Daniel Mestaz

After graduating from NYU law school, I spent nine years at blue-chip law firms in Los Angeles. As a BigLaw commercial litigation partner, I represented movie studios and fortune 100 companies in document heavy cases that rarely went to trial. But I always wanted to be a real trial lawyer. So I resigned my partnership, moved to Arizona, and tried serious felony cases for a few years.

As a commercial trial lawyer with 27 years of courtroom experience, I am now the owner and leader of Mestaz Law, a boutique litigation firm. My opponents typically include the largest firms in the state, including in matters involving breach of contract, business torts, business divorce, trade secrets, non-compete/non-solicitation covenants, lost profit claims, and unfair competition. For example, I often represent company owners or executives who have been deprived of equity, companies battling those accusations, and companies who have been duped into fraudulent investments or who have been accused of fraud or other misconduct. I also have expertise in electronic discovery. My team and I use the latest technology to efficiently gather, filter and use — to the client’s benefit — the electronic evidence important to the case, without getting mired in irrelevant details.

The key to victory, whether at trial or before trial, is mastering the facts, documents, and evidence so that no matter what happens, the crucial piece of evidence will be on screen within seconds. I pair custom technology--the Chron--with state of the art trial presentation software to do that. The ability to immediately, visually display that evidence to the client, witness, opposing counsel, judge, or jury, at any stage of the proceedings, is an enormous advantage. Superior preparation, after all, is the key to both efficiency and victory, whether by leveraging a favorable settlement or ultimate success in the court room.