Joseph M. Hepworth
Email address: jhepworth [at] fslaw.com
Assistant's email address: fknudsen [at] fslaw.com
Practice areas: Utah Business Law; Transactions and Disputes; Government Contract Law; Securities; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mediation.
Education: BA, Brigham Young University, 1981
JD, J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University, 1984.
Bar memberships: Utah, Missouri, Arizona
Community service/memberships: Valley Forward Association (Phoenix, AZ), Board of Directors, Vice Chair, 2001-2003; Arizona Chamber of Commerce, Vice Chair Legal Affairs Committee, 2002-2004; American Bar Association, Public Contracts and Litigation Sections; Co-Chair, ABA Public Contract Sections Subcontracts Committee.
Honors: Order of the Coif; Utah Business Magazine 2010 Legal Elite
Language: Korean
Publication: Joint Self Mediation: How the Apache Program Avoids Litigation, Arizona ADR Forum, January 2004, p. 6; Guide to Fixed Price Supply Contract Terms and Conditions, ABA Section of Public Contract Law, 1998 (co-author); Subcontracting with the Government: Using a Defense Depot as a Supplier, ABA Section of Public Contract Law, Fall Meeting, November 1997.
Joseph M. Hepworth graduated magna cum laude in East Asian History from Brigham Young University in 1981 and magna cum laude from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University in 1984, where he served as the Lead Note and Comment Editor on the Law Review. After law school, Mr. Hepworth clerked for the Honorable Bruce S. Jenkins, then Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah. He then entered a complex litigation and bankruptcy practice in the Salt Lake City office of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Leiby and MacRae, and later, after joining the regional firm of Bryan Cave in St. Louis, added an emphasis in government contract litigation. In 1991, McDonnell Douglas Corporation invited him to join their in-house legal team, where he advised the Procurement Division and assisted with mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Hepworth moved to Arizona to advise the Apache Helicopter program for McDonnell Douglas and, later, Boeing after the two merged. In 2004, Alliant Techsystems hired Mr. Hepworth as a Group Vice President of Contracts and Legal Affairs. He joined Fillmore Spencer in 2008. Mr. Hepworth is a former Co-Chair of the Committee on Federal Subcontracting of the American Bar Association Public Contracts Section, a former Vice Chair of the Arizona Valley Forward Board of Directors, and former Vice Chair of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce Legal Affairs Committee. He has developed an expertise in negotiation, participating in several workshops at the Harvard Negotiation Project, and has taught the principles of interest based negotiation to hundreds of contract professionals, program managers and executives. His publications include Joint Self Mediation: How the Apache Program Avoids Litigation, Arizona ADR Forum, January 2004, p. 6, and Subcontracting with the Government: Using a Defense Depot as a Supplier, ABA Section of Public Contract Law, Fall Meeting, November 1997. He was one of the principle co-authors of the first edition of the Guide to Fixed Price Supply Contract Terms and Conditions, published by the ABA Section of Public Contract Law. Mr. Hepworth reads, writes and speaks Korean. He handles a variety of commercial transactions and government contracts for the firm and is a trained mediator for commercial disputes.
