D. Michael Mandig

Waterfall, Economidis, Caldwell, Hanshaw & Villamana P.C., Tucson, USA

Since his admission to practice in 1978, Michael Mandig has tried dozens of court and jury trials to verdict and judgment in state and federal courts, and has practiced before the United States Court of Claims. He has handled appellate cases before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Arizona Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Arizona. His experience includes defense of engineering and architectural malpractice claims, pursuit of complex construction litigation claims against private and governmental defendants, antitrust and franchise termination litigation, financial fraud and money laundering cases, real estate, escrow and title insurance claims, trade name, trademark and trade secret disputes, and litigation of claims arising in closely-held corporations and real estate investment partnerships.

In the public utility law area, Mr. Mandig is counsel for one of Arizona?s leading rural electric cooperatives in extensive litigation in Arizona?s courts concerning the deregulation of the electric industry. The litigation has successfully blocked implementation of deregulation on state constitutional grounds.

Mr. Mandig has extensive experience in international litigation and international commercial matters, including commercial product liability, agricultural financing, produce distribution, motor vehicle financing, real estate investment, international insolvency, cyber-squatting, defamation, corporate malfeasance, and international asset tracing. Mr. Mandig also works on international commercial transactions involving production of fruits and vegetables, attempts to work out troubled Mexican real estate investments, and advising U.S. construction clients concerning Mexican joint venture and similar opportunities. He also works with non-profit organizations conducting religious and humanitarian operations in Mexico, and advises a leading Mexican daily newspaper concerning its Arizona reporting and distribution operations.

In addition to his regular legal practice, Mr. Mandig dedicates about 175 hours per year to law reform work in Latin America, teaching trial advocacy skills in Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica and Ecuador as part of Proyecto ACCESO (www.proyectoacceso.com) a program sponsored by California Western School of Law, and funded by the Hewlett Foundation, the United States Agency for International Development, the United States Department of State and various local governmental entities and NGOs. His teaching also included a stint in 1995, 1997 and 1998 as Adjunct Professor at the University of Arizona College of Law, where he taught International Litigation and Dispute Resolution. He has also taught the Professionalism course of the State Bar of Arizona

Mr. Mandig is fluent in Spanish, a skill he uses every day in his practice, and as a volunteer interpreter for the Flying Samaritans, a non-profit organization providing free medical, dental and chiropractic care in rural Mexico. Since 2002, he has been an active, volunteer member of the Governor?s Task Force on Mexican Real Estate Task Force (now an ad hoc committee of the Arizona-Mexico Commission), a group of professionals selected to address problems encountered by Arizona residents investing in Mexican real estate.

In the field of ADR, Mr. Mandig has received approximately 60 hours of mediation training, and has also planned, organized and delivered mediation skills training to lawyers, judges and others from the United States and abroad. In addition, he has acted as a mediator or arbitrator in dozens of cases.

In February 2003, Michael was selected as one of the 50 best lawyers in Arizona, in a lawyer poll conducted by the Arizona Business Journal.

• Note, Collateral Estoppel, Criminal Proceedings and the Prevention of Inconsistent Results, 18 Ariz.L.Rev. 670 (1976)
• Note, Restitution: A Solution to Illinois Brick Co. v. Illinois and to the Manageability Problems of Antitrust and Other Consumer Class Actions, 18 Ariz.L.Rev. 940 (1976)
• M. Mandig & D. Epstein, An Actual Case: Collateral Security in Automobiles Manufactured in the U.S. and Mexico and Held by a Dealer in Sonora, 5 U.S.-Mexico L.J. 101 (1997)
• Inter-American Dispute Resolution: The Role for Border State Judicial Cooperation, published in 1 Toward Seamless Borders--Making Free Trade Work in the Americas, at pp. 716-78 (Transnational Juris Publications, Inc., 1993)
• Mexican Real Estate Investments: Ruminations of an Arizona Trial Lawyer, paper presented to Arizona International Lawyers Group, March 2003