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Norma C. Izzo
Partner
Family Law Practice Group Leader
(she, her, hers)
Overview
Norma Izzo helps clients assess complex family law matters and develops successful legal strategies, using her mediation training and experience to seek beneficial resolutions while also leveraging her significant courtroom experience to advocate for her clients in trial.
She concentrates her practice in the area of family law and domestic relations matters, including asset division, business dissolution, collaborative divorce, mediation, arbitration, parent coordination, child custody and child support, and spousal maintenance, frequently for high net worth individuals in family court settings domestically, interstate, and internationally.
With more than 19 years of experience in family law litigation, Norma brings a determined and intelligent approach to her cases.
Norma regularly serves as a parenting coordinator, mediator, and arbitrator at all levels of complexity. She is also trained in collaborative divorce, a process that allows separating parties to work with their attorneys and financial and mental health professionals during a dissolution. As a result of her considerable training and experience in alternative dispute resolution, Norma also serves as a civil / business mediator and arbitrator.
Currently a member of the Family Law Executive Council for the State Bar of Arizona, Norma also previously served as the President of the Maricopa County Bar Association and President of the Arizona Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.
Credentials
Education
- Arizona State University – Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, 2005 (J.D.)
- Northern Arizona University, 1999 (B.A.)
Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- Worked with divorcing parties in relation to custody and parenting time, legal decision-making, and support issues.
- Advised parents on complicated co-parenting concerns including relocation, domestic violence, substance abuse, and behavioral health dynamics.
- Advocated for third-party rights including in loco parentis and grandparental visitation.
- Served as counsel in a significant number of cases in which marital estates exceed $50 million.
- Routinely litigated asset-heavy cases that require dissolution / reorganization of business entities held by divorcing parties.
- Routinely served as a private mediator, court-appointed parenting coordinator, and arbitrator in divorce proceedings.
- Routinely served as counsel and advocate in the formal collaborative divorce process.
- Served as counsel for parties entering prenuptial agreements, postnuptial agreements, and co-habitation agreements.
- Served as lead family law counsel in multistate-cases and in international divorce proceedings, including cases that have parallel proceedings in Italy, Mexico, Spain, and other foreign countries.
- Routinely litigated cases that involve the use of the Hague Convention, the international body of law governing multi-country divorces.
- Women’s Metropolitan Arts Council (WoMAC)
- Family Lawyers Assistance Project, Volunteer Attorney
- Arizona State University, Lodestar Mediation Clinic
- Volunteer Attorney, 2006-present
- Teaching Assistant, 2004-2005
- Maricopa County Justice Court, Mediator, 2003-2005
- State Bar of Arizona, Board of Legal Specialization, Certified Family Law Specialist
- AZ Big Media, AzBusiness Leaders – Family Law Leader, 2024
- Arizona Foothills Magazine, Best of Our Valley, Best Divorce Attorney, 2017, 2019-2021, 2024
- Phoenix Magazine, Top Lawyer, Family Law, 2022
- Best Lawyers in America
- Collaborative Law: Family Law, 2025
- Family Law, 2025
- Family Law Arbitration, 2025
- Family Law Mediation, 2025
- Best Lawyers in America, Family Law Arbitration, Lawyer of the Year, 2019
- Southwest Super Lawyers, Family Law, 2020-2022
- Southwest Super Lawyers, Rising Stars, Family Law; Alternative Dispute Resolution, 2014-2017, 2019
- AZ Big Media, Top 100 Lawyers, 2021
- Arizona Business Leaders Magazine, AZ Business Leaders, Alternative Dispute Resolution, 2020
- Phoenix Business Journal, Outstanding Women in Business, 2019
- AZ Business Magazine, Most Influential Women in Arizona, 2018
- AZ Business Magazine, Who’s Who in Business, 2016
- AZ Business Magazine, Arizona’s Top Mediators, 2015
- AZ Business Magazine, Arizona Business Top Lawyers: Family Law, April 2014
- U.S. Attorney General Honors Program, 2005-2006
- Martindale-Hubbell, AV Preeminent Rating
- State Bar of Arizona
- Certified Family Law Specialist, Board of Legal Specialization
- Family Law Executive Council, Member at Large, 2021-2024
- Family Law Section
- Alternative Dispute Resolution Section
- Family Law Practice and Procedure Committee, Former Member
- CLE Committee, Former Member
- Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, Arizona Chapter
- Board of Directors
- Immediate Past President, January 2021-December 2021
