FOIAzona

A law firm with close personal ties to Gov. Katie Hobbs has reaped a series of government contracts since Hobbs took office, according to procurement records obtained by FOIAzona.

Coppersmith Brockelman PLC (CBPLC) is known in the political world as a Democratic law firm. It has worked with a revolving cast of progressive groups and causes over the years. But the firm is especially known for its unique relationship with Hobbs, including through:

• Roopali Desai – A high-profile partner at CBPLC and a very close friend of Hobbs who even administered her gubernatorial oath of office in January 2023. Desai left the firm upon being confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2022 with the support of Hobbs.

• Andy Gaona – A high-profile partner at CBPLC and “Hobbs’s go-to outside counsel in important cases.” Gaona left the firm in 2026 upon being appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals by Hobbs.

• Bo Dul – Senior counsel at States United Democracy Center, which has (controversially) represented Hobbs pro bono, who later joined the Governor’s Office as Hobbs’s general counsel. She left the office in 2025 to become a partner at CBPLC.

Most notably, CBPLC represented the Katie Hobbs Inaugural Fund in the well-known investigation conducted by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.

It’s hard to convey the unique closeness of these relationships to those who don’t work in politics full-time. But let’s just say that in 2024, when I first noticed the new Hobbs administration award a government contract to CBPLC, I raised my eyebrows.

Rather than submit a FOIA request — Hobbs is infamous for public records obstruction — I decided to sit back and wait, curious if the administration would continue to award more if they thought no one was watching. What happened blew me away. I checked in with the procurement office every few months, and more and more contracts kept appearing.

As of 2026, it appears that CBPLC now provides legal counsel to several state agencies, including the Arizona Department of Health Services, the Arizona Department of Administration, the Arizona Department of Water Resources, and the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System:

You’ll notice all six of the contracts initiated under the Hobbs administration are designated “competition impracticable,” which generally speaking means that they did not follow a standard competitive bidding process.

I can’t speak to the internal justification for awarding these contracts — maybe CBPLC has a rare and wide-ranging expertise that I don’t know about — but I will do my best to summarize the contracts below and will link to the procurement records that I obtained for everyone’s reference.

I also filed FOIA requests with each agency immediately before publishing this blog post in order to determine how much the State of Arizona has been invoiced for the firm’s services.

Contract Number CTR053734

Signed by CBPLC partner Roopali Desai in 2021, this DHS contract was initiated under Gov. Doug Ducey. It involves litigation related to the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act and the Smart and Safe Arizona Act (Proposition 207), the latter of which legalized recreational marijuana in November 2020. (The firm helped draft and defend the proposition in court.) Only 25 days after Hobbs took office, her administration extended the contract (signed by CBPLC partner Andy Gaona) and then extended again in March 2023 (also Gaona). The initial estimated cost was listed as up to $1 million and was increased to $1.5 million in that March 2023 amendment. See the records here.

Contract Number CTR071079

Signed by CBPLC partner Andy Gaona in 2024, this DHS contract was initiated under Hobbs. It involves “litigation claims related to the Sober Living Assisted Facilities” and was entered into explicitly “[p]er request from the Governor’s Office.” The initial estimated cost was listed as up to $3 million. The hourly price sheet was amended a few times, including in August 2025 when CBPLC partner Bo Dul (Hobbs’s general counsel) was added as counsel at $450 per hour. See the records here.

Contract Number CTR072505

Signed by CBPLC partner Andy Gaona in 2024, this ADOA contract was initiated under Hobbs. It involves “civil claims against the Department” and was entered into at the agency’s request following a disqualification notice filed by the Attorney General’s Office. The initial estimated cost was listed as up to $2 million. A conflict of interest statement later was filed with ADOA noting that the firm was “represent[ing] client (the Katie Hobbs Inaugural Fund) in an investigation being conducted by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office regarding potential violations of A.R.S. § 16-192.” See the records here.

Contract Number CTR076148

Signed by CBPLC partner Andy Gaona in 2025, this ADWR contract was initiated under Hobbs. It involves a defense of the agency and its director “in two separate actions filed in Maricopa County Superior Court challenging certain groundwater rules and regulations.” The initial estimated cost was listed as up to $120,000 per year. See the records here.

Contract Number CTR078912

Signed by CBPLC partner Austin Yost in 2025, this AHCCCS contract was initiated under Hobbs. It involves miscellaneous legal counsel for the agency. The initial estimated cost was listed as up to $100,000 but was extended in May 2026 to up to $200,000. See the records here.

Contract Number CTR080765

Signed by CBPLC partner Austin Yost in 2026, this ADWR contract was initiated under Hobbs. It involves “an appeal and special action lawsuit” related to “the assured water supply program” and was justified internally under the notion that the agency’s “in-house attorneys” were busy with “priorities for the Governor’s Office.” The initial estimated cost was listed as up to $600,000. See the records here.

Contract Number CTR081886

Signed by CBPLC partner Austin Yost in 2026, this ADWR contract was initiated under Hobbs. The language in this engagement letter appears to be identical to that in CTR080765 — they may, in fact, be the same document — so it’s unclear whether the initial estimated cost (up to $600,000) is duplicative. See the records here.

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