This series’ first Tucson profile centers on a credential the other nine firms discuss only in the abstract: founder Louis Hollingsworth is a State Bar of Arizona Certified Specialist in Injury and Wrongful Death Litigation — not a marketing phrase, but a regulated designation Arizona confers on very few attorneys.
AN AWESOME ATTORNEYS EDITORIAL PROFILE Independently researched from public records, court filings, news coverage, peer-review directories, and firm-published materials.
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING / IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER. This profile is informational and may constitute attorney advertising. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney–client relationship. Case results, recovery figures, ratings, and awards described below are reported by the firm or by third-party rating organizations and are attributed accordingly; they describe past matters and do not guarantee, warrant, or predict the outcome of any future case. Every case is unique and involves risk, including the risk of loss. Prospective clients should consult directly with a licensed attorney about their specific circumstances.
At a Glance
| FIRM | Hollingsworth Kelly Law Firm |
| FOUNDED | 1992, Tucson; founder Louis Hollingsworth (per AZ Attorney Search Network) |
| LEADERSHIP | Louis Hollingsworth · Michael Kelly · Hon. John F. Kelly (Ret.), Of Counsel · David D. Buechel |
| OFFICES | 3501 North Campbell Avenue, Suite 104, Tucson, AZ 85719 |
| PRACTICE FOCUS | Personal injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful death, concentrated in Southern Arizona |
| SIGNATURE EDGE | Louis Hollingsworth and Michael Kelly are both Certified Specialists in Injury and Wrongful Death Litigation by the State Bar of Arizona — a regulated credential, not a marketing claim |
| CERTIFIED SPECIALISTS | Louis Hollingsworth and Michael Kelly, per the State Bar of Arizona Board of Legal Specialization |
| TRACK RECORD | Firm-reported combined trial experience of roughly 50 years; Hollingsworth described by the firm as among a small number of Arizona attorneys to obtain jury verdicts and settlements “exceeding millions of dollars” |
| RECOGNITION | Recognized as a Best Law Firm by U.S. News & World Report – Best Lawyers since 2012; Louis Hollingsworth AV Preeminent-rated by Martindale-Hubbell since 2001 |
| CONTACT | (520) 882-8080 · hollingsworthlaw.com |
Nine of the first ten firms in this series practice in or around Phoenix. Hollingsworth Kelly is different on that count alone — a Tucson personal injury lawyer practice serving Southern Arizona from a single Campbell Avenue office. But its more meaningful distinction is regulatory, not geographic: where this series has repeatedly noted that Arizona law bars firms from calling themselves “specialists” without a specific credential, Hollingsworth Kelly is one of the few firms in this project where that credential actually, verifiably exists.
Origin: A Pima County Prosecutor Who Went Into Plaintiff’s Practice
Louis Hollingsworth is a native Tucsonan who graduated from the University of Arizona College of Law in 1986, according to AZ Attorney Search Network’s attorney profile. He began his legal career as a prosecutor in the Pima County Attorney’s Office before founding the firm that would become Hollingsworth Kelly in 1992. Since then, per the firm, Hollingsworth has represented people catastrophically injured in motor vehicle accidents and by medical malpractice, becoming, in the firm’s words, “one of a few local attorneys who have attained multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements for their injured clients.”
Leadership: Two Certified Specialists and a Court-of-Appeals Clerk
Louis Hollingsworth holds the State Bar of Arizona’s Certified Specialist designation in Injury and Wrongful Death Litigation — a credential the Arizona Board of Legal Specialization confers only on attorneys who meet its experience, examination, and peer-review requirements, and the same regulated designation this series’ other profiles have repeatedly noted most firms cannot claim. He has held an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the rating service’s highest available mark for both skill and ethics, continuously since 2001, per the firm, and is separately recognized as a Best Lawyer by Best Lawyers in America.
