 2017 to cover those expenses.
Tilque called Yentes’ proposed ordinance “dishonest representation” since future councils may overturn it. However, that’s something that new leadership may do at any given time with any ordinance, which Yentes pointed out.
One citizen, Brandon Ryff, told AZ Free News that Tilque’s opposition to the ordinance came across as doubting citizens’ intelligence. Ryff expressed frustration over the conflict between Peterson’s remarks and actions concerning a commuter rail, citing the 2018 development agreement.
Ryff also criticized commuter rails as outdated, “19th-century” technology, pointing out the consistent drop in ridership throughout major cities in Arizona and other states. He contrasted the decline in ridership with the consistent uptick in crime. In Phoenix, crime rates have nearly doubled since 2016; a majority of those crimes were aggravated assault and drug offenses.
“We laugh at it and say that [a commuter rail] looks like a solution looking for a problem,” said Ryff. “For whatever reason and whatever motivation, our town council is defying all logic concerning crime statistics and progress. I can’t help but feel this is related to money from somewhere. Someone is influencing these people to behave this way. It just doesn’t make sense.”
Another citizen, Tyler Farnsworth, remarked to AZ Free News that their opposition was a positive example of engaged citizenry, yet most of the council portrayed it as a negative. Farnsworth commended Yentes’ proposed resolution barring their tax money from funding town rail projects.
“The Mayor and several members of the Council were visibly and vocally annoyed that citizens chose to show up and speak their mind,” said Farnsworth. “We just want to be heard. We want our tax money to be spent wisely. I hope the meeting was a wake up call to this Council. We are watching. Welcome to democracy in action.”
Watch the study session below:
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
