Appropriate Dispute Resolution: Preparing your client (and yourself!) for successful outcomes

Gary M Smith, Esq. Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Guidant Law, PLC

A seasoned litigator, advisor, mediator and arbitrator, Gary Smith focuses his practice on commercial matters, construction, real estate, cannabis and administrative law. He has represented a wide range of individual and institutional clients in both State and Federal courts, administrative hearings, and arbitration.

Gary is among the most well-known voices in Arizona contracting and construction law. He is the author of highly regarded books, manuals and articles on the topic, including two legal treatises: The Orange Book: The Regulation of Arizona Contractors, 2nd Ed.: Practice and Procedure Before the Arizona Registrar of Contractors and Office of Administrative Hearings and Practice and Procedure Before the Arizona Registrar of Contractors and Office of Administrative Hearings. Additionally, he co-authored “Construction Lien Law in Arizona, A Practice Manual.”

With a Certificate in Advanced Mediation from the Pepperdine University School of Law: Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Gary is highly skilled in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). He has worked on partnership disputes, construction defect, design defect, real estate purchase, employment contract breach, business purchase disputes, consumer fraud, banking, and purchase contracts. Gary also has ample experience in arbitration, having handled construction design and defect, personal injury, contract disputes, and professional fees. He has been appointed to the American Arbitration Association roster of neutrals for both Mediation and Arbitration and has taught ADR classes for the association.

Moreover, Gary is one of the leading cannabis attorneys in the state, often advocating for ADR in the industry. Notably, he served as amici counsel to the former Director of the Arizona Department of Health Services in the Arizona Supreme Court petition State v. Jones, attempting to restore cannabis extracts and concentrates to legal status under the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act. He has authored numerous articles about cannabis law, and he is commonly invited to share his expertise with professional associations and industry groups. Further, Gary is a founder and current president of the Arizona Cannabis Bar Association, an organization committed to educating lawyers and the public about cannabis law and responsible legislation.

Prior to founding Guidant, Gary served as a founding member and managing partner at Smith Paknejad, PLC. Before that, he worked as the Chief Litigation Counsel at McCarthy Law, PLC. At this multi-state consumer defense law firm, he was responsible for litigation and workouts, including defense of clients sued for both secured and unsecured credit card, real estate, and commercial debt. His practice focus was credit and collection law, including TILA, FDCPA, and FCRA.

Robert Mandel Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Zuber Lawler LLP

An accomplished appellate and trial court advocate, Robert Mandel has nearly three decades of experience vigilantly, zealously, and effectively representing clients in business and regulatory disputes both domestically and internationally. Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America© and other peer-review journals, Mr. Mandel leads the firm’s appellate practice and litigates in trial and appellate courts throughout Arizona and beyond.

Mr. Mandel’s appellate engagements frequently involve a panoply of business, constitutional, or public law issues, conflicting legal doctrines and public policies, novel legal questions, and robust trial court records. He spearheads appeals from final judgments, preliminary injunctions, and other interlocutory decrees, petitions for writs of certiorari or mandamus, appellate motion practice, and amicus curiae briefs. Astute clients avail themselves of Mr. Mandel’s appellate experience before the trial court action concludes, however. In those circumstances, he collaborates with the trial team to avoid an unfavorable outcome and to optimize the record for appeal by crafting the jury instructions, composing bench memoranda, formulating post-trial motions, presenting oral argument, and more.

Beyond his notable appellate practice, Mr. Mandel is a veteran business litigator. Over the past 27 years, he has represented an array of public and private companies and individuals in disputes involving claims of statutory, common law, and constructive fraud, negligence and negligent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, business interference, unfair competition, false advertising, trademark infringement, trade secret misappropriation, shareholder and corporate claims, conversion, breach of private and public contracts, unjust enrichment, fraudulent transfer, construction design defect, together with a variety of real property claims. Mr. Mandel’s clients represent a wide variety of traditional and emergent industries and business sectors.

He has substantial experience representing clients in emerging cannabis markets and is helping to shape the law applicable to the future psychedelics industry in the United States.

Prior to joining Zuber Lawler, Mr. Mandel was a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig LLP, where he led the firm’s Phoenix appellate team. He later co-founded Mandel Young PLC, an appellate boutique. He began his legal career in New York City, practicing there for a decade.

Mr. Mandel writes and speaks frequently on a wide variety of trial- and appellate-related issues as well as cannabis and psychedelics law.

Serena Wu Related Seminars and Products

Founding Partner

Radicle Law LLP

Serena’s radicle is to be of service for the greater good. She believes that everyone has the power to change the world, starting with ourselves and rippling out in what we choose to create. From addressing social justice issues for the Asian American community in high school through advocating on behalf of indigent clients on consumer protection and tax cases in law school, she continues to use law as a tool for social impact in her current practice. Serena is a Harvard Law School graduate and received her Bachelor of Arts from UC Berkeley.

Serena’s practice includes helping trailblazing clients start companies, fundraise, structure corporate governance, draft employment and business agreements, counsel on securities issues related to NFTs and DAOs, navigate complex regulatory issues related to cannabis, emerging plant medicines and privacy and security, and resolve disputes. 

Serena
In addition, Serena understands the need to discern potential pitfalls and risks for clients based on her litigation and regulatory experiences, such as complex, multi-million dollar commercial and securities litigation cases, bankruptcy litigation involving over $1 billion dollars in debt, high stakes regulatory investigations, and a myriad of pro bono matters spanning from bail reform in New York to employment litigation for restaurant workers.

She is committed to support, empower and assist those who seek to transform the status quo and serve their communities. She knows the importance of getting into the trenches with her clients to help them manifest their visions or advocate for their rights.

Outside of her work, Serena works with Reason for Hope, a non-profit focused on changing the approach to mental health care through psychedelic-assisted therapy legislation in New York. Prior to co-founding Radicle Law LLP, Serena was a New York litigation associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and was a co-founding partner at Plant Medicine Law Group LLP.
Serena enjoys traveling, hiking, learning new languages, and practicing meditation.

Toni Forge, Esq. Related Seminars and Products

Founder | Attorney

4LeafConsulting

For over 20 years,Toni Forge has worked as a litigator, managing attorney, state mediator and associate general counsel. A graduate of Hastings College of the Law and the University of San Francisco, Toni has used her solid legal foundation to provide solutions to business both large and small.

As a litigator for State Farm Insurance Company, Toni has worked with hundreds of clients in conducting mediations and depositions. Through her work with several Fortune 500 companies, she has developed a unique collection of skill and expertise in contract management and compliance, finance, negotiation, and mediation.

Toni brings knowledge of the legal and business environment that will empower new CannaBusinesses along their path to compliance and success.

A member of LA Cannabis Task Force, Women Entrepreneurs in Cannabis and Kalogia,  Toni has done radio shows and compliance tutorials regarding the regulatory environment in California.  She has also participated in the LA Cannabis Task Force Social Equity project.  Toni will be featured in an upcoming documentary regarding cannabis compliance in California.  Toni has served as a faculty member for the Cannabis Compliance Bootcamp in Los Angeles and has done a host of cannabis compliance seminars.