Biography

Susan lived in Argentina as a child and is fluent in Spanish. While living in Argentina, she travelled often to Brazil to visit family and eventually learned to also speak Portuguese. Her multilingual proficiency led Susan to volunteer by assisting Spanish speaking individuals at the Family Court Facilitator’s Office in Orange County, California. Susan also worked as a Spanish translator in the telecommunications industry. In her practice, Susan is privileged to represent many Spanish-speaking clients.

In both Arizona and California Susan handles civil litigation matters, representing clients in cases involving serious personal injury, wrongful death, products liability, negligence, premises liability and construction matters. She has served as lead counsel for construction industry clients in multi-million dollar residential and commercial litigation matters for numerous developers, general contractors and subcontractors in complex litigation matters. Her practice area also includes insurance coverage matters. Prior to joining Burch & Cracchiolo, she practiced law in Southern California where she focused on insurance coverage litigation. Susan prides herself in forming trusting relationships with her clients and building positive and constructive relationships with attorneys, court staff and experts. This gives her the ability to reduce acrimony and save the time, money and stress associated with unnecessary litigation. In addition, her business experience complements her abilities as a result driven negotiator when handling complex financial issues in dissolution proceedings. Of course, when cases cannot be settled, she is a zealous and experienced advocate.

Other Relevant Employment

Law Clerk, Hon. David Weinberg, Orange County Superior Court, Lamoreaux Justice Center, Family Law Division, 1999

Professional Affiliations

State Bar of Arizona
State Bar of California
Los Abogados, Hispanic Bar Association

Education

J.D., Western State University College of Law, 1999

B.A., International Business, California State University at Fullerton, 1994

Admitted In

Arizona
California
U.S. District Court, Central and Southern California
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
United States District Court for the District of Arizona

Community Involvement

2013 AADC "Ladder Down" program participant
Junior Achievement of Arizona, volunteer

Languages Spoken

Spanish
Portuguese