AWESOME ATTORNEYS
INDEPENDENT EDITORIAL · FIRM PROFILES · PHOENIX, ARIZONA

AVISO DE PUBLICIDAD DE ABOGADOS. This profile was researched and written independently by Awesome Attorneys’ editorial team. It was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed prior to publication by the firm profiled. All case results, recoveries, and recognitions described below are attributed to their sources. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future matter. This article is for general information only and is not legal advice; reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship.

Twenty-One Years Defending Insurance Companies, Then Twenty-Seven Suing Them

Buddy Rake, Jr. spent 21 years representing insurers including Hartford, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, and St. Paul before turning his Phoenix practice primarily to plaintiffs — a “switched sides” career now in its 27th year, alongside decades as a Vietnam-era Navy veteran and a still-active high school basketball coach.

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

RAKE LAW GROUP, P.C. — AT A GLANCE

LED BY	Buddy Rake, Jr., J.D., Texas Tech University School of Law (1972)
ENFOQUE	Plaintiff-side personal injury, with a specific niche in aviation accident claims
EXPERIENCIA	Admitted to practice in 1973 — 52 years
VENTAJA DISTINTIVA	A documented “switched sides” career: 21 years of insurance-defense work for major carriers, followed by 27-plus years focused primarily on plaintiffs
RECONOCIMIENTOS	Selected to Southwest Super Lawyers continuously from 2007 through 2025; National Association of Distinguished Counsel Top 1%; 2016 Client Satisfaction Award, American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys
TRAYECTORIA	Vietnam War-era U.S. Navy veteran; former private pilot; Head Basketball Coach, Thunderbird High School, since 1994

Sources: Super Lawyers, Distinguished Counsel, Personal Injury Lawyer Search, Texas Bar self-reported profile, Avvo. Compiled July 2026.

ORIGEN

From Insurance Defense to Plaintiffs’ Practice

Buddy Rake, Jr. earned his B.A. from the University of Texas in 1970 and his J.D. from Texas Tech University School of Law in 1972, and was admitted to practice in 1973. According to his own published biography, Rake spent 21 years of his career representing insurance companies as defense counsel, including Hartford, Liberty Mutual, MICA, State Farm, and St. Paul — direct experience with how major carriers evaluate and defend against injury claims. For the past 27-plus years, per that same account, he has practiced primarily for plaintiffs in personal injury matters, a career arc similar in structure to several other Arizona attorneys who moved from defense to plaintiff’s work, though Rake’s is documented with unusually specific carrier names rather than a general reference to “insurance defense.”

Rake is a Vietnam War-era veteran of the United States Navy and a former private pilot — background that connects directly to his stated practice niche in aviation accident cases. He has served as Head Basketball Coach for the boys’ team at Thunderbird High School in Phoenix since 1994, a three-decade-plus commitment alongside his legal career.

PRÁCTICA

Personal Injury, With an Aviation Niche

Rake’s listed practice areas include personal injury generally and aviation accident claims specifically — a specialty tied directly to his background as a former private pilot, giving him working familiarity with aviation regulation and crash investigation that a general personal injury attorney would not necessarily have.

HISTORIAL

El tablero de resultados

Awesome Attorneys did not locate an itemized settlement or verdict table for Rake or Rake Law Group.

CATEGORÍA	WHAT’S PUBLICLY DOCUMENTED
Case results	Not itemized publicly; no published settlement or verdict table located
Super Lawyers tenure	2007–2025, continuous selection
Client satisfaction recognition	2016 Client Satisfaction Award, American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys

Sources: Super Lawyers, Personal Injury Lawyer Search. Past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future matter; every case is unique.

LA VOZ DEL CLIENTE

Lo que reportan los clientes

Awesome Attorneys located limited first-person client review content specific to Rake at the time of this profile’s research; his Avvo profile shows no published reviews. This is disclosed directly rather than papered over with review content from other sources.

COMUNIDAD

Más allá de la sala del tribunal

Rake’s three-decade-plus tenure as Head Basketball Coach at Thunderbird High School represents sustained, verifiable community involvement well outside his legal practice — a level of ongoing, dated commitment (since 1994) that is more specific and checkable than a general claim of “community involvement.”

RECONOCIMIENTOS

Posición entre colegas

Rake’s continuous Super Lawyers selection from 2007 through 2025 — nearly two decades without a gap — is a genuine, sustained, peer-nominated distinction. His inclusion in the National Association of Distinguished Counsel’s Top One Percent and a 2016 client-satisfaction award from the American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys are membership- or satisfaction-based recognitions rather than blind peer review. Awesome Attorneys did not find a Best Lawyers listing, an AV Preeminent Martindale rating, or a State Bar of Arizona specialist certification for Rake.

LA LEY

El contexto legal de Arizona, en lenguaje sencillo

Readers considering a personal injury claim in Arizona — including an aviation accident claim — should understand a few ground rules. What follows is general information, not legal advice.

El reloj de dos años. Arizona’s statute of limitations for personal injury claims is generally two years from the date of injury (A.R.S. § 12-542).

Demandar al gobierno es más rápido y más estricto. Claims against Arizona public entities require a formal notice of claim within 180 days (A.R.S. § 12-821.01) and a lawsuit within one year (A.R.S. § 12-821).

La culpa se comparte, no es todo o nada. Arizona follows pure comparative negligence (A.R.S. § 12-2505): an injured person’s recovery is reduced by their percentage of fault, but not eliminated even if they were mostly at fault. Note that aviation accident claims frequently also involve federal aviation law in addition to these state statutes.

Los menores tienen más tiempo. The limitations clock is generally paused for minors and people of unsound mind until the disability ends (A.R.S. § 12-502).

EVALUACIÓN

La perspectiva de Awesome Attorneys

Rake’s nearly two-decade unbroken Super Lawyers streak is a genuine, sustained mark of peer regard, and his documented 21-year insurance-defense career — naming specific major carriers — gives real substance to the “switched sides” narrative that several attorneys in this series invoke more generally. His aviation-accident niche is a credible, background-supported specialty rather than a marketing add-on.

The honest trade-off: Awesome Attorneys located essentially no first-person client review content for Rake specifically, leaving prospective clients without the kind of testimonial record several other attorneys in this series can offer, and no case-results page exists to review either. His recognition profile also leans on membership-style and satisfaction-based awards more than the blind peer-review directories (Best Lawyers, AV Preeminent) some competitors carry.

METHODOLOGY & INDEPENDENCE

This profile was researched and written independently by Awesome Attorneys’ editorial team in July 2026. Primary sources: Super Lawyers, Distinguished Counsel, and Personal Injury Lawyer Search attorney profiles, including Rake’s own self-reported biography. Secondary sources: the Texas Bar’s self-reported attorney directory and Avvo. Buddy Rake, Jr. and Rake Law Group, P.C. did not commission, pay for, or pre-approve this article. All claims are attributed to their sources; past results do not guarantee or predict future outcomes. This article is general information, not legal advice.

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 attorney is superior in any legal category.

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Facts, figures, and claims in this profile were independently researched from public sources as described in the Methodology & Independence 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.

Rake Law Group: Twenty-One Years Defending Insurance Companies, Then Twenty-Seven Suing Them