Sommer Udall Law Firm, P.A.

Roots in Santa Fe civil practice

The firm dates to 1953, when Joseph A. Sommer joined Tom F. McKenna to open a general civil practice in Santa Fe. They worked under the name McKenna & Sommer at the start. The early work centered on Northern New Mexico and covered the everyday civil matters of a growing region. General civil practice in that era meant a bit of everything: property questions, contracts, probate, and the disputes that reached the county courthouse.

More than seventy years sit behind the current name, Sommer Udall Law Firm, P.A. The client base has widened from that northern base to reach across the state. A firm with that kind of runway has usually watched several generations of New Mexico law change around it, including its tax rules and its real estate procedure. In my opinion, a firm that keeps one city as its home for this long says something plain about how it runs: it stays put and works for the long haul.

Focus and practice areas

Six areas anchor the home page: estate planning, tax law, litigation, real estate, employment law, and business law. The broader practice list adds arbitration, banking, commercial law, construction, probate, and trusts. That mix leans toward business and property work, with the disputes that grow out of both.

The firm handles estate planning, probate, and trusts for individuals, and business formation and planning for companies. Tax work covers federal and state matters. Its clients include businesses, individuals, and banking institutions.

Estate planning and probate

Estate planning work usually starts with documents: a will, one or more trusts, powers of attorney, and beneficiary designations. Probate follows a death, when a court supervises the transfer of what the estate holds. New Mexico allows both informal and formal probate, and the path depends on whether anyone contests the will or the choice of personal representative. A firm that pairs planning with probate can carry a family through drafting and then administration.

Tax and business matters

Tax law here touches both planning and dispute. Planning shapes how a company forms and how an estate passes, with an eye on federal and state liability. A dispute can put a client in front of an administrative agency or a court. The firm names federal and state tax work together, which points to lawyers who read code and regulation as a regular part of the job.

Litigation and dispute resolution

Litigation at the firm covers civil disputes, construction defects, and personal injury defense. Insurance coverage questions sit close to that work, since a defense often turns on what a policy will and will not pay. The firm also names mediation and arbitration, which settle disputes outside a full trial. Arbitration runs on private rules and a chosen decision-maker, and it can close a matter faster than a court docket. A firm that offers trial work alongside these routes can match the method to the dispute in front of it.

Real estate, business, and banking

Real estate work covers purchase contracts and, when a deal sours, boundary and title fights; the firm lists both real estate and real estate litigation among its lawyers' areas. Business clients bring formation, corporate structure, and commercial questions. Banking institutions appear on the client list, which fits the commercial law and banking areas the firm names. Construction shows up on both the transactional and the dispute sides, through construction and construction defects litigation.

Employment and administrative matters

Employment law appears among the home-page focus areas, and more than one lawyer lists employment, labor, or government and administrative work. Employment disputes often begin with an agency step before a court hears them, whether a charge, an investigation, or a hearing. Administrative practice means arguing in front of a state or federal agency under its own procedure. The firm's description of appearances before administrative agencies lines up with that kind of work.

How the team is built

The roster runs to a dozen names, grouped as partners, attorneys, of counsel, and retired members. Their listed areas overlap in ways worth reading closely.

Partners and managing partner

Kurt A. Sommer is the managing partner. He holds an A.B. from Georgetown University (1981) and a J.D. from the University of New Mexico (1984). His work runs across business, commercial litigation, corporations, estate planning, probate, real estate, and taxation.

Eric M. Sommer, a partner, earned a B.A. from Stanford University (1979) and a J.D. from the University of New Mexico (1982). His practice covers appellate work, business law, civil litigation, construction litigation, insurance law, mediation and arbitration, personal injury defense, real estate litigation, and trial practice. Two Sommer attorneys hold partner rank, which keeps the name close to the people who carry it.

Jack N. Hardwick, a partner, works in appeals, criminal defense, employment and labor, and litigation. Mark Kriendler Nelson, a partner, holds a B.A. from Brown University and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law (1995), and his practice spans estate planning and probate, taxation, intellectual property, trusts, real estate, art law, and charitable organizations. B. Cullen Hallmark, a partner, studied in Texas and has more than forty years in practice. Bradley M. Odegard, a partner, handles business, tax, and estate planning.

Attorneys and of counsel

The firm also lists Brandon M. Church and Theo A. Aufrichtig among its attorneys. Kenneth Bateman, of counsel, studied at Southern Methodist University and works in estate planning and tax law.

Retired members

Three names carry a retired title. Lisa G. Adelman earned a J.D. from St. Mary's University School of Law (1992) and worked in business law, government and administrative law, and real estate. Robert P. Worcester brought forty-nine years of practice, and Janet McL. McKay completes the retired listing. In my opinion, keeping retired attorneys visible reads as respect for the record they built.

Where the attorneys appear

The firm's lawyers practice in federal and state courts and before administrative agencies of the state and federal government. That range matters for the litigation and tax sides, where a single matter can move between a courtroom and an agency hearing. The educational backgrounds on the roster run through Stanford, Georgetown, Brown, Columbia, the University of New Mexico, St. Mary's, and Southern Methodist.

As a reviewer, I read the practice-area list and the attorney roster together as the firm's clearest signal. A few areas repeat across several lawyers: estate planning, tax, business, real estate, and litigation come up again and again in the individual summaries. That overlap suggests real depth in those fields, since more than one lawyer carries each. The firm's own description names construction defects litigation and personal injury defense as part of its courtroom work.