One fine day in August 1987, Joan White and Dario Zaffarano began the partnership that bears their names. Both of us had worked for and with other good lawyers, but in 1987, we were wanting to work with our own clients. The time was right for us, and we agreed to begin an office-sharing partnership. We moved from Campustown to our current location in downtown Ames in 1992.
In 2014, we were joined by John Dirks, and his approach to life and boundless energy seemed a good fit (particularly once Joan announced her intent to retire in June 2016.) John had years of experience in California and Iowa, and is a former California public defender. He invested the time to ensure that his clients are correctly and professionally represented. In June 2023, John needed less stress in his life, and he has retired from active practice. He may return eventually, but currently is not seeing clients.
Joan has now fully retired, but in May 2026, Logan Kelleher hung out his shingle as a solo practitioner in John's (and Joan's) former office. He is currently accepting clients in a variety of areas.
Dario has been in practice long enough (and apparently well enough) that he has represented multiple generations of family members. Our clients recommend their friends to us. We hope you will, too.
After 40 years in practice, if we don't have experience in your area of need, we probably know who does, and will tell you who we'd use if we were in your shoes.
We also have office space available at very reasonable rates for new or old lawyers interested in "hanging out a shingle", and would be happy to mentor and to help new lawyers get their footing, or at least to find their way to the courthouse.
