Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard 2010 Annual Report

About the Attorney General’s Office
Attorney General serves as
Arizona’s chief legal officer.
The Attorney General oversees
the Office’s seven divisions:
Criminal, Civil, Civil Rights,
Public Advocacy, Child and
Family Protection, Solicitor
General and Finance.
Attorney General Terry
Goddard’s management team
is led by Chief of Staff Terry
Fenzl and Chief Deputy Tim
Nelson, who returned to the
Attorney General’s Office near
the start of the fiscal year
after having served as General
Counsel to former Governor
Janet Napolitano.
The Office handles a variety
of criminal cases that involve
organized crime, complex
financial frauds, drugs, human
smuggling, identity theft, public
corruption, money laundering,
illegal enterprises, computer
crimes and criminal appeals.
The Attorney General’s criminal
jurisdiction for the most part is
limited to complex crimes that
have statewide significance,
while the State’s 15 County
Attorneys have primary
jurisdiction to prosecute violent
crimes. However, the Attorney
General’s Office handles all
felony appeals, even if the
crime was prosecuted by one
of the County Attorneys.
On the civil side, the Office
provides comprehensive legal
services for its many clients
across state government.
For example, the Office is
committed by statute to
representing more than 150
state agencies, boards and
commissions.
The Office also enforces a
wide variety of civil statutes,
including Arizona’s Consumer
Fraud Act, Antitrust Act, Open
Attorney General Terry Goddard with Chief Deputy Tim Nelson (left) and Chief of Staff Terry Fenzl (right).
Meeting Law and Civil Rights
Laws. Additionally, the Office
acts in conjunction with its
Office also brings actions to
collect taxes and debts owed
to the State.
During this challenging
economic time, the Office
has maximized operational
agency clients to pursue
efficiently and costeffectiveness,
while bearing in
Finally, the Office defends the
violations of various laws and
State, its employees, and its
regulations, including those
mind our statutory, ethical and
agencies when they are sued
affecting child welfare, the
professional duty to represent
for damages.
environment, state elections
the State and protect its people
and professional licensing. The
as effectively as possible.
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard • 2010 Annual Report
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