Kathleen McCarthy Obituary

On September 18, 2023, Kathleen A. McCarthy, a local luminary in family law and in life, passed away peacefully at her home surrounded by her loved ones. She was a very gifted, intelligent and compassionate human being. There is no one who was a better person, or with a more loving and giving heart. Everything she did in this life was with love.....for her family, her "firmily", the legal community, and the community at large.



Kathleen was a scholarly family law attorney and her work within the legal field impacted the foundation of family law in Arizona. Even if you did not know her personally, you have likely been impacted by her tutelage and the changes that she brought for the betterment of the practice of family law in Arizona.



Kathleen was born in England into a military family. Kathleen's mother served in the Army during WW II and met her father, a career military officer, when the war was over and got married. In the early years, Kathleen's family was transferred a number of times to many places: England, Washington DC, New York, New Jersey, Alaska, Delaware, Alabama and finally settled in Tucson.



Even in high school, it was apparent that Kathleen's talents and aspirations were leading her to pursue her passion for justice and the practice of law. After graduating from Salpointe in 1968, Kathleen attended the University of Arizona (graduating with honors in speech and communication) then graduated from the James E. Rogers School of Law at the University of Arizona (with honors in 1976).



When she graduated law school, Kathleen was in a male-dominated career field, and opportunities were scarce. She proved herself, and forged her way into the practice of law by "hanging her shingle", and starting her own business as a general practitioner. Shortly thereafter, Kathleen saw a particular niche practice area where she could bring her talents, her compassion, and her pursuit for the ideal of justice. That was to the arena of family law. Kathleen became a preeminent family law attorney in Arizona, and her firm (McCarthy Family Law) became one of the "go-to" family law practice firms in Tucson.



There are many accolades, accomplishments and specialty designations that Kathleen achieved along the way in her stellar career, but the professional ones that she was most proud of were her teachings; her impact on family law by working on some of the foundational court committees (i.e. one which formulated child support guidelines, another which created the spousal maintenance guidelines); creating the Spousal Maintenance Bench Book and teaching for the Judicial College on all things spousal maintenance; volunteering to create and teach a "Survivor's Guide to Family Law" - a 16 part training on the practice of family law for the Volunteer Lawyers Program; her renowned "Through the Lawyer's Lens" perpetually updating (for the past three decades) family lawyers and judiciary of the new case law and legislation that they needed to know.



Kathleen's professional passion was the law, the drive to educate and make Arizona family lawyers more knowledgeable, and to make the field better (which, in turn, makes the community better.) She would do anything to promote this within the field: by mentoring, by teaching and by just being engaged with the community. Each and every one of us were sponges, sitting in a wealth of legal intelligence, love and compassion, hoping by osmosis to gain from the pool of knowledge that she imparted. She made us, and even challenged us, to be the better version of ourselves, by expanding the breadth of legal knowledge, or her demonstration of practicing through love.



In a field filled with acrimony, Kathleen always found a way to bring light and peace to the situation. She was, and will always be, the golden standard on how to help your client, and demonstrate kindness and compassion for everyone, clients and adverse persons alike. Through all the veils of anger, and hurt, she led people through their trials and tribulations with love, dignity and sound counsel. The tenet that she lived and practiced is that, even though going through the toughest of family law situations, it was her duty to her clients to navigate them through the legal process while helping them to heal and maintain (or regain) their dignity, esteem, and honor.



Kathleen even created a "Family Law Manifesto" A Call For Action for a Paradigm Shift in Family Law which was published in Pima County Bar Association's monthly magazine, The Writ (Vol. 41, No. 6, June 2022). This manifesto was a call for all attorneys to help heal themselves, as well as their clients by practicing with honor, dignity, kindness and love. Practicing this concept of working through cases while promoting respect, kindness and collegiality with each other, without acrimony and disdain, would heal the clients as well as bring healing to the attorneys.



Kathleen was intellectually curious and truly had an insatiable thirst for knowledge and gaining wisdom. If any topic (not limited to only legal topics) excited Kathleen, you can bet that she researched that topic to the nth degree, looking in every nook and cranny to get the most in-depth knowledge on the subject, then educated all of us on the knowledge that she acquired.



Kathleen believed that the "secret" to life balance for her was exercise, and it was a magic reset button for her. She was an avid fitness enthusiast, and lover of nature. She was a hiker, a cyclist, a runner, and was always working out in some manner. She participated in many half-marathons and cycling events in town, and even trained for and participated in a half-iron man competition. She was very competitive in this endeavor (and in general), but she never forgot to take time to appreciate the beauty of nature around her. If you were with her on one of her hikes into the mountains, it was common to have her "coo" at the beauty of greenery and flowers, or the sight of a baby animal.



Kathleen's legacy of good, love, and wonderment will live through the ethers and through those she touched. Those of us who knew her may feel that our cup is now half-full, but I would say that our proverbial cups are overflowing with the loving impact she had on all of us. Hers were size one-thousand shoes, which will be hard, if not impossible, to be filled. However, if the imprints from those shoes have made us better people, her goal was attained.



Kathleen is survived by her husband (Fred Beeston), sister Judy (Bob) Patrick, brother Bob McCarthy, along with many, many, loved and cherished family and friends, too many to mention by name (but you know who you are!) She is preceded in death by her parents, Robert and Teresa McCarthy, and her much beloved son Blake Beeston.



A celebration of Kathleen's life will be held at the Jewish Community Center on Saturday, November 18th at 1:00pm, for us to share the memories, love and anecdotes remembering a life well lived.