Spencer G. Scharff

Scharff PC is a commercial litigation boutique representing public and private businesses, executives, and professionals in high-stakes disputes across Arizona and California. Led by Spencer G. Scharff, the firm focuses on complex commercial litigation, regulatory matters, and appellate advocacy involving significant financial, operational, and legal risk. The firm delivers strategic, results-oriented advocacy in state and federal courts, with an emphasis on early case positioning and dispositive motion practice. His experience clerking on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit informs his approach to appellate advocacy and complex litigation.

Spencer has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2020. In the 2026 Edition, he was recognized for Commercial Litigation, Appellate Practice, Health Care Law, and Civil Rights Law.

Before founding Scharff PC, Spencer practiced in the litigation department of a premier global law firm in Los Angeles, where his work included matters before the Supreme Court of the United States. He later practiced at a Phoenix-based boutique litigation firm representing Fortune 500 transportation and logistics companies and was a member of Goddard Law Office PLC, working alongside former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard.

Spencer received his bachelor’s degree in History and Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law on a full-tuition scholarship, graduating magna cum laude. During law school, he served as an Executive Note Editor of the Arizona Law Review and as the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Arizona Journal of Environmental Law & Policy, and received the Pima County Bar Association’s John Hawkins Professionalism Award and the ALI-ABA Scholarship and Leadership Award.

Clerkships

• Hon. Andrew D. Hurwitz, Ninth Circuit

• Hon. Mary M. Schroeder, Ninth Circuit

Admissions

• Arizona

• California

• New York

• District of Columbia

• U.S. District Court (Arizona; C.D. Cal.; N.D. Cal.; E.D. Cal.; S.D. Cal.; SDNY; EDNY; Colorado)

• U.S. Court of Appeals (Ninth Circuit; Second Circuit)

• Supreme Court of the United States

Education

• BA, University of Pennsylvania

• JD, University of Arizona, College of Law

  Professional and Civic Engagement

• Advisory Board Member, Western Center on Law & Poverty (2023–Present)

• Member, U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona CJA Appellate Panel (2016–2025)

• Vice Chair, City of Phoenix Environmental Quality Commission (2016–2018)

• Faculty Associate, Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law (2016)

• Professor of Practice (Part-Time), University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law (2014)

• Board Member, Palms Recreation Center Park Advisory Board (City of Los Angeles) (2025–Present)

"Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done."

— Justice Louis D. Brandeis