Kathi Sandweiss, a former award-winning television journalist, now enjoys a combined arbitration and appellate practice. She is a partner at Jaburg & Wilk, P.C., where she has practiced law over 30 years. Since 2016, Kathi has been an active commercial arbitrator on the roster of the American Arbitration Association. Her AAA cases have included complex asbestos trust claims, franchise agreements, service agreements, landlord/tenant disputes, emergency injunctive relief in a cannabis dispute and multiple consumer claims. She served as sole arbiter on a complex commercial case, with over $1.4 million in dispute, involving issues of breach of contract, UCC and agriculture law. She is currently chair of a three-arbitrator panel in a complex multi-state arbitration. In her capacity as an AAA neutral, she has addressed various procedural issues, including arbitrability, attorney disqualification, jurisdiction and discovery disputes.
She is on the Alternative Dispute Resolution Executive Council, State Bar of Arizona. She presented a seminar on arbitrability at the 2021 State Bar Convention and has written on the issue of delegation clauses in arbitration agreements – “Putting the Shine on Schein.”
Her arbitration practice is enhanced and enlightened by years of appellate experience – she has filed more than 150 appellate briefs and petitions for review in the Arizona Court of Appeals, the Arizona Supreme Court, the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court, and has 23 published opinions.
Kathi is a 1977 graduate of UCLA, a 1986 graduate of ASU College of Law, a long-time (albeit slower) long-distance runner and proud Savta to Felix and Fiona.
Associations and Memberships
-Member of American Arbitration Association®’s Roster of Arbitrators and Mediators
-Maricopa County Superior Court, Former Judge Pro Temp
-Arizona State Bar Appellate Practice Section, Past Chair
-Lecturer on a variety of appellate practice issues, including participation in annual Arizona
-State Bar seminar, "Bankruptcy Ambushes Lurking in the Legal Jungle."
-Organized and moderated 2001 Arizona State Bar convention seminar, "Don't Lose Your Appeal: Traps for the Unwary."
-Faculty member, Arizona Appellate Practice Institute.
-Lectured on Uniform Commercial Code-Sales, attorney conflicts and disqualification, inheritance rights of adoptive children, the Arizona homestead statute, and more.
-Published articles include "Adoptive Child's Right to Inherit," Arizona Attorney, March 1997; "Preserving the Family Farm in an Urban Age: Recent Changes to the Arizona Judgment Lien and Homestead Statutes," Arizona Attorney, September 1997 and "Foreign Judgments and Community Property," Arizona Attorney, November 2009.
-Temple Chai, Healing Committee
-Master of the Bench, Former Horace Rumpole American Inn of Court
-Girls on the Run, Previously Volunteered as a Running Buddy
-Hospice of the Valley, Former Volunteer
-Wills for Heroes Foundation, Volunteer
Professional Experience
- Arbitrator for the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals
- Lead attorney in Jaburg Wilk's Appellate Law Department
- Filed more than 100 appellate briefs and petitions for review in the Arizona Court of Appeals, the Arizona Supreme Court, the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
- Contributor to State Bar of Arizona Arizona Attorney Blog
- Unique experience and practice in Bankruptcy appeals
- Extensive experience in commercial litigation
- Prior to beginning her legal career, Kathi worked as an on-air radio and television news reporter, winning a 1982 Rocky Mountain Emmy for the series "The Phoenix Epidemic."
Awards and Recognition
- Best Lawyers in America- Appellate Practice - 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
- Phoenix Magazine - Top Lawyer, Appellate Law, 2022, 2023
- Women in the Law 2017, Best Lawyers
- Rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell
- Commercial Arbitration Panel Member, American Arbitration Association, 2016
- Rocky Mountain - Emmy Winner, 1982
Court Admissions
-Arizona, 1986
-U.S. District Court, District of Arizona
-U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
-United States Supreme Court
