Robert A. Mandel
Appellate Practice Leader and Commercial Litigator @Zuber Lawler
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WORK HISTORY
Appellate Practice Leader and Commercial Litigator @Zuber Lawler
Phoenix, AZ, US
Rob handles complex, high-stakes, and often high-profile appeals of final judgments, preliminary injunctions and other interlocutory decrees, petitions for writs of certiorari (review) and mandamus (special actions), certified questions, and appellate motion practice. He recently argued State v. Jones to the Arizona Supreme Court, resulting in a landmark decision that Arizona law immunizes patients who use medical marijuana in the form of extracts and concentrates from criminal prosecution. In that case, the Court reversed an intermediate appellate court decision that would have sounded the death knell for the industry and vacated the convictions of a medical marijuana cardholder who was prosecuted for acquiring extract from a state-licensed dispensary. Rob also serves as \"embedded\" appellate counsel, engaged by trial teams to conduct a careful assessment of their cases and working collaboratively with them to formulate and refine the theme(s), craft summary judgment motions and responses, formulate jury instructions, present post-judgment motions, and take other measures to preserve issues for appeal. Rob likewise has substantial experience handling nearly every facet of commercial trial practice, including the representation of businesses and high net worth individuals in bet-the-company cases seeking monetary, injunctive, and/or declaratory relief predicated on claims of intentional and negligent misconduct and contractual breaches in the commercial arena. Rob is also experienced in litigating constitutional issues and other matters of public law, including constitutionally-excessive punitive damages awards, dormant Commerce Clause violations, the doctrines of state and tribal sovereign immunity, separation of powers, Arizona’s notice of claim statutes, Arizona’s procurement statutes, the laws governing sales and leases of state trust lands, matters of federal preemption of state law and matters of federal court jurisdiction.
EDUCATION
University of Michigan Law School
JD, cum laude, Law
University of Wisconsin-Madison
B.A. Honors, Political Science; Integrated Liberal Studies
ABOUT ROBERT A. MANDEL
Zuber Lawler’s first Phoenix-based partner, Rob is a peer-reviewed attorney with 29 years of experience representing companies, entrepreneurs, and others in high-stakes commercial, constitutional, and public law disputes. Rob is credited with having saved Arizona’s multi-billion dollar cannabis industry from near destruction, securing a landmark decision at the Arizona Supreme Court that the protections of the state’s medical marijuana act extend to the use of the cannabis plant’s extracted resin and products containing or consisting of the resin. During the Great Recession, Rob’s advocacy before the state’s high court protected the banking industry from hundreds of billions of dollars in losses. He is a staunch legal advocate for both established and emergent industries including cannabis and psychedelics, frequently lectures on the legal challenges industry participants and ancillary businesses face, and is known for his no-nonsense approach to dispute resolution. Trained in New York City before relocating to Arizona in 2003, Rob appears regularly in appellate and trial courts throughout the nation. He is recognized for his advocacy skills, strategic acumen, work ethic, and devotion to the highest professional standards. And he is honored to have been selected by his peers to SUPER LAWYERS MAGAZINE\'S \"SOUTHWEST SUPER LAWYERS®\" 20••••22 Lists, the 26th through 28th editions of THE BEST LAWYERS IN AMERICA©, and ARIZONA\'S FINEST LAWYERS\' roster of sustaining members. Rob has been a Martindale-Hubbell AV® PREEMINENT™-rated attorney since 2007. Rob is admitted in Arizona and New York. He also is admitted to the Bars of the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, for the Second Circuit, and for the Fifth Circuit, and to the United States District Court for the District of Arizona and for the Southern District of New York. Rob has represented clients pro hac vice in several other U.S. District Courts including the N.D. Tex; D. Nev, E.D. Penn; N.D. Ill, and E.D.N.Y. NOTICE: 1. No endorsement, recommendation, or representation herein is a guarantee of the outcome of any legal matter. This webpage contains no legal advice but only general information that might not reflect current legal developments. No attorney-client relationship is created by viewing this webpage or emailing Zuber Lawler. This material may be considered advertising under certain rules of professional attorney conduct. Selecting an attorney is an important decision that should not be based on advertising.
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