Send a quick message
A NOTE TO READERS. This profile was researched and written independently by Awesome Attorneys’ editorial team. Denton Peterson Dunn, PLLC did not pay for, request, or review this article prior to publication, and placement on Awesome Attorneys’ editorial pages cannot be purchased. Nothing in this article is legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Past results do not guarantee, warrant, or predict the outcome of any future case.
At a Glance
| Firm | Denton Peterson Dunn, PLLC |
| Founding partner | Brad Denton |
| Office | 1930 N. Arboleda, Suite 200, Mesa, AZ 85213 |
| Founded | 1998, as a solo East Valley practice — the firm has since operated under several names, including Gunderson, Denton & Peterson and Denton Peterson, before its current Denton Peterson Dunn form |
| Focus | Business and commercial litigation, contracts, corporate formation, franchise law, employment, and real estate matters |
| Recognition | Martindale-Hubbell AV rating (Brad Denton) |
Sources: arizonabusinesslawyeraz.com (firm site), redrocksecuritieslaw.com (Denton bio), Martindale, Yelp, PRWeb. Compiled August 2026.
Origin
From a Phone and a Fax Machine to a Multi-Attorney Business Practice
Brad Denton graduated magna cum laude from Brigham Young University in 1990 and earned his law degree with academic honors from the University of Chicago in 1995. He began his career at two large downtown-Phoenix firms — Jennings, Strouss & Salmon and Bryan Cave — before starting his own East Valley law office in 1998 with, per his own account, “nothing but a phone and a fax machine.” An honesty note on dates: some of the firm’s own marketing pages state the firm has served clients “since 1987” or “since 1995,” which don’t match Denton’s own detailed personal history; this profile relies on his more specific individual biography and treats 1998 as the more reliable founding date for his own practice, while acknowledging the firm traces through several names (Gunderson, Denton & Peterson; Denton Peterson) before reaching its current Denton Peterson Dunn form. Sterling Peterson is another named partner; Brad Denton was admitted to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2017 after more than 20 years of practice at that point.
Practice
A Generalist Small-Business Practice With a Litigation Core
The firm’s stated practice spans business and corporate law, commercial litigation (including partnership, employment, and payment disputes), contract drafting, franchise law, collections, employment law, and real estate matters, plus some estate planning, probate, and immigration work. This breadth — the firm markets itself explicitly as a small-firm alternative to “big-firm lawyering” — means litigation is a significant but not exclusive part of the practice, distinguishing it from firms that handle only commercial litigation.
Track Record
The firm cites a $2 million settlement in a federal overtime collective-action lawsuit and a $440,000 result for a franchisee client, both attributed to specific named matters on Brad Denton’s own professional materials, though neither result includes a case citation or court record independently located during this research.
Past-Results Disclaimer: Every case is different, and no past result guarantees a similar outcome in any future matter.
Client Voice
Client testimonials on the firm’s own site describe Brad Denton as “extremely knowledgeable,” “concise, well prepared, and most importantly kind,” and note a five-year-plus client relationship spanning “acquisitions… legal defense and everything in between.” A separate testimonial for partner Sterling Peterson describes a fast settlement after the client found himself “on the wrong end of a lawsuit.” These are firm-published testimonials rather than independently sourced third-party reviews; no negative reviews were located in the sources checked for this profile.
Community
No specific civic, pro bono, or community-service activity beyond the firm’s client-facing legal practice was independently documented in the sources reviewed for this profile.
Recognition
Brad Denton has held Martindale-Hubbell’s “AV” peer-review rating, described by his own bio as earned by roughly 10% of lawyers — a genuine peer-review credential, though the specific percentile figure comes from the firm’s own materials rather than an independent Martindale source consulted directly. No attorney at the firm is listed as an Arizona Board of Legal Specialization certified specialist in any practice area, so this profile does not use the word “specialist” to describe any firm attorney.
The Arizona Legal Backdrop
What follows is general legal information, not legal advice.
Most business and commercial contract disputes in Arizona are subject to a general six-year statute of limitations for written contracts under A.R.S. § 12-548, or three years for unwritten contracts under A.R.S. § 12-543 — distinct from the two-year personal injury limitations period elsewhere in this series. Arizona also permits recovery of attorney fees in contested contract actions under A.R.S. § 12-341.01, a fee-shifting provision that materially affects litigation strategy in commercial disputes.
The Awesome Attorneys Assessment
Denton Peterson Dunn’s genuine differentiator is a deliberately broad small-business generalist model — contracts, litigation, employment, real estate, and franchise work under one roof — positioned explicitly as a lower-cost alternative to large-firm business representation, backed by client testimonials describing long-term, multi-matter relationships. The honest caveat: the firm’s own marketing contains inconsistent founding dates across different pages (1987, 1995, and Brad Denton’s own more detailed 1998 account), a small but real quality-control gap in the firm’s public materials that this profile resolves in favor of the more specific individual biography rather than the generic marketing copy.
Methodology & Sourcing
This profile was researched in August 2026 from arizonabusinesslawyeraz.com (firm site), Brad Denton’s individual biography on redrocksecuritieslaw.com, Martindale-Hubbell, Yelp, and a 2017 PRWeb firm announcement. Denton Peterson Dunn, PLLC did not commission, review, or pay for this profile.
Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice
This profile is an independent editorial article published by Awesome Attorneys. Awesome Attorneys does not endorse, recommend, or warrant any lawyer or law firm profiled on this site, and inclusion in this series is not paid placement.