Charles C Van Cott

Charles Van Cott has a broad family law practice, ranging from multi-million-dollar complex divorces to divorces involving only the division of debt and everything in between. Mr. Van Cott also routinely handles matters involving children, including paternity actions, dissolution proceedings involving children, post-dissolution proceedings involving modifications to existing custody (now legal decision-making), parenting time and support orders and both sides of actions seeking enforcement of such orders. He is well-versed in spousal maintenance issues, both as they arise in dissolution proceedings and in later actions to modify, extend or terminate spousal maintenance awards. He also has participated in the drafting and negotiation of numerous pre-marital and post-marital agreements.

In addition to his family law practice, Mr. Van Cott frequently appears before the Arizona Court of Appeals, representing litigants in family court, probate and civil matters. Mr. Van Cott has briefed and argued appeals. He also has successfully steered litigants through the Court of Appeals’ Settlement Conference Program, almost always enhancing the results his client obtained in the trial court before the appeal.

As a general matter, Mr. Van Cott believes in mediation as preferable to litigation in most instances. He strives to solve his clients’ issues in the most efficient manner possible, strives to be “solution-oriented” but also acts as an able advocate in court in cases not capable of settlement.

Mr. Van Cott received his Bachelor’s Degree in economics from Whittier College in 1981. He was only one of two students in his class to graduate with highest honors.

Mr. Van Cott obtained his legal education at Stanford Law School, graduating in 1984. While at Stanford, Mr. Van Cott was selected to join the Stanford Law Review, serving as the managing editor in 1983-1984. He graduated in the top ten percent of his class, resulting in his induction into the Order of the Coif.

After law school, Mr. Van Cott spent a year clerking for the Honorable Joseph T. Sneed on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. He wrote bench memoranda and opinions for the panels to which his Judge was assigned. Judge Sneed taught him a great deal about legal analysis and writing. The Judge edited the first opinion he asked Mr. Van Cott to write to such an extent that the end product had no resemblance to the initial draft. Judge Sneed published the final opinion Mr. Van Cott wrote for him with no changes at all.

Mr. Van Cott began his law practice at Brown & Bain (now Perkins Coie) in Phoenix. He started in 1985, became a partner in 1991, left the firm in 1996 to spend two years working as Vice President and General Counsel to Sirius Publishing, a local consumer publishing company, before returning to Brown & Bain as a partner in 1998. Throughout his practice, Mr. Van Cott focused on corporate, securities and transactional matters. Among other experiences, he represented a Fortune 100 company divesting divisions in Kansas City and overseas. He also represented a publicly traded computer peripherals manufacturer sold to another Fortune 100 company for $250 million in late 1999.

Mr. Van Cott joined another technology company, ultimately known as iPhysicianNet Inc., in early 2000, where he worked until mid-2003. iPhysicianNet developed a video conferencing network connecting almost 7,000 primary care physicians across the United States with many of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the United States. He served as Executive Vice President for Business Development and General Counsel. While at iPhysicianNet, Mr. Van Cott working with outside counsel represented the company in a $46 million venture capital transaction – the largest in Arizona history at the time. He also helped manage relationships with the major pharmaceutical companies in the company’s network, supervised outside counsel in connection with regulatory compliance for the benefit of the company’s pharmaceutical company and physician clients and explored partnerships to leverage the company’s network of physicians.

Mr. Van Cott left iPhysicianNet in 2003 to join his current partner, Laurence B. Stevens. They launched the firm of Stevens & Van Cott, PLLC in 2004.

Mr. Van Cott still maintains a corporate and business practice, focusing on entity formation, corporate governance and transactional matters. His considerable corporate experience gives him a unique perspective and skill-set for handling the many family court matters that present business issues. It gives him a competitive advantage not shared by others lacking a comparable background.

Mr. Van Cott has held an “AV Preeminent” 5.0/5.0 rating from Martindale Hubbell®, the nation's leading attorney peer review service, for over 15 years.