News

Randi Burnett was selected to receive the Outstanding Pro Bono Attorney of the Month Award for April 2013. Randi has been a VLP volunteer in Pima County for a year. She participates in all of the VLP family law clinics and assists with the program’s Self-Service Project at the Superior Court where she supervises law students as they meet with clients in need of assistance with family law issues. In her short time as a volunteer, Randi has assisted fifty clinic clients. In addition to helping VLP clients, Randi recently drafted materials for the VLP that where utilized in a family law CLE sponsored by the program. As a result of the CLE, the VLP was able to recruit and train several new volunteers. The VLP is grateful for Randi’s support of the program and for her continued friendship.

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The Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education is proud to announce Lisa Schriner Lewis as one of the 2013 recipients of the Top Pro Bono Attorneys in Arizona award. The Foundation instituted this award in 2001 to recognize attorneys who have tirelessly given their time and expertise to assist Arizonans who would otherwise have no legal resources. You were nominated by SALA Volunteer Lawyers Program.

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View the U.S. News - Best Lawyers profile for Waterfall, Economidis, Caldwell, Hanshaw & Villamana PC

Sandy Forbes contributed pro bono legal services in connection with the development of the book. For Tucson Citizen article click here.

Sandy Forbes has hit a home run in Aguilar v. Asarco, a case where a jury returned a verdict with $300,000 of punitive damages but only nominal compensatory damages. Sandy petitioned the U.S. District Court for attorneys’ fees and costs totaling $350,902.75. After reading many pages and lots of argument from A-team counsel on behalf of ASARCO, the Court ordered attorneys’™ fees with costs totaling -- $350,902.75.

This opinion has breakthrough language helpful to defeating nit-picking against block billing, confirmation of the integrity with which Forbes handled every aspect of the case, and generally is a testimonial to the magnificent job done by Forbes and her team of lawyers and paralegals who assisted in this difficult case. One two sentence passage reads: "To the contrary, I am able to ascertain that none of the hours objected to by ASARCO are duplicative. Therefore, after a careful review of the time records for Aguilar’s attorneys, I am left with a firm and abiding conviction that the challenged entries are detailed enough for me to find the hours billed to be completely reasonable."

The nominal (non-punitive) damages also makes the ruling of this case even more impressive. Forbes has already managed to sustain the jury’s punitive damages ruling in defeating ASARCO’s lengthy Motion for New Trial. Congratulations to Sandy Forbes.

Barry Kirschner

Corey Larson was elected “President Elect” of the Executive Council of the Real Property Section and will serve as president next year.

John Escher was elected to the Executive Council of the Real Property Section of the State Bar of Arizona.

The new law raises several issues that employers will need to address and they may have to reevaluate their drug testing policies, said Sandy Forbes, a local employment attorney who recently spoke to the Oro Valley Business Club.

To read the full article Click here.

Congratulations to Michael Mandig for recognition of your seminar. Click on Presidential Award to read the PDF.

Eight lawyers from Waterfall Economidis were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2011 (Copyright 2010 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.).

Congratulations to:

Gordon Waterfall, listed in Best Lawyers for Trust and Estate, Tax Law, and Corporate Law;

Peter Economidis, listed in Best Lawyers for Alternative Dispute Resolution, Family Law, and Family Law Mediation;

Russell Jones, listed in Best Lawyers for Corporate Law;

W. Patrick Traynor, listed in Best Lawyers for Family Law;

James Stuehringer, listed in Best Lawyers for Criminal Defense: Non-White-Collar and Criminal Defense: White-Collar;

John Kendall, listed in Best Lawyers for Trust and Estates;

D. Michael Mandig, listed in Best Lawyers for Commercial Litigation and International Trade and Finance Law.

Gordon Waterfall and Peter Economidis have been chosen each year since 1983 and Russell Jones has been chosen each year since 1989.

For more information on The Best Lawyers in America® please see www.BestLawyers.com.

Several firm attorneys have been elected to serve their areas of practice in 2010-11.

Shareholder Patricia Green shall serve as President of the State Bar of Arizona Family Law Executive Council. Likewise, shareholder Michael Mandig is incoming Chairman of the State Bar of Arizona International Section. In each of their roles, Ms. Green and Mr. Mandig shall lead the governing body of their respective areas of practice.

Mr. Mandig also serves as Vice-President of Flying Samaritans, Inc., and President of the local Tucson Chapter of Flying Samaritans Inc.

Associate Corey Larson was recently elected to the State Bar of Arizona Real Property Executive Council and was appointed as the CLE coordinator for Tucson. In addition, Mr. Larson continues to serve as board member and CLE coordinator of the Pima County Bar Association Young Lawyer�s Division.

