Julie Pace: The Phoenix Attorney Who Took an Immigration Compliance Law to the U.S. Supreme Court

Julie Pace built a Phoenix practice around employer immigration compliance, coordinating the business-coalition litigation that challenged Arizona’s employer-sanctions immigration law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A NOTE TO READERS. This profile was researched and written independently by Awesome Attorneys’ editorial team. PSGM Law 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

Sources: psgmlaw.com, Super Lawyers’ hosted directory, Messner Reeves LLP attorney biography, Justia. Compiled August 2026.

Origin

Julie Pace Phoenix: Three Decades in Employer-Side Immigration Compliance

Julie Pace earned her B.S. magna cum laude from Arizona State University in 1983 and her J.D. from ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law in 1992, the same year she was admitted to the Arizona Bar. Over more than three decades, she built a practice specifically focused on the employer side of immigration compliance — a genuinely distinct specialty from either employee-side immigration relief work or general employment litigation. In 2023, she co-founded PSGM Law with David Selden, Heidi Nunn-Gilman, and Danny Marks, drawing on more than 100 years of combined legal experience among the founding partners.

Practice

Employer Immigration Compliance, Including a Case That Reached the Supreme Court

Pace’s practice centers on employer immigration compliance — I-9 and E-Verify audits (she has personally handled more than 1,000), ICE investigations and enforcement defense, and visa and work-eligibility guidance — alongside broader employment, OSHA, and government-investigation work. In a specific, named, independently verifiable matter, Pace represented the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and ten Arizona business associations in a constitutional challenge to Arizona’s employer-sanctions immigration law, the Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA); she coordinated the employer-group coalition and led litigation that was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Arizona Business Magazine has described Pace as the “go-to” lawyer for employer immigration compliance in the state — a characterization from that publication, which Awesome Attorneys did not independently verify but discloses here as the outlet’s own description rather than an Awesome Attorneys assessment.

Track Record

The LAWA constitutional challenge is the specific, named, U.S. Supreme Court-level matter Awesome Attorneys identified for Pace’s practice. Beyond that, Awesome Attorneys did not identify a comprehensive, itemized case-results table, which is typical for compliance and regulatory-defense work given its largely confidential, administrative nature.

Past-Results Disclaimer: Every matter is different, and no past result guarantees a similar outcome in any future matter.

Client Voice

Awesome Attorneys did not identify a substantial volume of independently sourced, individually attributable client reviews for Pace, consistent with a practice serving institutional employer clients rather than individual consumers.

Community

Pace has been recognized with the 2023 Outstanding Service Award from ASA of Arizona and was one of ten attorneys to receive the Centers of Influence Award from an Arizona professional organization. She also serves as a Councilmember for the Town of Paradise Valley, a civic role distinct from her legal practice.

Recognition

Pace was selected to Super Lawyers in 2007, a peer-influenced, research-driven process. Her Centers of Influence Award and Outstanding Service Award are industry-association recognitions distinct from independent peer-review rankings like Best Lawyers or Chambers USA, which Awesome Attorneys did not identify for Pace in the sources reviewed.

The Arizona Legal Backdrop

What follows is general legal information, not legal advice.

Employer immigration compliance sits at the intersection of federal and state law: federal I-9 and E-Verify requirements arise under the Immigration Reform and Control Act, while Arizona layers its own state-level mandate through the Legal Arizona Workers Act, A.R.S. § 23-211 et seq., which requires Arizona employers to use E-Verify and can revoke business licenses for employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers — the same law Pace’s Supreme Court litigation challenged unsuccessfully on constitutional grounds.

The Awesome Attorneys Assessment

Julie Pace Phoenix’s clearest differentiator is a documented, specific, U.S. Supreme Court-level case in her exact practice specialty — representing business coalitions against Arizona’s own employer-sanctions immigration law — combined with three decades of hands-on I-9/E-Verify compliance work at genuine scale (1,000-plus audits).

The honest trade-off: Pace’s practice serves employers on the compliance and defense side, not individuals seeking immigration relief or visas for themselves; workers or families looking for personal immigration representation should look to the individual-focused immigration attorneys elsewhere in this category.

Methodology & Sourcing

This profile was researched in August 2026 from psgmlaw.com, Super Lawyers’ hosted directory, a Messner Reeves LLP attorney biography documenting her prior firm affiliation, and Justia. Awesome Attorneys did not identify a competing “Julie Pace” practicing immigration compliance law elsewhere that could create identity confusion. PSGM Law 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 immigration attorney profiles · more attorney profiles serving Phoenix.