Mrs. Van Horn became a paralegal in 1986.  She joined the firm in February 2008 when Fred Petti asked her to leave Lewis and Roca and join the firm.  Her legal experience has been focused primarily in investigations and litigation, in both civil and criminal settings, with a strong emphasis on large, complex and document intensive cases.  Her experience includes all aspects of discovery, factual research and investigation, witnesses interviewing, preparation of pleadings and preparation for and attendance at trial.  She also has extensive experience in database design for document management and presentation.

Mrs. Van Horn worked for the law department of Motorola, Inc. from 1995 to 1998.  She was a member of the Environmental, Health and Safety team, reporting directly to the Law Department with the primary responsibility of supporting the Superfund Remediation Project Manager and Technical Team as well as Motorola Management.  In January 1997, she began supporting the Valley Litigation Group in several class action suits filed against Motorola, Inc.

Before her employment with Motorola, Valerie worked for McLeod, Alexander, Powel and Apffel, a large environmental litigation defense firm in Houston, Texasand at Taylor & Eggleston, an Insurance defense firm.

Mrs. Van Horn has developed a broad knowledge in the pleading and discovery phases of civil and criminal litigation, as well as extensive participation in the actual trial of numerous cases. During her career she has participation in both the formulation of questions and answers in the discovery phase and in the coordination and maintenance of client and witness contact at all stages of the litigation process.  Her experience extends to both the state and federal systems and ranges form conducting investigations and service of subpoenas to preparation for and attendance at trial.

Valerie attended the University of Maryland where much of her studies were focused in Business and Computer Engineering. She received her Paralegal Certification in 1987 from The Southwestern Paralegal College in Houston, Texas.