THE JONES FIRM: A NEW MEXICO FIRM, SERVING NEW MEXICANS
Founded in 1948 by trial lawyer O. Russell Jones, who first came to New Mexico as part of the security team at The Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, The Jones Firm (Jones, Snead, Wertheim & Clifford, P. A.) has handled some of the most notable and complex cases in New Mexico’s history. Over the last sixty years, The Jones Firm has appeared before an array of state and federal courts, and state and local administrative bodies. The Jones Firm is rooted in Santa Fe, and has strong ties to the state capital. The Jones Firm has also handled cases from Las Cruces to Tierra Amarilla, from Farmington to Hobbs, and from Gallup to Clovis.
The attorneys at The Jones Firm are New Mexicans who represent New Mexicans.
The Jones Firm combines exceptional insight and superb training with resourcefulness to provide its clients with top-notch legal counseling and representation. For The Jones Firm, serving its clients means practicing law with the highest standards of professionalism, compassion, and courtesy. The Jones Firm will consider all of its options in its representation of its clients, and it will look to find a simple, less-expensive solution over a more complex one, if that is best for the client. The attorneys at The Jones Firm practice law to serve their clients.
SERVING THE COMMUNITY
The Jones Firm believes that lawyers must serve their community by representing those who would not otherwise have a voice. By way of example, The Jones Firm has represented religious leaders trying to assure the rights of the faithful to serve on death penalty juries and a death row inmate in his last plea before a court. The Jones Firm led the New Mexico State Bar Task Force that discovered gross unfairness in New Mexico’s system of capital punishment, a study instrumental in repeal. The Jones Firm has represented foster children subject to neglect at the hands of CYFD.
The attorneys at The Jones Firm have filed numerous friend-of-the-court briefs for clients on issues ranging from electronic privacy to the rights of children in the courts. The Jones Firm has represented the Hispanic Roundtable of New Mexico, the Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund, Santa Fe Partnership for Social Justice, New Mexico Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, and the National Education Association-New Mexico in defense of the Santa Fe Living Wage Ordinance, one of the first municipal living wage ordinances in the country. The Jones Firm acted as co-counsel to the City of Santa Fe in defense of the Living Wage Ordinance in both the trial and appellate courts.
The Jones Firm has litigated cases of substantial constitutional importance, including, for example, representing the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in coordination with the City of Albuquerque in defending the City’s fair share resolution against a First Amendment challenge, and representing the NEA-New Mexico in its challenge to teacher evaluation regulations.
RECOGNITION
The Jones Firm is rated AV Preeminent® by Martindale-Hubbell, the law’s leading lawyer rating agency, meaning its peers consider the attorneys at The Jones Firm among the very best in the state.
The Jones Firm has been selected as among the Best Law Firms by U.S. News & World Report.
The Jones Firm’s lawyers have been or are Southwest SuperLawyers and Rising Stars, and are rated by Best Lawyers in America.
NOTABLE CASES
The Jones Firm’s team members have significant experience in the litigation of complex matters before the state trial and appellate courts. This list is not exhaustive:
Central Consolidated School District No. 22 v. Central Consolidated Education Association, 2018-NMCA-021.
The Jones Firm successfully defended statutory right of local school board to hear grievances under collective bargaining agreement entered pursuant to the Public Employees Bargaining Act.
Montaño v. Frezza, 2017-NMSC-015.
The Jones Firm represented plaintiff in case establishing the contours of interstate comity in medical negligence cases.
El Castillo Retirement Residences v. Martinez, 2017-NMSC-026.
The Jones Firm represented non-profit in case challenging property tax exemption on constitutional grounds.
National Education Association-New Mexico v. Santa Fe Public Schools, 2016-NMCA-009.
The Jones Firm successfully prosecuted mandamus action to defend right of public school teacher to due process hearing upon proposed termination.
Weiss v. Board of Education of the Santa Fe Public Schools, 2014-NMCA-100.
Establishing rights of educators to tenure protection upon entering their third contract.
National Education Association-New Mexico v. Santa Fe Public Schools, 2016-NMCA-009.
Challenge to current teacher evaluation regulations on statutory grounds.
TW Telecom of New Mexico, l.l.c. v. N.M. Public Regulation Commission, 2011-NMSC-029.
The Jones Firm successfully represented tw telecom of new mexico, llc. The Supreme Court set forth fundamental principles of procedural due process for administrative adjudications.
Hess Corp. v. New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department, 2011-NMCA-043.
The Jones Firm represented the New Mexico Department of Taxation and Revenue in a severance tax case involving Shell and Hess, with the result that one company settled at trial and the other settled after The Jones Firm’s successful trial and appeal.
AFSCME v. New Mexico, D-202-CV-2009-7148.
Challenging statute that diminished PERA fund and ERB funds on takings grounds.
Moongate Water Co., Inc. Doña Ana Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Ass’n, 2008-NMCA-143.
The Jones Firm successfully represented Doña Ana Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Association before the New Mexico Court of Appeals where another water utility alleged violation of the New Mexico Antitrust Act.
New Mexicans for Free Enterprise v. the City of Santa Fe, 2006-NMCA-007.
City of Santa Fe, defending the Living Wage Ordinance against a constitutional challenge.
State v. Werner, 1990-NMCA-019
Dealing with the rights of mentally ill defendants under statute that permits civil proceedings for persons found guilty but mentally ill.
State v. Ybarra, 1990-NMSC-109.
Standards for custodial interrogation when police officer present during questioning for purposes of medical treatment.
State v. Cordova, 1989-NMSC-083.
Early New Mexico case deviating from federal 4th Amendment standards on state constitutional grounds.
The Jones Firm’s team members have represented clients in the following cases before the federal courts. This list is not exhaustive:
Special Assistant Attorneys General by appointment of the New Mexico Attorney General, in two securities cases representing the New Mexico Public Employee Relations Board, Educational Retirement Board, and the State Investment Council and obtaining gross settlements of $36.7 million for these clients, In Re WorldCom, Inc. Securities Litigation, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Master File No. 02 Civ. 3288 (DLC) and New Mexico Educational Retirement Board et al v. AOL-Time Warner Inc. et al, United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, No. Civ.-06-122 (LH LAM).
Wessel v. City of Albuquerque, 299 F.3d 1186 (10th Cir. 2002) and Harrington v. City of Albuquerque, 329 F. Supp.2d 1237 (D.N.M. 2004)
Represented AFSCME in coordination with the City of Albuquerque in defending the City’s fair share resolution against a 1st Amendment challenge.
The Coronado Building, 141 East Palace Ave, Suite 220.
Our parking and the entrance to the building is on Otero Street, between Marcy and Palace.
Otero Street is one way between Marcy Street and Palace Avenue, so approach from Marcy Street.
