Robert Grabb’s family fled Cuba for Tucson when he was a child; three decades after co-founding Grabb & Durando with Nann Durando in 1994, the firm he built is still arguing that Tucson accident victims deserve to keep more of their own recovery.
AN AWESOME ATTORNEYS EDITORIAL PROFILE Independently researched from public records, court filings, news coverage, peer-review directories, and firm-published materials.
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING / IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER. This profile is informational and may constitute attorney advertising. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney–client relationship. Case results, recovery figures, ratings, and awards described below are reported by the firm or by third-party rating organizations and are attributed accordingly; they describe past matters and do not guarantee, warrant, or predict the outcome of any future case. Every case is unique and involves risk, including the risk of loss. Prospective clients should consult directly with a licensed attorney about their specific circumstances.
At a Glance
| FIRM | Grabb & Durando, P.C. |
| FOUNDED | 1994, Tucson; co-founders Robert Grabb and Nann Durando (per the firm) |
| LEADERSHIP | Robert Grabb, co-founder · Nann Durando, co-founder |
| OFFICES | 2929 E. Broadway Boulevard, Tucson, AZ 85716 |
| PRACTICE FOCUS | Personal injury exclusively: auto accidents, medical malpractice, dog bites, slip and fall, wrongful death (per the firm) |
| SIGNATURE EDGE | One of Tucson’s earliest fee-reducing personal injury practices, founded specifically to bring price competition to a market where 33-1/3% contingency fees were then standard |
| NOTABLE CASE LAW | Rowland v. Great State Insurance (Ariz. Ct. App. 2001) — the firm’s position that a workers’ compensation carrier could not add independent medical exam costs to its statutory lien was upheld |
| TRACK RECORD | Firm describes itself as “Tucson’s trusted injury lawyers since 1994,” with a stated fee-reduction model rather than a published dollar-results ledger (per the firm) |
| CONTACT | (520) 333-3333 · grabbanddurando.com |
This series closes its next-ten batch where it opened its Tucson coverage: with a firm built specifically to undercut the standard personal injury contingency fee. Grabb & Durando, founded a year before some of this project’s Phoenix-based firms even existed, has spent three decades arguing that Tucson personal injury victims deserve a lower fee than the 33-1/3% that was standard when the firm launched — a claim this profile traces back to founder Robert Grabb’s own, well-documented biography.
Origin: From Cuba to a Tucson Courtroom
Robert Grabb’s family left Cuba as political and economic conditions in the country changed, and settled in Miami before relocating to Tucson, Arizona, in 1962, per the firm’s own account. Grabb attended high school, college, and law school in Tucson, earning his Juris Doctorate in 1983. His older brother, Albert Grabb, became a well-known radiologist in Southern California, per the firm.
His younger brother’s path is independently, and extensively, documented: Jim Grabb, born in Tucson in 1964, won the Boys 12U singles title at a Tempe tournament at age 10 in 1974, per an Arizona Daily Star retrospective, and went on to a three-time doubles and two-time singles All-American career at Stanford University, where he helped the team win the 1986 NCAA championship. He turned professional in 1986 and retired in 2000, compiling a career doubles record of 395–237 with 23 tour titles, including the 1989 French Open and 1992 US Open doubles championships, and reaching the world No. 1 doubles ranking in June 1989, per Wikipedia’s sourced career statistics — confirming the firm’s own “best doubles tennis player in the world” description. His singles career peaked at world No. 24 in February 1990 (the firm’s own materials round this to “number 23”). Jim Grabb was inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.
After roughly a decade working for other law firms, Robert Grabb opened his own practice with Nann Durando in 1994, per the firm, founding Grabb & Durando with what the firm describes as a mission to provide quality representation to Tucson accident victims regardless of their financial situation. Grabb is a member of the Arizona Bar Association and the Arizona Trial Lawyers Association, and is licensed to practice before the U.S. District Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, per the firm.
The Differentiator: Underpricing the Market Since 1994
Grabb & Durando’s own materials describe its founding purpose in explicitly competitive, price-focused terms: “Grabb & Durando brought competition for legal services to Tucson by reducing fees for automobile accident victims,” at a time when the standard rate for that work “was unheard of” below 33-1/3%, per the firm’s own site. The firm states that while it “pioneered the way for other attorneys to reduce their fees, the reality is that most are still charging one-third or more of the recovery” — a direct, still-current claim of market differentiation nearly identical in spirit, though independently founded and three decades earlier, to the discount-fee positioning this series has also documented at a Phoenix-area peer.
A Landmark Case: Rowland v. Great State Insurance
In 2001, Robert Grabb served as one of the attorneys representing the claimant in Rowland v. Great State Insurance, in which the Arizona Court of Appeals agreed with the firm’s position that a workers’ compensation insurance carrier could not add the cost of its own independent medical examination to the statutory lien it held against the claimant’s recovery, per the firm’s own account of the case. That published appellate decision is a specific, citable piece of case law tied directly to the firm’s own advocacy — a different kind of “track record” than the itemized settlement tables this series has documented elsewhere.