Managing shareholder Jill D. Wiley was appointed by the State Bar of Arizona�s Board of Governors to the State Bar of Arizona Estate and Trust Advisory Commission in June, 2010. The Commission is responsible, in part, for reviewing attorney applicants requesting specialization in the field of estates and trusts.

Read about us BizTucson Magazine.

Steven Itkin will be a guest on PrimeTalk, a call in radio program, discussing Today’s Real Estate Market-A Lender’s Perspective. The show will air live on Monday, May 10, 2010, 5:00-6:00 pm on The Jolt, 1330 am, with streaming audio at www.tucsonsjolt.com

Bowl for Kids' Sake 2010 is being held at the Bedroxx Family Fun Center on March 5 from 4 to 9 p.m. and March 6 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and teams will bowl in two-hour increments.

For more information click here to read the Arizona Daily Star article or for a PDF version click here.

We begin 2010 with a great deal of uncertainty with respect to the status of the federal estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes.

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Randi Burnett was selected to receive the Outstanding Pro Bono Attorney of the Month Award for April 2013. Randi has been a VLP volunteer in Pima County for a year. She participates in all of the VLP family law clinics and assists with the program’s Self-Service Project at the Superior Court where she supervises law students as they meet with clients in need of assistance with family law issues. In her short time as a volunteer, Randi has assisted fifty clinic clients. In addition to helping VLP clients, Randi recently drafted materials for the VLP that where utilized in a family law CLE sponsored by the program. As a result of the CLE, the VLP was able to recruit and train several new volunteers. The VLP is grateful for Randi’s support of the program and for her continued friendship.

For more information click here

Waterfall Economidis is pleased to announce that several of its lawyers have been listed in the 2010 Edition of Best Lawyers in America. Congratulations to:
Peter Economidis, listed in Best Lawyers in Alternative Dispute Resolution, Family Law and Family Law Mediation;
Russell Jones, listed in Best Lawyers in Corporate Law;
John Kendall, listed in Best Lawyers in Trusts and Estates;
D. Michael Mandig, listed in Best Lawyers in Commercial Litigation, International Trade and Finance Law;
James Stuehringer, listed in Best Lawyers in Criminal Defense: Non-White-Collar and Criminal Defense: White-Collar;
Patrick Traynor listed in Best Lawyers in Family Law;
Gordon Waterfall, listed in Best Lawyers in Corporate Law, Taxation and Trusts and Estates;

On July 1, 2009, Corey Larson was selected by the members of the Executive Council of the Real Property Section of the State Bar of Arizona to join the Executive Council. This body consists of nine members selected from members of the Real Property Section from around the State. The Real Property section considers all matters of legal significance related to interest in real property, title thereto and transactions therein. The section participates in and comments on improvements and reforms in real property and related legislation and regulation, title and recording practices and standards and other matters of interest to attorneys involved in real estate matters in Arizona. The Real Property section is also responsible for distributing the Real Property Section Journal to its more than 1,000 members.

Corey is a member of the firm’s Litigation and Business Sections and his practice focuses on a wide range of real property issues from representing builders, contractors and developers to representing parties involved in real estate transactions. His election to the Executive Council will further his experience and knowledge of issues affecting real property and also provide an avenue for shaping efforts of regulatory and legislative reform.

Pat Traynor and Michael Mandig were voted into “Southwest Superlawyers 2009,” Pat in Family Law and Michael in Business Litigation. Only 5% of Arizona attorneys are included in this list, and selections are made through a process of peer nominations and independent research.

On June 17-21, Michael Mandig traveled to Mexico City, where he spoke at the National Autnomous University of Mexico (UNAM) as part of a post-graduate lecture series on the Rule of Law. His two-part lecture analyzed the purpose and effect of criminal procedure reforms throughout Latin America, including the widespread adoption of oral trials as the model for criminal prosecutions in the region. The lecture series is sponsored by three institutions: UNAM's Instituto de Investigaciones Juridicas, the Latin American Center of the University of Heidelberg, in Santiago, Chile, and the California Western School of Law in San Diego, California.

Their incentive to deny benefits

Click here to read the article in Explorer.

Cleaning up subprime lending mess

Click here to download the Tucson Citizen column.

Waterfall Economidis is proud to announce that two of its lawyers, Barry Kirschner and Steve Itkin, have been selected to receive an award from the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services and Education in recognition of their being among the Top 50 Pro Bono Attorneys in Arizona. The award is given to recognize attorneys who have given tirelessly of their time and expertise to ensure access to justice for all Arizonans. They will receive their awards on June 19, 2008, during a reception being held from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m., at the annual State Bar Convention.