Skills 101: Tips for Effective Closing Arguments

Linda is a dynamic attorney who currently focuses her practice in criminal and family law. She helps those who have been wrongfully stopped or detained enforce their constitutional rights. Linda has been successful in suppressing wrongfully obtained evidence and knows how to obtain hard to get evidence. She focuses her family law practice on helping families create a healthy flow between households and quality communication between families. Linda is not afraid to make sure that children are always protected, by obtaining court ordered alcohol and drug treatments of parents and ensuring that parents follow strict appropriate codes of conduct and minimize the effect of a parent’s separation on children. Her solutions are creative and unique, often finding resolutions outside the box, specific to each client’s needs.

Prior to founding and building Watson Law in 2010, Linda was an assistant state’s attorney for nearly seven years, prosecuting everything from murder to traffic. She enjoys teaching continuing legal education both locally and nationally to other lawyers in such areas as digital forensic evidence and children’s hearsay statements admissibility. Ms. Watson has had a number of cases succeed at the Appellate level, having been published several times on new and novel issues including the use of Google Maps as probable cause, second seizure traffic stops, and complex child support issues.

Timothy B. Walthall is a General Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Elizabeth Ortiz has a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics, a Master of Arts in Political Science, and a Juris Doctor. After graduating from law school, Ms. Ortiz clerked at the Arizona Court of Appeals. Ms. Ortiz then joined the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, where she prosecuted cases for sixteen years. During that time, Ms. Ortiz served as a Bureau Chief in Juvenile, Pretrial, Charging, and Appeals. In 2009, Ms. Ortiz joined the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys’ Advisory Council (“APAAC”) as the Senior Staff Attorney, and was subsequently named Executive Director. In addition to her APAAC duties, Ms. Ortiz has served as a sworn special prosecutor for La Paz, Maricopa, Navajo, and Pinal counties. Ms. Ortiz serves on several committees for the State Bar of Arizona, in addition to being a board member for the National Association of Prosecution Coordinators, the National District Attorneys Association, the Commission of Victims in the Courts, the Commission to Prevent Violence Against Women, and the Arizona Forensic Science Academy. Ms. Ortiz teaches extensively throughout Arizona, the United States, and in Mexico.