Grant Woods, Esq. - Founder, Chairman Emeritus

Grant Woods was one of Arizona’s premier attorneys and enjoyed a superior reputation as a trial lawyer, a negotiator, and was well respected in the world of government relations. Grant graduated from Occidental College in 1976, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was the 2000 Occidental College Alumnus of the Year. He graduated from Arizona State University College of Law in 1979 and was the 1999 Alumnus of the Year from the law school. He served as the first Congressional Chief of Staff for John McCain of Arizona.

Grant Woods served as Arizona's Attorney General from 1991-1999. He led the ballot among all candidates in the 1990 and 1994 elections. The Honorable Mr. Woods was President of the Conference of Western Attorneys General and chaired the Civil Rights and Supreme Court committees for the National Association of Attorneys’ General. He was selected by his peers as the nation's top attorney general in 1995. He successfully argued Lewis v. Casey before the United States Supreme Court. He was one of the principal architects of the states' lawsuits against the tobacco companies and was a key negotiator in the resulting largest civil settlement in history.

Mr. Woods also had a successful government relations practice whose former clients included Apollo/University of Phoenix, Diageo, Wellpoint, Monsanto, Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes, Toyota Motor Company, Meritage Homes, American Communications Network and Best Western International to name a but a few.

After returning to private practice in 1999, Grant won many multi-million dollar verdicts, including successful litigation involving antitrust, fraud, breach of contract, wrongful termination, medical malpractice, and toxic torts. His recent jury verdicts included a 269 million dollar federal verdict on behalf of Meritage Homes (the ninth largest verdict in the country in 2008), 11 million dollars against Arizona Public Service for negligence, a 4.5 million dollar verdict against Maricopa County, the largest whistleblower verdict in State history, and a 2 million dollar verdict against American Family Insurance in Colorado Federal Court. Mr. Woods was appointed as a Special Prosecutor to investigate public corruption in Apache County, resulting in the conviction and removal from office of the Apache County Sheriff. He has also special prosecuted murder cases in Cochise County and Maricopa County in recent years. He had also been elected to the International Academy of Trial Lawyers which is limited to the top 500 trial lawyers in the world.

Grant Woods was the founder of the Mesa Boys & Girls Club, the Mesa Education Foundation and the Mesa Arts Academy, one of Arizona's first successful charter schools. The Mesa Boys & Girls Club, one of the largest in the State, is named after Mr. Woods. Grant won honors from the American Lung Association, the Salvation Army, Chicanos Por La Causa, the Children's Action Alliance and won the 2014 ASU Gold 'n Gavel Award for Public Service. As Arizona Attorney General Mr. Woods helped create MEAPA, an organization that promotes public awareness, education, and community outreach for the prevention of Elder Abuse and Late-Life Domestic Violence.

Grant passed away unexpectedly on October 21st, 2021. His is survived by his wife Marlene Galan Woods, a former Fox and CBS news anchor and current candidate for U.S. Congress, as well as their five children. He carries on as our guiding light and Chairman Emeritus even after death.

Rich Rossi, Esq. - Founder, Co-President

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James Austin Woods, Esq. - Founder, Co-President

Austin Woods is a superior attorney in Arizona with extensive experience in both civil and criminal litigation, negotiations, government relations and media management in high profile cases. Mr. Woods focuses his practice on advising clients through commercial and criminal legal issues that also have nuanced political and public relations aspects.

He founded Woods Law Offices in 2009, after serving in the Maricopa County Legal Defender Office and has collaborated with Wilenchik & Bartness on various civil and criminal litigation matters. Mr. Woods also served as an Arizona Assistant Attorney General in the Child Services Division successfully representing the Division in over 500 cases for troubled families and children.

Mr. Woods served as a Foreign Policy and Defense Division Clerk in the Office of Former United States Senator John McCain and staffed the Senator’s successful efforts to target pork-barrel spending and reform Senate practices.

Mr. Woods received his Bachelor of Science in Political Science with a Minor in English Literature with Honors at Arizona State University where he also served as an editor and columnist for the State Press, a premier college newspaper with daily distribution of 50,000. He earned his Juris Doctorate in Law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law earning the more trial credits than any other student in his class by working with the Maricopa County Public Defender and Mesa City Prosecutor’s Office.

Mr. Woods has served as a State Championship Judge for the Arizona High School Mock Trial Competition since 2016. He also founded Bright Angel Records bringing national attention to the Arizona music scene and has served as music supervisor for several films as well as produced a music documentary with Fervor Records.