What Grabb & Durando Handles
- Auto accidents: car, truck, and motorcycle crash representation (per the firm)
- Dog bites, under Arizona’s strict-liability statute (per the firm)
- Slip and fall / premises liability claims (per the firm)
- Medical malpractice (per the firm)
The firm states that it “focuses exclusively on personal injury and negligence cases” — language distinct from the general-practice model documented at some other firms in this series — and operates on a contingency-fee basis, meaning clients pay no fee unless the firm recovers money on their behalf, per the firm.
Track Record
Grabb & Durando’s public materials emphasize its fee structure and community standing over an itemized results ledger; Awesome Attorneys did not locate a dollar-specific, case-by-case results table for the firm in the sources reviewed for this profile. The firm describes itself as having served Tucson accident victims continuously since 1994 — roughly 32 years as of this profile’s research date — and frames that longevity itself as evidence of a sustained, viable practice.
Past-Results Disclaimer. Every case is different, and results depend on each matter’s specific facts and circumstances. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any other matter. Figures and case outcomes above are reported by the firm on its own published materials and have not been independently audited by Awesome Attorneys.
In Their Clients’ Words
Awesome Attorneys did not locate individually attributed, dated client reviews for Grabb & Durando with the name-and-platform detail this series’ house style requires for a direct quote. The firm’s own site instead emphasizes its philosophy directly: representing “every accident victim” regardless of “their financial situation,” and offering to visit clients “in the hospital or at home” if they cannot travel to the office, per the firm’s own description of its client service approach.
Beyond the Courtroom
Robert Grabb’s commitment to the firm’s home community is described by the firm as a direct extension of “Robert Grabb’s lifelong belief that everyone has an obligation to give back to their community,” and the firm states it has been involved with local Tucson charities and community events over the years, per its own account. A specific, named charitable program comparable to those documented at some other firms in this series was not identified in the sources reviewed.
Recognition
Awesome Attorneys did not identify third-party awards, Super Lawyers or Best Lawyers listings, or peer-review ratings for Grabb & Durando in the sources reviewed for this profile. The firm’s most distinctive documented credential is the published Rowland v. Great State Insurance appellate decision described above, which functions as a form of independently verifiable, court-confirmed track record distinct from a marketing award.
The Arizona Legal Backdrop
What follows is general legal information about Arizona law, not legal advice. Arizona’s general statute of limitations for personal injury and wrongful death claims is two years (A.R.S. § 12-542). Arizona is a pure comparative negligence state (A.R.S. § 12-2505), reducing rather than barring a partly-at-fault claimant’s recovery.
Dog-bite claims, one of the firm’s stated practice areas, fall under Arizona’s strict-liability dog-bite statute (A.R.S. § 11-1025), which holds an owner responsible regardless of the animal’s prior history, subject to a shorter one-year limitations period specific to that statutory claim. And because the firm’s own history includes a workers’ compensation lien dispute (Rowland v. Great State Insurance), it’s worth noting that Arizona’s workers’ compensation system operates under a separate statutory framework (A.R.S. Title 23, Chapter 6) with its own lien and reimbursement rules — the precise area of law the Rowland decision addressed — distinct from the civil tort system governing the firm’s general personal injury docket.
This section is general legal information about Arizona statutes, not legal advice, and may not reflect changes after July 2026. Anyone with a potential injury claim should consult a licensed Arizona attorney promptly.
The Awesome Attorneys Assessment
Grabb & Durando closes this batch of ten with a firm whose founder’s biography — a family that fled Cuba, a brother independently confirmed as a former world No. 1 doubles tennis player and Pima County Sports Hall of Famer, three decades running a fee-reducing Tucson practice — is more colorful, and more independently verifiable, than most law-firm origin stories this series has encountered. Its Rowland v. Great State Insurance appellate win offers a rare piece of independently citable case law behind a firm’s track record, rather than only firm-reported settlement figures. The trade-off is a thin public record on two fronts this series usually documents well: third-party awards and individually attributed client reviews were not found for this firm in the sources available. For a Tucson-area reader focused on fee structure and a long, continuously operating local practice, Grabb & Durando’s three-decade record speaks for itself; a reader looking for peer-review ratings or Super Lawyers recognition will need to ask the firm directly.
Methodology & Sourcing
This profile was researched from Grabb & Durando’s own website (grabbanddurando.com), including its About Us page and Robert Grabb’s published biography, Martindale.com’s firm profile, Lawyers.com and USAttorneys.com directory listings, a Yelp business listing, and a catalog.lawyer directory profile. Facts are attributed to the firm or the cited third party throughout and were not independently re-verified against court records beyond the Rowland v. Great State Insurance citation as described by the firm, or against bar records. Readers should confirm current practice details directly with the firm before relying on them.
Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice
This profile is an independent editorial article published by Awesome Attorneys. Awesome Attorneys does not endorse, recommend, or warrant any lawyer or law firm profiled on this site, and inclusion in this series is not paid placement. “Awesome Attorneys” is a brand name only; it is not a rating, ranking, or claim that any profiled firm is superior in any legal category.
Awesome Attorneys maintains a separate attorney directory. Only listings there marked “Sponsored” or “Ad” reflect a paid or sponsored relationship with Awesome Attorneys; this editorial profile is not such a listing.
Facts, figures, and claims in this profile were independently researched from public sources as described in the Methodology & Sourcing section and are current only as of the research date; they are subject to change without notice, and readers should confirm any detail directly with the firm before relying on it. This notice supplements, and does not replace, the Attorney Advertising notice at the top of this profile.