Sunshine Johnson and Alex Occhionero Join Firm’s Growing Practice
Engelman Berger is welcoming two attorneys to the firm’s ranks: Sunshine P. Johnson and Alex S. Occhionero.
“We are pleased to welcome Sunshine and Alex to Engelman Berger,” said partner Damien R. Meyer. “Both bring strong academic credentials, valuable experience and a thoughtful approach to the practice of law. Their backgrounds and perspectives are a welcome asset to our firm and our clients.”
Johnson, who passed the July 2026 Arizona bar exam, is a first-generation college graduate and proud Native American. She earned her J.D. from the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law and her bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature from Utah Valley University. During law school, she gained experience in commercial real estate and litigation as a summer law clerk and served as an associate and senior note editor for the Arizona Journal of Environmental Law and Policy. She also served as a clinic extern with the University of Arizona Innocence Project.
Johnson was one of just 12 participants worldwide selected for the Fellowship at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics. The program brought together an international group of law students and legal professionals in Germany and Poland to examine ethical issues in the legal profession and the role of lawyers in complex historical and contemporary contexts.
Occhionero joins the firm following a judicial clerkship with the Honorable Samuel A. Thumma of the Arizona Court of Appeals. He earned his J.D., cum laude, from Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law in 2025. While attending law school, he gained experience as an extern with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and the Office of General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Phoenix. He was an O’Connor Honors Fellow and received the John J. Ross Award for excellence in business law.
Before law school, Occhionero earned his B.S., magna cum laude, in Business Management, with a secondary degree in Economics, from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management. He is also the author of “Too Little, Too Late: Shortcomings of Modern Fraudulent Transfer Law,” published in the Corporate & Business Law Journal in 2025.
Engelman Berger is a Phoenix-based law firm representing businesses, lenders, borrowers, landlords, tenants, developers, investors and other clients in commercial disputes, bankruptcy, creditors’ rights, workouts, real estate, lending, and related transactional matters. The firm provides focused, practical representation in state and federal courts, bankruptcy proceedings, arbitrations, mediations, and settlement negotiations.