AWESOME ATTORNEYS
INDEPENDENT EDITORIAL · FIRM PROFILE · PHOENIX, ARIZONA

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A 47-Year Phoenix Estate Practice Still Run as a Small Firm

Mark R. Allen has practiced Arizona estate and probate law since the late 1970s and holds the State Bar of Arizona’s Board of Legal Specialization certification in estate and trust law — a credential he has maintained through Watland & Allen PLLC, a small Phoenix firm rather than a large institutional practice.

BY THE AWESOME ATTORNEYS EDITORIAL TEAM · PHOENIX, ARIZONA · AUGUST 2026

WATLAND & ALLEN PLLC — AT A GLANCE

Sources: Lawyer Legion (Maricopa County Board of Legal Specialization directory), State Bar of Arizona. Compiled August 2026.

ORIGIN

Nearly Five Decades, One City

Mark R. Allen has been licensed to practice law in Arizona for 47 years, with his estate and probate practice based on Palm Lane in downtown Phoenix. That tenure predates the current wave of large, multi-office Arizona firms competing for estate planning work — Allen’s practice, operating as Watland & Allen PLLC, has stayed a small firm through decades in which many of his contemporaries’ practices were absorbed into larger organizations.

Estate and trust law certification from the State Bar of Arizona’s Board of Legal Specialization requires documented, substantial involvement in the field across multiple categories — tax planning, drafting wills and trusts, probate administration, and, where applicable, contested estate litigation — verified by peer references and a written examination, and renewed every five years. It is not conferred for tenure alone.

PRACTICE AREAS

Estate Planning and Probate, End to End

Consistent with the certification standard, Allen’s listed practice areas are estate and probate law and estate planning: drafting wills and trusts, planning for the transfer of assets, and administering estates through the probate process when it is required. A small firm structure of this kind typically means direct attorney contact throughout a matter rather than being routed through associates — a structural trade-off worth naming plainly rather than treating as an unqualified advantage (see Assessment, below).

TRACK RECORD

Estate planning and probate administration is advisory and procedural rather than adversarial, so there is no settlement or verdict table applicable to this kind of practice, and none is claimed here. The verifiable record is the certification and 47-year tenure detailed above. Past results in any legal matter do not guarantee a similar outcome in a future matter.

CLIENT VOICE

Awesome Attorneys did not locate independently verifiable, attributed public client reviews for this practice at the time of research. This profile will not manufacture a composite quote to fill that gap; prospective clients should ask directly for references.

COMMUNITY

Awesome Attorneys did not identify independently verifiable, specific civic or bar-leadership activity for this attorney beyond general State Bar of Arizona membership at the time of research, and none is claimed here.

RECOGNITION

The applicable recognition here is the highest tier available in Arizona: individual Board of Legal Specialization certification in estate and trust law through the State Bar of Arizona, a credential earned by written examination and peer reference, not a marketing-program listing. Awesome Attorneys did not verify any additional third-party awards for this attorney and none are claimed beyond the state certification.

ARIZONA LEGAL BACKDROP

Arizona’s probate code, A.R.S. Title 14, governs the administration of estates in the state. A.R.S. § 14-3108 places an ultimate outer time limit on most probate and appointment proceedings, and A.R.S. § 14-3801 and § 14-3804 set the procedure and deadlines for a creditor to present a claim against a decedent’s estate — missing the deadline generally bars the claim. None of this is legal advice; specific deadlines should be confirmed with counsel.

AWESOME ATTORNEYS ASSESSMENT

The specific, verifiable differentiator here is unusual tenure — 47 years practicing in the same field, in the same city — paired with an actively maintained state specialty certification rather than a credential earned once and left to lapse. The honest trade-off of any small, long-running solo or two-name practice is capacity: a firm this size cannot offer the bench depth of a large institutional practice for a matter that unexpectedly grows complex (contested litigation, multi-state assets, or a large closely-held business succession, for instance). This is a good fit for a client who wants direct, continuous attorney contact on a relatively contained estate planning or probate matter, and less suited to a matter likely to require a large litigation team.

METHODOLOGY & SOURCING

This profile was compiled from the Lawyer Legion directory of State Bar of Arizona Board of Legal Specialization certified attorneys, cross-referenced against the State Bar of Arizona’s own certified-specialist records. Licensure tenure and certification status are as reported by these sources as of August 2026 and are subject to change; readers should confirm current status directly with the State Bar of Arizona.

PUBLISHER DISCLOSURE & INDEPENDENCE NOTICE

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed prior to publication by the attorney profiled. Only listings marked “Sponsored” or “Ad” reflect a paid relationship with Awesome Attorneys; this editorial profile is not such a listing. Facts, figures, and claims in this profile were independently researched from public sources as described in the Methodology section and are current only as of the research date; they are subject to change without notice, and readers should confirm any detail directly with the attorney before relying on it. This notice supplements, and does not replace, the Attorney Advertising Notice at the top of this profile.