Robert Copple has a national reputation for providing successful solutions to prevent, manage, and resolve complex disputes. He is a trained alternative dispute resolution neutral and has been involved in hundreds of arbitrations and mediations covering a broad range of issues including intellectual property, environmental, telecommunications, commercial, securities, information technology and eCommerce, and biotechnology.  He also consults with major corporations, government agencies, and public interest groups regarding complex negotiations, litigation strategy planning, crisis management, and data security and management.

Robert Copple’s career encompasses 20 years of high level law firm practice and Fortune 50 corporate legal management, as well as national level professional and academic projects.

He practiced with the law firms of Sherman & Howard and Parcel, Mauro, Hultin & Spaanstra in Denver and Lewis and Roca in Phoenix.  As a litigator and regulatory negotiator, he has been involved with some of the largest environmental disputes in the United States and recognized as a national authority on natural resource damages.

As Senior Litigation Counsel for Motorola, he was the lead attorney for all environmental litigation, all litigation for the Semiconductor Sector, and the majority of the company’s intellectual property litigation. In addition, he reorganized and managed the company’s Superfund liability, developed risk management systems for the Iridium Satellite Launch Program, led the eCommerce law team, coordinated all alternative dispute resolution, and developed decision science methods for litigation evaluation and strategy analysis.  As a result of his litigation and negotiation efforts, he brought hundreds of millions of dollars into the company in the form of settlements and judgments.

As a practicing attorney, corporate in-house counsel, and ADR neutral, Robert Copple also has extensive experience with a broad range of commercial issues, including contract, securities, unfair compeition, and insurance coverage disputes.  He brings to the resolution of these disputes both his background as a senior litigator and as a corporate business manager.  The combination of his skills and experience creates a synergy that allows for efficient, mutually beneficial, and creative solutions.


Robert Copple sits on the arbitration and mediation panels for the American Arbitration Association and for the CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution in New York City.  He is also the Chairman of CPR’s Patent Dispute Commission, a founding member of the eDiscovery Panel, and has taught training seminars for the CPR and AAA.

 

Mr. Copple has written and spoken extensively on alternative dispute resolution, litigation practice, communications law, economics, environmental, intellectual property, data security, and eDiscovery. In addition, he has lectured and taught graduate and law school courses at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Arizona State University, the University of Nebraska, and the University of Houston Law Center.  Mr. Copple is a Research Fellow in the Arizona State University Center for the Study of Law, Science and Technology and is the Chair of the Center's Advisory Board.  He is also a co-lead editor and co-author of the treatise “Biotechnology and the Law," published by the ABA in 2007.

Robert Copple has been named as one of the 2007, 2008, and 2009 "Best Lawyers in America" in biotechnology law and one of the Phoenix Metro "Top Lawyers."  He is also listed in "Who's Who in America" and "Who's Who in American Law."

In what little spare time he has, Mr. Copple hikes the mountains of the West, scuba dives, and rebuilds and rides vintage racing cycles.

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