Michael Kelly, the firm’s co-namesake, holds the same Certified Specialist designation in Injury and Wrongful Death Litigation from the State Bar of Arizona, per the firm’s own materials — meaning two of the firm’s named partners, not merely one, carry the credential. Kelly earned both his Bachelor of Science and his Juris Doctor from the University of Arizona, per a ZoomInfo attorney record. David D. Buechel joined the firm after serving as a judicial law clerk for Division Two of the Arizona Court of Appeals, per the firm, bringing an appellate perspective to the practice’s litigation strategy.
The firm’s bench extends beyond its two Certified Specialists in one further respect this series has not documented elsewhere: Hon. John F. Kelly, Ret., joined Hollingsworth Kelly “Of Counsel” after 22 years on the Pima County Superior Court bench, per his Avvo attorney profile, where he served on the Juvenile, Civil, Criminal, and Family Law benches and was the presiding Juvenile Court Judge for a period in the 1990s. A retired trial judge advising on litigation strategy from inside the firm is a distinct kind of institutional depth from the credential-based differentiator the firm leads with publicly.
The Differentiator: A Credential the Rest of the Industry Only Talks About
Every profile in this series has had to navigate the same regulatory line: Arizona’s ethics rules (ER 7.1(b) and Arizona Supreme Court Rule 44) forbid a lawyer or firm from calling itself a “specialist” unless a specific, State Bar–conferred certification exists, and this project’s own editorial rules bar inserting that word anywhere it isn’t individually earned and attributed. Hollingsworth Kelly is unusual within this project precisely because that exception is not hypothetical here: the firm’s two name partners both hold the Board of Legal Specialization’s Certified Specialist credential in Injury and Wrongful Death Litigation, per the State Bar of Arizona and the firm’s own site. That is the firm’s actual signature edge — not a tagline, but a regulatory fact that can be checked against the Board’s own records.
What Hollingsworth Kelly Handles
- Car accidents and Tucson car accident claims (per the firm)
- Truck accidents, including large commercial vehicles — the firm cites NHTSA data on large-truck fatalities in its own marketing materials
- Traumatic brain injury and catastrophic injury claims (per the firm)
- Medical malpractice (per the firm)
- Wrongful death and dog bite claims (per the firm)
Track Record
Hollingsworth Kelly’s public materials describe its aggregate results in general terms — attorneys bringing roughly 50 years of combined courtroom experience, with Louis Hollingsworth among a small number of Arizona attorneys to have obtained jury verdicts and settlements “exceeding millions of dollars” — but the firm’s own news archive also documents specific, citable results from Hollingsworth and Kelly’s joint casework:
| Result | Case Type | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| $1.5 million (jury verdict, affirmed on appeal) | Premises liability / slip and fall | A kindergarten teacher slipped on water leaking from a BCI Coca-Cola-owned refrigerator at a Fry’s Food and Drug store in Pima County; a jury found BCI Coca-Cola liable in August 2009, and the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division Two, affirmed the verdict on appeal (per the firm) |
| $3.5 million (jury verdict) | Wrongful death / child abuse | A Santa Cruz County jury found a child’s maternal grandfather (a physician), step-grandmother, and biological mother negligently contributed to the death of a fatally abused toddler; the father, represented by Hollingsworth and Kelly, was awarded the verdict (per the firm) |
Past-Results Disclaimer. Every case is different, and results depend on each matter’s specific facts and circumstances. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any other matter. Figures above are reported by the firm on its own published materials and have not been independently audited by Awesome Attorneys.
In Their Clients’ Words
A review posted to Avvo describes a client’s experience after a three-car accident in Tucson: “I went to Hollingsworth Kelly Law Firm and they really came through for us,” the reviewer, identified as Carol, wrote, adding that the firm helped reduce hospital liens and arranged a conservatorship for her son. A second Avvo reviewer described Louis Hollingsworth as an “outstanding attorney” who “took care of all the details” of her case, including resolving medical liens and communicating directly with the insurance company.
