OUR STAFF
Two Attorneys. One Paralegal. Two Legal Assistants. Our office strives to serve our clients with honesty and dilligence.
Gina Bryan
Gina graduated from UNI in 1991 with a degree in Criminology and a minor in business. She joined Mahaffey Law in 1992. Gina went to DMACC for paralegal training. She handles the probate and estate work for clients.
She lives in Montezuma and has two adult children, Damon and Brittany.
email: gina@mahaffeylaw.net
Teri Johnson
Teri lives in the Montezuma area and has worked at the office since 2012. She worked at the Montezuma Telephone Company prior to employment at our office. Teri primarily assists with real estate transactions.
Teri and her husband, Paul, own and operate a family farm. They have two adult children: Katey and Steven.
email: teri@mahaffeylaw.net
Amanda Latcham
Amanda joined Mahaffey Law Office in December 2021 as a legal administrative assistant. She assists with civil litigation case management. She is also the point of contact for the firm's billing and accounting.
Amanda grew up in Montezuma and now resides in rural Grinnell with her husband and their three children.
email: amanda@mahaffeylaw.net
ATTORNEYS
Michael W. Mahaffey
Michael graduated from the University of Iowa with a bachelor's degree in Sociology. He was the Vice President of the college Republicans on campus and baritone in the Old Gold Singers.
Michael graduated from Kansas University Law School in 1975 where he served as the SBA President. Upon graduation, he and his wife, Patti, moved back to Iowa.
Michael became a member of the Iowa Bar Association in 1975 and started practicing with Rodger Sunleaf in Montezuma. After a few years, Michael began as a solo practitioner. In 1991, he moved the office to its current location.
Michael served as Chairman of the Iowa GOP from 1987-1989. He ran against Congressman Leonard Boswell in 1996 for United States House of Representatives. He remains active in politics, and still periodically appears on WHO for elections.
Michael was the Poweshiek County Attorney for 32 years. He retired in 2012 to focus on his full-time private practice. Michael serves on the Iowa Board of Governors for the Iowa State Bar Association.
He and Patti have lived in Montezuma since 1975 and have three children: Matthew, Mary, and Patrick, and seven grandchildren: Luke, Lucy, Colin, Annie, Maggie, Helen, and Isaac. Michael has long enjoyed Patti's wonderful cooking, non-fiction books, theology, Cardinals baseball, Jayhawks basketball, Packers football, and Christmas music.
Patrick J. Mahaffey
P.J. is a Montezuma High School graduate of 2007. He graduated from Grinnell College in 2011 with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science.
Upon graduating from Grinnell College, P.J. attended law school at Drake University Law School in Des Moines. While at Drake he interned for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, he worked at the Iowa State House of Representatives and lobbied under the guidance of long-time lobbyist, Dick "Buddha" Thornton. P.J. passed the bar in 2015 and moved back to Poweshiek County.
P.J. was named partner in 2019. He primarily works in the areas of civil litigation, family law, real estate law, agricultural law, estate planning, business associations, juvenile law, and criminal law. In his first civil jury trial, the jury returned a verdict in the amount of $360,000 for his client. He has had three civil jury trials in his young legal career and the jury returned a verdict for his clients in each case.
In his spare time, P.J. volunteers for Community Support for Immigrants and is a graduate of the Poweshiek County Leadership Program. He enjoys cooking, skiing, visiting friends and family, watching the NBA, rooting for the Green Bay Packers, St. Louis Cardinals, and Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and spending time with his wife, children, and pets.