- President, January 2019-December 2020
- President-Elect, 2016-2018
- Chapter Council Representative, 2018
- Board of Directors
- Maricopa County Bar Association (MCBA), 2012-present
- Past President, 2018
- President, 2017
- President-Elect, 2016
- Treasurer, 2015
- Secretary, 2014
- Family Law Section, Executive Committee, Director, 2007-2012
- Collaborative Divorce Professionals of Arizona
- Member, 2007-2016
- President, 2007-2016
- Association of Conflict Resolution
-
“New Family Law Education Order Answers School Pleas,” Arizona Attorney Magazine, March 2024
- “Updates to Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure,” Arizona Attorney Magazine, March 2024
- “Redressing Financial Exploitation of the Elderly in Late-Life Romance,” Strafford Webinar, November 9, 2021
- “Family Court Judicial Forum,” National Business Institute, April 2020 and May 2021
- “How Litigators Are Confronting COVID in the Courtroom,” Quarterly Newsletter, American Bar Association, Section of Litigation, Trial Practice, August 31, 2020
- “Phoenix law firm gives ASU Law grads meaningful opportunities to work where they studied,” Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, July 27, 2020
- “Advanced Family Law,” State Bar of Arizona, November 15, 2019
- “Legal Ethics,” Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, Arizona Chapter, January 2019
- “Nicaise and Paul E. v. Courtney F. Decisions,” Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, Arizona Chapter, January 2019
- “Improving Outcomes for Family Law Cases,” Court Leadership Conference, October 2018
- “Collaborative Divorce Trend,” ABC15 Arizona, February 14, 2018
- “With Gratitude,” Letter from MCBA President, Vol. 36, Number 12, pg. 2, December 2017
- “The how and why of ‘unplugging,” Letter from MCBA President, Vol. 36, Number 11, pg. 2, November 2017
- “Your opinion matters,” Letter from MCBA President, Vol. 36, Number 10, pg. 2, October 2017
- “The business of conflict,” Letter from MCBA President, Vol. 36, Number 9, pg. 2, September 2017
- “Connecting the Bench and the Bar,” Letter from MCBA President, Vol. 36, Number 8, pg. 2, August 2017
- “Lawyer Referral Service is our best-kept secret,” Letter from MCBA President, Vol. 36, Number 7, pg. 2, July 2017
- “The bystander effect,” Letter from MCBA President, Vol. 36, Number 6, pg. 2, June 2017
- “Nominate your mentor for the Maricopa County Bar Hall of Fame,” Letter from MCBA President, Vol. 36, Number 5, pg. 2, May 2017
- “Don’t worry — none of us feel like we know what we’re doing,” Letter from MCBA President, Vol. 36, Number 4, pg. 2, April 2017
- “Finding ways to make your voice heard,” Letter from MCBA President, Vol. 36, Number 3, pg. 2, March 2017
- “From my perspective,” Maricopa Lawyer, February 2017
- “What makes you relevant?” Letter from MCBA President, Vol. 36, Number 1, pg. 2, January 2017
- “New MCBA President Announcement,” Featured, Maricopa Lawyer, 2016
- “Meet 5 Women Who are Shaping AZ’s Economic Future,” The Arizona Republic, 2016
- “2016 Who’s Who in Business Class of Arizona Women Shows that You Can’t Leave Greatness to Chance,” The Arizona Republic, 2016
- “The Sex Appeal of Prenuptial Agreements,” Arizona Weddings, April 2014
- “Dispute Resolution Techniques for Family Law Matters,” Spanish Association of Family Law Attorneys, March 2014
- “Ethics in Family Law: Leading Lawyers on Guiding Clients Through Domestic Disputes in a Principled Manner,” Inside the Minds, 2014
- “Collaborative Divorce – The Peaceful Power of a Team,” Scottsdale Mustang Public Library ‘Ask a Lawyer Series,’ August and October 2013
- “Gay Marriage Rights in Arizona,” Gay Arizona, July 2013
- “Hide Your Husbands: How to Handle Living In the City with the Highest Chance of Infidelity,” Scottsdale Living Magazine, July 2013
- “Advanced Family Law Practice for Paralegals: Handling Financial Issues at a Higher Level,” Halfmoon Seminars, March 2013
- “Changes with Arizona Custody Law,” KTVK-TV, Feb. 5, 2013
- “In 2013, New Statute Declares ‘Custody’ Out, ‘Decision-making’ In,” Maricopa Lawyer, January 2013
- “Visitation: When the Kids Don’t Want to Go – One View,” Maricopa County Bar Newsletter, December 2010
- “Legal Decision-making and Parenting Time: Big Deal or Hyperbole?” Maricopa County Bar Association, January 2013
- “Sense and Sensibility – The Critical Interplay of Lawyers & Coaches in Collaboration,” International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, October 2012
- “ADR and Collaborative Law in the Family Law Context,” Phoenix College of Law, May 2012
- “The Culture of Divorce is Changing,” Maricopa County Bar Association, June 2011 and September 2012
- “Updates in Family Law,” State Bar of Arizona, Advanced Family Law, April 2010
- “Assisting with Child Custody Issues,” National Business Institute, Arizona Family Law Practice for Paralegals, February 2010
- “Alternative Dispute Resolution in All Areas of Law,” NALS of Phoenix, July 2009