Recognition
- Named a Best Law Firm by U.S. News & World Report – Best Lawyers, continuously since 2012 (per Best Lawyers)
- Louis Hollingsworth: Certified Specialist in Injury and Wrongful Death Litigation, State Bar of Arizona Board of Legal Specialization
- Michael Kelly: Certified Specialist in Injury and Wrongful Death Litigation, State Bar of Arizona Board of Legal Specialization
- Louis Hollingsworth: AV Preeminent rating, Martindale-Hubbell, continuously since 2001
- Louis Hollingsworth: recognized by Best Lawyers in America
- Hon. John F. Kelly, Ret.: 22 years on the Pima County Superior Court bench, including service as presiding Juvenile Court Judge, prior to joining the firm Of Counsel
The Arizona Legal Backdrop
What follows is general legal information about Arizona law, not legal advice. Arizona’s statute of limitations for personal injury and wrongful death claims is generally two years from the date of injury (A.R.S. § 12-542). Arizona is a pure comparative negligence state (A.R.S. § 12-2505): a claimant’s own fault reduces, but does not automatically bar, their recovery. Medical malpractice claims carry additional procedural hurdles specific to that practice area, including a preliminary expert-opinion affidavit requirement and a same-specialty rule for testifying experts (A.R.S. §§ 12-2603, 12-2604) — rules directly relevant to a firm whose practice includes medical negligence litigation.
The “Certified Specialist” language featured throughout this profile is itself a regulated term: Arizona’s ER 7.1(b), together with Arizona Supreme Court Rule 44 (effective January 1, 2021), governs which attorneys may describe themselves that way, and reserves the designation to those who hold a current certification from the Board of Legal Specialization. That is the regulatory backdrop against which Hollingsworth Kelly’s own use of the term should be read.
This section is general legal information about Arizona statutes, not legal advice, and may not reflect changes after July 2026. Anyone with a potential injury or malpractice claim should consult a licensed Arizona attorney promptly.
The Awesome Attorneys Assessment
Where several firms in this series describe themselves in superlatives that this project’s own editorial rules require to be softened or attributed, Hollingsworth Kelly’s central claim needs no softening: two Board-certified specialists in injury and wrongful death litigation, practicing under one roof in Tucson — with a retired 22-year Superior Court judge advising Of Counsel — is a fact a reader can verify independently against the State Bar’s and Pima County court’s own records. The firm’s news archive also backs that credential with two specific, dated jury verdicts (one affirmed on appeal) rather than aggregate figures alone. The trade-off is scale — this is a small, single-office practice without the multi-city footprint of some larger firms in this series, and Awesome Attorneys could confirm only two itemized case results against a firm history spanning three decades. For a Southern Arizona reader whose priority is a credentialed specialist rather than a statewide brand, Hollingsworth Kelly is one of the few firms in this project where that specific credential, and a specific track record behind it, are both independently checkable.
Methodology & Sourcing
This profile was researched from Hollingsworth Kelly’s own website (hollingsworthlaw.com), attorney biography pages for Louis Hollingsworth, the firm’s LinkedIn company page, its Avvo profile and client reviews, and third-party listings including AZ Attorney Search Network and BestLocal.attorney. Facts are attributed to the firm or the cited third party throughout and were not independently re-verified against the State Bar of Arizona’s certification database, court records, or Martindale-Hubbell beyond the public listings cited. Readers should confirm current certification status directly with the State Bar of Arizona before relying on it.
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. “Awesome Attorneys” is a brand name only; it is not a rating, ranking, or claim that any profiled firm is superior in any legal category.
Awesome Attorneys maintains a separate attorney directory. Only listings there marked “Sponsored” or “Ad” reflect a paid or sponsored 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 & Sourcing 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 firm before relying on it. This notice supplements, and does not replace, the Attorney Advertising notice at the top of this profile.