Zelma Letarte
Ms. Letarte is a Shareholder at the firm of DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy, P.C. in the Tucson office. She was admitted to practice law in the State of Arizona at both the State and Federal levels in October 2003.
Ms. Letarte received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Dayton in 2003 after having graduated from Northern Arizona University, magna cum laude, with her Bachelor of Arts. She is a lifetime member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.
Ms. Letarte is an experienced trial attorney with her current practice focusing primarily in the area of family law. Her practice in family law matters include representing a diverse variety of clients in divorces, legal separations, special paternity cases, spousal maintenance cases, legal decision-making cases, parenting time cases, contempt cases and post-decree matters including any enforcement and/or modification of previous orders. Her cases frequently involve complex financial matters surrounding residential and business valuations and detailed asset allocations, as well as very sensitive matters involving complicated criminal allegations of physical and/or sexual abuse of a partner or a child.
Before entering into private practice, Zelma worked as an Assistant Attorney General as well as a Deputy County Attorney. She gained significant litigation experience as a narcotics prosecutor and as a juvenile prosecutor. Her civil litigation service began when she worked as a child support enforcement prosecutor.
Zelma currently sits on the Board of Directors of Step Up to Justice, an organization committed to providing pro bono legal services to people in Pima County, Arizona. She also actively volunteer for Step Up to Justice clinics and provide individual assistance to qualifying individuals. Ms. Letarte actively teaches at the organization’s divorce clinics, and she has provided direct representation of several of the organization’s clients over the years. Zelma is one of only a handful of Spanish speaking family law attorneys practicing in this community and is able to assist a very vulnerable and underserved population in navigating the complex legal system. Zelma is actively involved in Lawyers for Literacy.
Ms. Letarte received the Attorney of the Year award from the Arizona Family Support Council in 2009, and, in 2016, she was awarded the Client Satisfaction Award from the American Institute of Family Law Attorneys.