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A NOTE TO READERS. This profile was researched and written independently by Awesome Attorneys’ editorial team. Rusing Lopez Lizardi & Saffer, PLLC did not pay for, request, or review this article prior to publication, and placement on Awesome Attorneys’ editorial pages cannot be purchased. Nothing in this article is legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Past results do not guarantee, warrant, or predict the outcome of any future case.
At a Glance
| Firm | Rusing Lopez Lizardi & Saffer, PLLC |
| Founded | July 1992, as Rusing & Lopez, PLLC, by Stanford Law classmates Michael “Mick” Rusing and Pat Lopez |
| Offices | Tucson (headquarters) and Scottsdale (opened 2018) |
| Size | Roughly 20 attorneys plus support staff, per the firm’s own materials |
| Focus | Commercial litigation, corporate/business law, banking and finance, real estate, labor and employment, and intellectual property |
Sources: rllsaz.com (firm site), Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, University of Arizona Law news release. Compiled August 2026.
Origin
Thirty-Plus Years, Three Names, One Tucson Root
Rusing Lopez Lizardi & Saffer traces to July 1992, when Stanford Law School classmates Michael “Mick” Rusing and Pat Lopez founded Rusing & Lopez, PLLC in Tucson. Oscar Lizardi, a 1995 University of Arizona law graduate, joined in 2000; the firm was renamed Rusing Lopez & Lizardi in 2011, then took its current name after Jonathan Saffer’s addition as an equity partner. The firm opened a second office in Scottsdale in 2018 and has grown to roughly 20 attorneys, per its own current materials.
Practice
A Full-Service Commercial Practice With a Recognized Litigation Bench
The firm’s stated practice spans commercial and insurance-defense litigation, construction and toxic tort matters, employment and class-action litigation, banking and finance, real estate, corporate/business transactions, and intellectual property. Multiple attorneys — including Jonathan Saffer (bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights, commercial litigation) and Mark Lammers (civil litigation across state and federal courts, including the Ninth Circuit) — carry individual Best Lawyers recognitions in commercial-litigation-adjacent categories, indicating litigation strength runs across several attorneys rather than concentrating in a single name partner.
Track Record
No consolidated table of case results, verdicts, or settlement figures was located on the firm’s own site or in the third-party sources reviewed for this profile; the firm’s public materials describe its practice by area and personnel rather than by itemized case outcomes.
Past-Results Disclaimer: Every case is different, and no past result guarantees a similar outcome in any future matter.
Client Voice
No independently sourced, attributed client reviews were located for this firm in the directories and legal-industry sources reviewed for this profile — a gap consistent with a firm whose clientele (per its own description, ranging from “multi-national corporations to individual businessmen and women”) skews toward business relationships less likely to generate public consumer-style reviews than a consumer-facing injury or family-law practice.
Community
In 2022, the firm contributed $50,000 to the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law’s “A New Day in Court” courtroom-renovation initiative, funding what the university describes as the “Rusing Lopez & Lizardi Judge’s Bench” within a modernized advocacy-training courtroom — a documented, named philanthropic commitment tied to legal education rather than general marketing.
Recognition
Firm attorneys have collectively held Best Lawyers recognitions for 18 consecutive years as of the firm’s most recent published materials, spanning 18 separate practice-area categories in a recent edition, including Commercial Litigation, Corporate Law, Real Estate Law, and several litigation subcategories. Two attorneys, J. William Brammer Jr. and Mark D. Lammers, have received Best Lawyers’ “Lawyer of the Year” designation in their respective categories. No attorney at the firm is listed as an Arizona Board of Legal Specialization certified specialist in the practice areas covered by this profile, so this profile does not use the word “specialist” to describe any firm attorney.
The Arizona Legal Backdrop
What follows is general legal information, not legal advice.
Most business and commercial contract disputes in Arizona are subject to a six-year statute of limitations for written contracts under A.R.S. § 12-548, or three years for unwritten contracts under A.R.S. § 12-543. Arizona also permits recovery of reasonable attorney fees in contested actions arising out of contract under A.R.S. § 12-341.01, a fee-shifting provision that shapes litigation strategy in commercial disputes differently than in the personal injury matters elsewhere in this series.
The Awesome Attorneys Assessment
Rusing Lopez Lizardi & Saffer’s genuine differentiator is three decades of continuous Tucson operation combined with a litigation bench deep enough that Best Lawyers recognition spans multiple named attorneys across multiple practice categories, rather than resting on a single rainmaker. The honest caveat: as a full-service commercial firm serving both plaintiff and defense sides of insurance and litigation matters depending on the client and matter, prospective clients evaluating the firm for a specific dispute should confirm which side of that particular matter the firm and its attorneys would represent, since the firm’s practice is not limited to one side of the docket the way a plaintiff-only or defense-only practice would be.
Methodology & Sourcing
This profile was researched in August 2026 from rllsaz.com (firm site, including its published Firm History page), Best Lawyers’ firm and attorney listings, Super Lawyers, and a University of Arizona Law news release documenting the firm’s 2022 courtroom-renovation gift. Rusing Lopez Lizardi & Saffer, PLLC did not commission, review, or pay for this profile.
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.