Nicole Seder-Cantelme

The State Bar of Arizona has appointed Nicole Seder-Cantelme to serve as president of its Young Lawyers Division and to join the Board of Governors, the Bar’s governing body.
Ms. Seder-Cantelme, 36, who began her one-year term in May, said, “I’m looking forward to it. I hope I can represent the young lawyers division well, and it’s definitely an honor to be able to sit on the board.”
Ms. Seder-Cantelme acquired her seat on the board as a perk of her presidency, a position she won after being treasurer of the division in 2004 and district representative in 2003.
The division’s Web site defines its members as “new lawyers who are either 36 years of age or younger or have been in practice for five years or less.”
Ms. Seder-Cantelme explained that while the division’s approximately 3,000 members practice law with a host of differing specializations, they all come together to give back to the community.
“We’re not all tort lawyers, criminal lawyers or corporate lawyers, but what we try to do is come together as a cohesive group for public service projects,” she said.
One of the more successful projects the division oversees is the Wills for Heroes Program.
Created by a South Carolina attorney in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and adopted by lawyers in states across the country, Wills for Heroes provides free legal advice to emergency personnel.
“The program has been received extremely well,” she added.
She also said the program started in Arizona last summer, and more than 1,000 wills and estate-planning documents have been completed since then for local firefighters, police, paramedics, probation officers and corrections officers.
Group wants members to get involved
Ms. Seder-Cantelme said the Young Lawyers Division is focused on continuing legal education and mentorship for its members, but that the future of the organization is all about promoting participation from members.
“Our desire is to increase active membership, so our programs may be more focused on diversifying,” she said.
“If somebody isn’t interested in preparing wills, then they’re not going to volunteer with the Young Lawyers Division if that’s the only program that we’re offering.”
Ms. Seder-Cantelme has been practicing civil litigation as an associate with the Gaona law firm since March 2005, and qualifies as a young lawyer because she got into the profession within the last five years.
An Arizona native, she graduated from Northern Arizona University with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1990 and had a brief career as a technical writer for Motorola before being laid off. She then went back to school.
In 2001, she graduated from ASU’s law school.
“It was something I always thought that I wanted to do,” she said. “I enjoy the diversity of being a lawyer and the ability to help people.”
Ms. Seder-Cantelme lives in north Phoenix and enjoys reading, hiking and watching movies with her husband and dog.