DM Cantor: The Phoenix Firm With More Board-Certified Criminal Law Specialists Than Any Other in Arizona

Inside DM Cantor (Cantor Law Group), the Phoenix criminal defense firm founded by a former city prosecutor who, per the firm’s own account, has never lost a case he tried while on the other side of the courtroom.

DM Cantor — At a Glance

Origin: From City Prosecutor to Defense Founder

David Michael Cantor earned his J.D. from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law and was admitted to the Arizona Bar in 1989. He began his career as a trial attorney at the Phoenix City Prosecutor’s Office, where the firm’s own materials credit him with 30 jury trial convictions and no losses. He then spent roughly three and a half years at a private criminal defense firm, trying approximately 80 more jury trials, before founding his own practice in Phoenix — now known as DM Cantor, part of the broader Cantor Law Group.

Practice Areas

Cantor’s personal practice focuses on criminal defense: DUI and DWI (including aggravated and extreme DUI), drug crimes, assault, homicide, sex crimes, theft, and white-collar offenses, at both the trial and appellate level. Under the Cantor Law Group umbrella, the firm also operates family law and estate planning/probate practice groups as separate departments — this profile covers the criminal defense practice specifically, with the firm’s other departments addressed in dedicated sections below.

DM Cantor’s Family Law Practice: Five Independently-Verified Bar-Certified Specialists

DM Cantor’s Family Law Practice (formerly known as, and still doing business as, Cantor Law Group) operates as a genuinely separate department from the criminal defense practice above, focused exclusively on divorce and family law. This platform independently verified the firm’s claim of “5 Board-Certified Family Law Specialists” directly against the State Bar of Arizona’s official Family Law Certified Specialists roster — all five names check out: Nicholas D. Boca (Managing Partner, certified since 2022), Lisa Lynn Monnette (Senior Associate, since 2024), Daniel Jacob Wilcox (Partner, Director of Client Relations, since 2024), Kyle Isham Stephenson (Senior Associate, since 2025), and Travis Owen (Senior Associate, since 2022). Five Bar-certified family law specialists at a single firm is a genuinely unusual concentration; per industry sources, Arizona has roughly 75 certified family law specialists statewide, meaning this one firm employs close to 7% of all certified specialists in the state.

The family law practice handles the full range of divorce and custody matters, including high-net-worth divorces, complex child custody disputes (relocation and parental alienation cases specifically named), and financial matters (child support, spousal maintenance, property division), per the firm’s own practice materials. The department cites over 200 combined jury trials and more than 150 years of combined legal experience across its attorneys.

DM Cantor’s Estate Planning & Probate Practice

Cantor Law Group also operates an Estate Planning and Probate practice group, led by Elizabeth Estes as Managing Partner. Per the firm’s own materials, Estes began her career at a small Phoenix estate planning firm, later became a partner at a five-state, Top-200 U.S. law firm, then ran her own estate planning and probate practice before joining Cantor Law Group; the firm credits her with more than 1,000 estate plans drafted over a 25-year legal career, spanning simple wills and pour-over trusts through complex, high-net-worth strategies involving LLC formation, asset protection structures, and estate tax exclusion planning.

One important correction to the firm’s own marketing: Cantor Law Group’s website repeatedly describes Estes as a “Specialist in Estate Planning and Trusts.” Awesome Attorneys checked this directly against the State Bar of Arizona’s public roster of Estate & Trust Law Certified Specialists and did not find Elizabeth Estes listed. Because this platform uses the word “specialist” only when a certification is independently confirmed on the Bar’s own roster, that claim is not repeated here as fact — readers should treat the “Specialist” language in the firm’s marketing as unverified. This does not affect the firm’s separately-verified Family Law or Criminal Law board certifications above, which do check out.

Track Record

Unlike a personal injury settlement table, criminal case outcomes generally aren’t independently published with client names attached, so the record here leans on the firm’s own case summaries rather than third-party citations. Per the firm’s own published account: more than 7,000 case results firmwide, including upwards of 150 complete jury trial acquittals. Named examples the firm discloses include the pretrial dismissal, with prejudice, of capital murder charges against a grandmother and daycare provider accused in an infant’s death, and the declined prosecution (“turn-down”) of second-degree murder charges against a high school freshman in a self-defense stabbing case.

