OUR TEAM
Founder & Attorney
Stephen K. Christiansen
Steve is recognized as one of the top litigation and appellate attorneys in Utah and the Mountain States, and is the founder of SKC Law. With a long career trying jury and bench trials and litigating appeals in the state and federal courts, no subject matter is off limits.
Steve represents companies and individuals as plaintiffs and defendants in all areas of business and real estate law. Steve has a demonstrated history of success with over 50 reported cases, covering a broad spectrum of practice areas.
After graduating with his J.D. summa cum laude from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University in 1993, Steve served as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Dee Benson and U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Stephen H. Anderson.
Steve is consistently rated highly by institutions such as Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers, in addition to his rating of Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell.
He and his wife Christy have five children and a growing number of grandchildren. In his spare time he . . . well, he has no spare time.
(801) 716-7016
Attorney
James R. Farmer
Jim graduated from the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah in 1999. Prior to entering law school, Jim received a Ph.D. in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University, focusing on modeling and simulating complex fluid flows. Jim worked as a research scientist and post-doctoral fellow at Princeton University, Brigham Young University and NASA Ames Research Center.
Jim’s practice at Christiansen Law focuses on complex commercial litigation and intellectual property matters, including acquisition and enforcement of patents, trademarks and copyrights.
Jim enjoys reading textbooks on special and general relativity, playing the mandolin, the violin, and working on a seemingly never-ending restoration of a Nautor Swan 57 sailboat.
.
Practice Areas
-
Civil Litigation
-
Intellectual Property
Education
-
J.D. – University of Utah, 1999
-
Ph.D./M.S. – Princeton University, 1993/1991
-
M.S./B.S. – University of Vermont, 1986/1984
(801) 709-2493
Attorney
Anthony W. Stirling
A native of Utah, Tony’s practice focuses on civil and commercial litigation, immigration and privacy law.
Since receiving his J.D. from the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2004, Tony has spent nearly 20 years litigating complex issues in business and corporate law. He previously worked as in-house general counsel before joining SKC Law, where he is the lead attorney on a wide variety of commercial litigation cases.
In 2019, Tony received his Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP-US) certification, which allows him to mitigate risk for data protection and privacy issues.
Tony enjoys walks and hikes, table-top games with friends and family, listening to music and watching classic movies.
Bar Admissions
-
United States District Court for the District of Utah
-
United States District Court, District of Nevada
-
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
-
Utah
-
Nevada
(801) 716-7015
Attorney
Kathleen M. Liuzzi
Kathe is an experienced litigator with much of her experience being in government defense, employment, and insurance defense.
Kathe’s practice areas are focused on personal injury, employment, contract disputes, and general commercial litigation.
She received her J.D. from the University of Utah in 1997. Kathe is an artist and photographer. She also enjoys outdoor sports such as hiking, cycling, and rowing.
Practice Areas
-
Employment
-
Insurance
-
Personal Injury
Bar Admissions
-
United States District Court for the District of Utah
-
Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals
-
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
-
United States Supreme Court
(801) 716-7014
Attorney
Ryan R. Bolander
Ryan practices law focusing on negotiating, litigating, mediating and arbitrating cases involving contract disputes, business law, debtor/creditor matters, personal injury, landlord tenant, and property rights.
Prior to joining Christiansen Law, Ryan worked as Field Counsel for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, as a litigation attorney for Craig Swapp and Associates, and as a litigation attorney for Jefferson Capital/Liberty Acquisitions Servicing.
Practice Areas
-
Business Law
-
Personal injury
-
Civil Litigation
-
Criminal Litigation
-
Estate Planning
-
Property Rights
Education
-
B.A. – University of Utah, 2000
-
J.D. – Thomas Jefferson School of Law, 2003
(801) 716-7011
Attorney
M. Kelton Gardner
Kelton graduated from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU in April of 2021. While completing his undergraduate degree in philosophy, Kelton worked in the door-to-door sales industry. He achieved record success as an individual contributor and managed a top performing sales team.
After his first year of law school, Kelton worked as a legal intern for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the Salt Lake City Regional Office. That summer, he was also selected as one of twelve BYU law students to participate in the BYU Law Deals Academy. The students received formal training at the offices of Kirkland & Ellis in New York City on negotiating leveraged buyouts and stock purchase agreements.
While completing his last two years of law school, Kelton worked as an investment associate at the University Growth Fund where he made investment decisions, performed market research on early-stage high growth companies, and assisted the legal team with term sheet review.
When not reading his contract law outline, Kelton enjoys reading fiction and philosophy, playing pickle ball, and riding dirt bikes.
(801) 709-2491
Law Clerk
Francisco Rodrigues
Francisco is a native of Brazil, where he has been a licensed Attorney since 2015. Francisco is experienced in civil and commercial litigation, labor law, and personal injury.
After he graduated from the Pontifical Catholic University of Parana Law School in Curitiba, Brazil, Francisco worked as an associate attorney until he founded his own law firm. In June 2019, Francisco became a judge in the Small Claims Special Court, which he exercised until June 2021.
Francisco received his Master’s in Law Degree from Brigham Young University in April 2022.
Before joining SKC Law, Francisco worked in the international section for Kirton McConkie.
Currently, he is pursuing the Bar admission.
Education
-
LL.B – Pontifical Catholic Univ. of Parana, 2014
-
LL.M – Brigham Young University, 2022
Languages
-
English, Portuguese, Spanish
(801) 709-2492
Chief Office Administrator/Paralegal
Jennifer Hardrath
Jennifer is an experienced paralegal who has been Steve's right hand since the beginning of his legal career.
Jennifer began working as a legal secretary in 1988 when she was hired at Anderson & Dunn. Three years later she joined VanCott Bagley as a legal secretary. Jennifer has worked with Steve since he graduated law school in 1993 and followed Steve to help open Christiansen Law in 2014.
Over the span of 28 years, Jennifer has assisted Christiansen Law with appellate cases, electronically filing pleadings in State, Federal, and appellate courts across the United States, legal writing, civil litigation, corporate cases, and trial preparation.
In addition to her paralegal responsibilities, Jennifer is the office administrator for Christiansen Law.
Education
-
LDS Business College, 1988-1990
(801) 716-7018
Paralegal
Talicia Butterfield
Talicia began her legal career with plans to become a court reporter and graduated from Intermountain College of Court Reporting. However, technology significantly changed the court reporter role so Talicia chose a different direction and became a legal assistant, leading to many great opportunities. During the past 26 years, she has been a legal assistant, executive assistant, conflicts manager, records clerk, office manager and paralegal.
Talicia has worked for both small and large firms and has a wide variety of experience in many areas of law, including corporate, estate planning, litigation, elder law, real estate, banking and finance.
Talicia enjoys traveling, camping, spending time with friends, family and her dog, Sasha.
Education
-
Intermountain College of Court Reporting, 1993 – 1997
(801) 716-7016
Receptionist/Legal Assistant
Miriam Steiner
Miriam joined Christiansen Law, and began her legal career, in 2021.
Miriam assists attorneys in their trial preparation, organization, and files documents with the courts. In addition, she prepares letters, collects records, and schedules client appointments
Education
-
Ensign College, 2021 - 2023
(801) 716-7016