Robert A. "Rob" Mandel

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 in state and federal courts throughout the United States. He recently argued State v. Jones before the Arizona Supreme Court, representing the petitioner and 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 cannabis industry in Arizona 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 statutory regime governing sales and leases of state trust lands, matters of federal preemption of state law and matters of federal court jurisdiction.