Past-Results Disclaimer: These are the firm’s own case summaries. Every case is different, and no past result guarantees a similar outcome in any future matter.

Client Voice

The firm holds a 4.5-star aggregate across 46 Yelp reviews and a “Superb” client rating on Avvo, both driven primarily by review volume rather than individually attributable case narratives Awesome Attorneys could independently verify and quote.

Community

Cantor has a substantial media profile as a criminal-justice commentator, with appearances on Good Morning America, CNN, Anderson Cooper’s program, Inside Edition, and local Arizona news outlets including Univision, discussing high-profile cases and criminal law topics.

Recognition

Genuine, peer-reviewed credentials: Cantor’s Board-Certified Criminal Law Specialist designation from the Arizona Board of Legal Specialization (since 1999) — one of roughly 49 such specialists statewide as of 2026; AV-rating from Martindale-Hubbell; and selection to Southwest Super Lawyers for Criminal Defense/White Collar and DUI Law in the inaugural 2007 edition and annually since 2019, a peer-influenced, research-driven process.

The firm’s marketing also lists numerous additional “Voted #1” and “Top 10” honors from organizations such as Ranking Arizona (a local publication’s reader poll), the National Association of Distinguished Counsel, the National Academy of Criminal Defense Attorneys, and the American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys. These are common in legal marketing and are worth distinguishing from the Board Certification and Super Lawyers credentials above — they typically involve nomination, membership, or purchase rather than independent peer vetting. As noted above, the “Specialist in Estate Planning and Trusts” language used for Elizabeth Estes falls into this same category of unverified marketing claim, distinct from the firm’s genuine Criminal Law and Family Law board certifications.

The Arizona Legal Backdrop

What follows is general legal information, not legal advice.

Arizona’s DUI offense is defined at A.R.S. § 28-1381. Controlled-substance offenses are classified under A.R.S. § 13-3401 et seq. Felony sentencing ranges are set out in A.R.S. §§ 13-701 through 13-719. Since January 2023, Arizona has allowed certain arrest, charge, and conviction records to be sealed under A.R.S. § 13-911 — a genuine expungement remedy, distinct from the older “set aside” process under A.R.S. § 13-905, which dismisses a conviction but leaves the record visible. Defendants also retain speedy-trial protections under Rule 8, Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure. On the estate planning side, Arizona’s probate process runs through Title 14 of the Arizona Revised Statutes, and the state’s trust code is codified at A.R.S. § 14-10101 et seq.

The Awesome Attorneys Assessment

DM Cantor’s genuine strength is depth: a founder with a real Board Certification and a prosecutorial background, plus multiple additional certified specialists on staff — a concentration of that specific credential that few Arizona criminal defense firms can match, extending into the firm’s separately-verified Family Law certifications. The firm’s high-profile media presence and large review volume point to a firm built for visibility as much as for individual case handling.

The honest caveat: the firm’s self-marketing leans heavily on numerous “Voted #1”-style awards from organizations that aren’t independent peer-review bodies, which readers should weigh separately from the Board Certification and Super Lawyers credentials that carry more independent weight — and, as documented above, the firm’s “Specialist” claim for its Estate Planning practice lead does not check out against the State Bar’s own roster, unlike its Criminal Law and Family Law certifications. As a larger, multi-practice firm, clients should also confirm which specific attorney and department — criminal defense, family law, or estate planning — will be handling their matter.

Methodology & Sourcing

This profile was researched in August 2026 from dmcantor.com and cantorlawgroup.com, the State Bar of Arizona Board of Legal Specialization’s Criminal Law, Family Law, and Estate & Trust Law Certified Specialists directories, Super Lawyers, Yelp, Avvo, and the National Trial Lawyers organization’s member listing. DM Cantor 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.

Related: more Arizona criminal defense attorney profiles · more Arizona family law attorney profiles · more Arizona estate planning attorney profiles · more attorney profiles serving Phoenix.