Douglas R. Zanes
Doug Zanes is a no-nonsense attorney with a soft side. He entered into personal injury law to bring justice to those in need, while making a good living to provide for his family. “Bad accidents happen and there’s nothing anyone can do to change that,” he says. “I take pride in the fact that we are willing to start that fight for our clients so that they are completely compensated, and we are willing to take that fight to the end for them.”
Raised in Douglas, Arizona, Doug completed college at Arizona State University and graduated from law school (juris doctor) from St. Mary's University in Texas. Doug began practicing law in Phoenix in 1997, and has been inducted into the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, which is one of the most prestigious groups of trial lawyers in the United States. Membership is limited to attorneys who have won verdicts and settlements exceeding $1 million. Less than 1 percent of U.S. lawyers are members. In 2003, Doug started Zanes Law with his wife, Claudia, in Tucson, Arizona. Claudia, who is not a lawyer, brings marketing and business expertise that allows Doug to focus on representing the firm’s clients to the highest legal standards.
Since 2003, Zanes Law has represented thousands and recovered tens of millions of dollars. As injuries become more complex, Doug and his team constantly upgrade knowledge in issues such as truck and motor vehicle accidents, workers’ compensation, catastrophic injury accidents, traumatic brain injury and wrongful death.
“We’re not like most law firms,” Doug says. “The case doesn’t end when the money gets paid. When you suffer a great injury, everything changes. Your personality changes. Your ability to take care of yourself changes. If you’re young, as many of our clients are, your ability to develop and grow up, to be functional and do the things most of us take for granted changes. I’m no different than any of our clients in that I want to know that my family will always be taken care of. That’s what drives me – that as long as I get out of bed every day and do what needs to be done, my family is taken care of. I love the fact that I get to help many other people do the same thing for their family at one of the worst times in their lives.”
In addition to representing clients, Doug Zanes supervises staff attorneys, who possess a combined 60 years of personal injury experience. This allows him to ensure that all clients are represented according to Zanes Law’s core values: represent the client well, provide exceptional customer service, maintain a high standard in all aspects, and work as a team to ensure clients’ financial well-being.
A fluent Spanish speaker, Doug takes great pride in his firm’s ability to represent Spanish-speaking clients. He is also proud of Zanes Law’s community service program, a formal program that allows all staff members to devote time and money to causes relevant to their communities. Off hours, he enjoys travelling, reading James Patterson novels, cheering on the Dallas Cowboys, golf, cooking and barbecuing and, most of all, spending time with family.