Profile
With nearly 30 years of experience litigating and counseling in law of lawyering, intellectual property, and business matters, Phoenix Litigation Practice chair Andy Halaby helps his local, national, and international clients develop creative, practical, and incisive strategies to tackle their toughest problems. A trial lawyer and business advisor, Andy also is a recognized thought leader, whose work has been cited in, among other things, treatises on intellectual property law, remedies, evidence, professional responsibility and the First Amendment. Andy brings his cross-disciplinary knowledge and experience to bear for the benefit of his clients both outside and inside the courtroom.
Alternative Business Structures, Professional Responsibility, and Lawyering
Informed by, among other things,
- serving on the Arizona Supreme Court’s Task Force on Lawyer Ethics, Professionalism, and the Unauthorized Practice of Law and Independent Bar Counsel panel;
- chairing the State Bar of Arizona’s Conflict Case Committee; and
- serving as Ethics Chair of an AmLaw 200 firm headquartered in Phoenix for more than a decade,
Andy advises lawyers and law firms, professional service providers, investors, and entrepreneurs on issues and opportunities arising from Arizona’s still-new Alternative Business Structure (ABS) rule and regulatory amendments. Andy has counseled multiple ABSs through the licensing process, including the first ABS to be both licensed in Arizona and admitted to the Utah Office of Legal Services Innovation regulatory sandbox.
Andy also advises clients including inside counsel, outside counsel and law firms on professional responsibility and related matters, including discipline defense, disqualification, fee dispute, and lawyer liability matters.
As part of his career-long commitment to community service, Andy has taught multiple semesters of Professional Responsibility at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, and now serves as a member of the State Bar of Arizona’s Ethics Advisory Group, where he fields ethics hotline calls from lawyers from across the state.
Intellectual Property and Technology
Practicing primarily in Phoenix and Southern California, Andy has served as lead counsel in dozens of IP matters, including patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation, trademark infringement, trade dress infringement, unfair competition, cyberpiracy, copyright infringement, and deceptive advertising cases, as well as disputes involving, among other things, computer fraud and abuse, data security, data integration, search engine optimization, software development, software licensing, software conversion, and life sciences. He represents both plaintiffs and defendants, in matters ranging from six to nine figures of liability exposure, involving a wide range of products and services. A former professional engineer, Andy also is registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Business Litigation
Andy also advises public and private clients in connection with a wide variety of business disputes including those which involve breach of contract, business tort, “business divorce,” antitrust, derivative action, class action, securities, lender liability, ERISA, False Claims Act, corporate governance, commercial real estate, trust and estate, corporate defalcation, defamation, insurance coverage, life insurance and annuity, and other complex disputes. He is experienced in virtually all phases of the civil litigation process, from temporary restraining order and preliminary injunctive relief to post-trial enforcement proceedings.
Concentrations
- Intellectual property litigation
- Patent litigation
- First Amendment
- Trade secrets litigation
- Trademark and unfair competition litigation
- Copyright litigation
- Deceptive advertising litigation
- Commercial litigation
- Emerging business
- Professional licensure
- Professional responsibility and law of lawyering
- Alternative business structures
- Insurance and licensure
- Antitrust litigation & competition regulation
- General business disputes
Capabilities
Experience
- Served as lead counsel for respondent in decade-long attorney discipline matter arising out of sanctions order in high profile federal product liability lawsuit; on client’s behalf obtained, among other things, special action relief from Arizona Supreme Court on issue of whether preclusive effect could be applied to sanctions order in the discipline proceeding.
- Serve as co-counsel to Superior Traffic Services, LLC, in District of Montana patent infringement/deceptive advertising litigation, including in securing dismissal with prejudice of plaintiff’s claims, and award of attorneys’ fees, as dispositive sanctions for plaintiff’s litigation misconduct.
- Represent, as lead counsel, major network marketing company in multiple commercial litigation matters. Past matters include, among others:°
- District of Arizona TCPA litigation;
- Southern District of California trademark infringement litigation;
- District of Delaware patent infringement litigation;
- Ventura County, California, Superior Court trade secret/right of publicity litigation; and
- Maricopa County, Arizona, Superior Court breach of confidentiality/non-solicitation litigation.°
- Serve as co-counsel for global commercial real estate company pursuing emergency relief against former employee based on misappropriation of trade secrets, and related claims, in Maricopa County Superior Court.
- Represented, as lead counsel, Canadian enterprise digital communications solutions provider in District of Arizona litigation against trademark infringer.
- Served as lead counsel for U-Haul International in Southern District of California trademark infringement/unfair competition action against former business affiliate.°
- Served as lead counsel for global logistics provider pursuing trademark infringement and related claims against infringers in the Southern District of Florida, Southern District of Texas, and Eastern District of California.°
- Served as lead counsel for international air conditioning technology company in trademark infringement litigation in Eastern District of California and District of Arizona.°
- Brought in to serve as trial counsel for healthcare staffing and education company defending District of Arizona action asserting claims of intellectual property infringement among other things.
- Served as lead counsel for publicly traded water utility pursuing breach of confidentiality and related claims, including preliminary injunctive relief proceedings, against CRM vendor in Maricopa County Superior Court.°
°The above representations were handled by Mr. Halaby prior to his joining Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
Recognition & Leadership
- Listed, AZ Business Leaders, Technology/Cybersecurity/Intellectual Property, 2022-2023
- Listed, AZ Business Magazine, Top 100 Lawyers in Arizona, 2020-2021 and 2023-2024
- Listed, Super Lawyers Magazine, Southwest Super Lawyers, 2013-2024
- Listed, Top 50 in Arizona, 2016-2020, 2023-2024
- Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, Intellectual Property Litigation, Patent Litigation, Copyright Law, and Commercial Litigation, 2013-2024
- Listed, “Lawyer of the Year,” Litigation - Patent, Phoenix, 2022
- Listed, Phoenix Magazine, "Top Lawyers," 2022-2023
- Commercial Litigation, 2023
- Corporate Finance Mergers and Acquisitions, 2023
- Intellectual Property Technology, 2023
- Civil Law Litigation, 2022
- Valley Leadership, Class XXV
- Board Member, Herberger Theater Center, 2018-2021
- Advisory Board Member, Genesis Program, Inc., 2008-Present
- Board Member, Law School Alumni Board of Governors, University of Kansas, 2009-2016
- Commissioner and Coach, Saint Francis Xavier Athletic Association, 2013-2016
- Co-Chair, Tiger Dads Club, All Saints’ Episcopal Day School, 2012-2015
- Member, Board of Directors, Phoenix Public Library Foundation, 2011-2014
- Member, State Bar of Arizona, 1996-Present
- Member, Ethics Advisory Group, 2019-Present
- Member, Committee on the Rules of Professional Conduct, 2011-2017
- Member, Conflict Case Committee, 2005-2014 (Chair, 2011-2014)
- Supreme Court of Arizona
- Member, Judicial Performance Review Task Force, 2023
- Member, Task Force on Lawyer Ethics, Professionalism, and the Unauthorized Practice of Law, 2016-2017
- Member, Independent Bar Counsel Attorney Panel, 2014-2016
- Member, Law360 Legal Ethics Editorial Board, 2017, 2021
Credentials
-
J.D., University of Kansas School of Law, 1996
- Order of the Coif
- Articles Editor, Kansas Law Review
- M.S., Environmental Health Engineering, University of Kansas, 1992
- B.S., Civil Engineering, University of Kansas, 1990
- Arizona
- California
- District of Columbia
- U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office