Meet Our Lawyers
Combined, Alan Baskin, Tom Bade and Bill Richards offer more than 60 years of widely diverse experience, including previous work for state and federal government agencies, along with large, medium-sized and small law firms. Both Tom and Alan have recently been selected as Southwest Super Lawyers for 2011 in their respective practice areas. Alan was also named a 2009 Super Lawyer. Bill Richards joined Bade Baskin Richards in January 2011 after having received numerous honors for his 6 years of work as one of the Arizona Attorney General's top civil trial attorneys, including being recognized by Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard for leading the State's top trial team in 2008. This was the continuation of a distinguished legal career that began when Bill earned the top score on the July 1990 Arizona Bar examination and ranked third out of 140 students in his graduating class at the Arizona State University College of Law.
Attorney Alan Baskin
Starting with his first job as a lawyer, Alan Baskin has been immersed in securities cases. In 1990, Alan joined the Securities Division of the Arizona Corporation Commission, where he became senior counsel in the Securities Division's Enforcement Section. He investigated and prosecuted administrative, civil and criminal securities cases. In 1992, Alan moved literally across the street to the Arizona Attorney General's Office where he spent more than five years prosecuting primarily white collar and securities cases as an assistant attorney general in the Securities Division. Alan's time at the Attorney General's Office provided invaluable trial experience, as he was fortunate enough to prosecute not only securities and other fraud trials, but he also presented DNA evidence and prosecuted a three-month long, six-defendant prison murder trial. In addition, as a young lawyer Alan had the opportunity to argue in the Arizona Court of Appeals in Hernandez v. Superior Court, which resulted in a published opinion remaking Arizona law regarding the double jeopardy implications of successive administrative and criminal prosecutions of securities matters.
Alan left the Attorney General's Office in 1997, spending the next seven years at Roshka Heyman & DeWulf, PLC, (now Roshka DeWulf & Patten) including four years as a partner. He represented the respondents both at the Arizona Corporation Commission and on appeal in Arizona Corporation Commission v. Eastern Vanguard Forex, et al, which is the first published opinion interpreting the controlling person provisions of the Arizona Securities Act. Eastern Vanguard is also the only published opinion in Arizona in a securities case in which some of the respondents were awarded attorneys' fees in connection with their successful defense of the Corporation Commission's allegations.
Since 1999, Alan has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Securities Section of the Arizona Bar, and is presently treasurer. Alan has also previously co-authored the chapter on criminal appeals in the Arizona Appellate Handbook. From 1995-2000 Alan was a member of the Arizona State Bar's Criminal Rules Committee. He has been chairman and panelist at a number of state and county bar programs related to enforcement proceedings by securities regulators, securities arbitration and litigation, white collar crime and other topics. Alan is a member of the Arizona Bar Association. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Georgetown University and his Juris Doctorate degree from Arizona State University College of Law.
Attorney Tom Bade
Prior to forming Bade Baskin Richards, Tom Bade was a founding shareholder of Boyer & Bade, P.C. and practiced for three years as a member of the O'Connor Cavanagh tax department and three years as an attorney adviser with the Office of Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, D.C. He also clerked for Judge William Eubank of the Arizona Court of Appeals and Special Master Richard Abell of the United States Claims Court. Tom is a member of the Arizona and Minnesota bar associations. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota and his Juris Doctorate degree from Arizona State University College of Law where he was an associate editor of the Arizona State Law Journal. Tom received his Master of Laws degree in taxation, with distinction, from Georgetown University Law Center where he was the recipient of the Thomas Bradbury Chetwood, S.J. award for the most distinguished academic performance leading to a Master of Laws degree in taxation and the Shell Oil award for outstanding academic achievement. Tom is admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court and is recognized as a certified tax specialist by the Arizona Board of Legal Specialization. He also served as a member of the Arizona Board of Tax Appeals in 2002-03.
Attorney Bill Richards
Bill Richards joined Bade Baskin Richards in 2011, after spending 6 years as Senior Litigation Counsel for the Civil Division of the Arizona Attorney General's Office. Bill handled some of Arizona's largest and most complex civil litigation matters in federal and state courts, including extensive experience in defense of large dollar class action claims. For his work, Bill was recognized by the Conference of Western Attorneys General as the recipient of the prestigious Jim Jones Public Service Award for 2010, an honor conferred annually on a single public attorney from among the organization's multi-state membership. Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard also honored Bill as the leader of the Attorney General's Outstanding Trial Team for 2008.
Bill regularly handled cases that involved potential liabilities or losses to the state in excess of $20 million. Subjects addressed included constitutional challenges to state financing of education and Medicaid-based programs, federal civil rights claims arising from state finance and regulatory activities, challenges to state budget legislation, State Land Trust litigation, class actions challenging state tax laws, employment wrongful termination and retaliation claims, election law challenges, charitable trust enforcement litigation, and procurement disputes.
During his tenure as Senior Litigation Counsel Bill also served as lead counsel for briefing and argument in appellate proceedings, including completion of 10 appellate arguments before the U.S Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Supreme Court of Arizona, Supreme Court of Utah and Arizona Court of Appeals (Divisions I and II).
Prior to joining the Attorney General's Office, Bill spent 11 years at the Phoenix law firm of Ryley Carlock and Applewhite. At the time of his departure he was a shareholder and member of the firm's management committee. Bill was a trial lawyer whose practice emphasized complex commercial litigation including securities industry disputes, enforcement of trade secret and intellectual property rights, employment-related claims, lender liability defense, and commercial tort claims. He also litigated government contract disputes, civil rights claims against public entities, and administrative law matters.
Immediately after he graduated from law school, Bill spent 3 years as an Army Judge Advocate General's Corps attorney in the Army Corps of Engineers' Chief Counsel's Honors Program where he assumed lead counsel responsibilities for government procurement litigation before the General Services Board of Contract Appeals and the U.S. General Accounting Office. He then spent several additional years as an Army Judge Advocate General's Corps reserve officer.
Attorney Michelle Lauer
Michelle Lauer joined Bade Baskin Richards, PLC in 2009. Prior to graduating from California Western School of Law in San Diego, Michelle participated in a three-month internship through the Government of Chile, El Servicio Nacional del Adulto Mayor, a division charged with the duty of establishing and monitoring the civil rights of Chile's seniors, in Santiago de Chile.
To learn more about the backgrounds and credentials of our attorneys, click on the following links.
For More Information
For more information about our attorneys or to schedule a consultation, call 888-366-1847 or fill out the contact form on this site. From our law office in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, we serve clients in Arizona and throughout the southwestern United States. Our attorneys are admitted to practice only in Arizona, and we associate with local counsel to handle cases in other jurisdictions.
