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Arash Homampour
Founding Partner at THE HOMAMPOUR LAW FIRMArash Homampour is a trial attorney that represents individuals in catastrophic injury/wrongful death, employment and insurance bad faith matters throughout the State. He was named one of the top 30 Plaintiff attorneys in 2016 and 2018 in the State by the Los Angeles Daily Journal. He was named CAALA’s 2010 trial attorney of the year and has been nominated as trial attorney of the year every year since 2004. In 2017, he was named the Ventura County Trial Lawyer’s Association as Trial Attorney of the Year. In 2018, he was named the Orange County Trial Lawyer’s Association as it’s product liability Trial Attorney of the Year. In 2007, he was named one of the Top 20 Attorneys Under the Age of 40 by the Los Angeles Daily Journal. From 2005 through the present, he has earned the distinction of being a "Super Lawyer", with the additional recognition since 2010 as one of the top 100 Southern California Attorneys. He also handles appellate work, including successfully briefing and arguing before the California Supreme Court. He also appears as a legal analyst on television.
Ryan Saba
Partner at Rosen Saba LlpRyan Saba is an accomplished civil litigation and trial attorney. Ryan’s practice consists of prosecuting and defending individual, class action and mass action claims. He has considerable experience in a wide range of federal and state civil litigation and trial actions, including consumer litigation, employment litigation, women’s rights, complex business and entertainment disputes, catastrophic injury claims, professional responsibility, copyright/trademark, civil rights, maritime, and municipal, landowner and product liability. Ryan has been working with Jim Rosen since 1999 and is a founding partner of Rosen“RosenSaba, LLP.
John C. Carpenter
Partner at Carpenter, Zuckerman & RowleyFor over 25 years, John C. Carpenter has helped attorneys achieve unprecedented results
in complex, high-value cases. And, as a founding partner of Carpenter, Zuckerman & Rowley, he
has dedicated the firm and its resources to the principle that justice for injured people is more
important than insurance company profits. CZR is one of the largest plaintiffs firms in California
dedicated solely to personal injury cases, consistently achieving outstanding and record-setting
results for its clients.
John began his legal career handling and trying cases that other law firms rejected. He
prides himself on trying tough but meritorious cases. He is a graduate of Gerry Spence’s Trial
Lawyers College. As a trial lawyer, John has won over $100 million in verdicts and settlements
for individuals and their families. In addition to trial work, he has an active appellate practice and
has had two petitions reviewed by the Supreme Court of California.
In 2017, John was nominated for trial lawyer of the year by the Consumer Attorneys
Association of Los Angeles (CAALA). He considers the nomination to be one of the highlights of
his career. John has also been selected as a Top 100 Trial Lawyer and has been recognized by
VerdictSearch and by numerous other legal organizations in Los Angeles and across the nation.
CZR is a law firm that mobilizes and shares its knowledge, resources, and experiences –
wins and challenges – so that all injured people can have justice.
In his free time, John is an avid surfer, sailor, and ocean enthusiast. He always cherishes
time spent with his wife and two children, Charlotte and Jack.
Education: Southwestern Law School
Doctor of Law (JD): 1989 – 1991
University of California, Los Angeles: 1985-1988
Bobby Saadian
Founder of Wilshire Law FirmBobby Saadian, Esq. is the Founding President and Managing Attorney of Wilshire Law Firm. Possessing a sincere desire to help people who are in need, Mr. Saadian focuses his practice on representing Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Catastrophic Injury victims and their families in complex Motor Vehicle, Personal Injury, Product Liability, and Wrongful Death cases, as well as Employment Law and Class Action victims.
Utilizing an intricate network of highly-qualified medical and forensic experts, Mr. Saadian has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of his clients, including multiple eight-figure and countless 7 figure recoveries for his deserving clients. He puts his clients first, knowing that what Wilshire Law Firm fights for is not dollars and cents, but valuable human beings. A powerful advocate for the most vulnerable among us, Bobby supports childhood education, local communities, and more as an Executive Board Member of the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers’ Charities (LATLC).
Mr. Saadian’s expertise in brain injury cases has been honored with numerous awards and accolades, including an invitation to the National Trial Lawyers Top 25 Brain Injury Lawyers Association. He also serves on several leadership boards, including the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA) Board of Governors, the Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) Board of Directors, and the Dean’s Council of Pepperdine University School of Law.
Tony Strickland
Founder and CEO of Sports Concussion InstituteDr. Strickland is a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist with considerable experience in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of concussion and related disorders.
He is an Associate Clinical Professor of Neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (Behavioral Medicine) at the University of Georgia. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship and research practicum in psychopharmacology at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center; and a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at the Semel Neuropsychiatric Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
He is a fellow of the National Academy of Neuropsychology, the American Psychological Association Division 50 (Addictions), and the American College of Professional Neuropsychology.
Dr. Strickland is a Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Neuropsychology. He is a member of the pop Warner Medical Advisory Board, and he consults on Concussion Management Programs for hundreds of club, high school, collegiate, and professional organizations. Dr. Strickland’s research seeks to better characterize traumatic brain injury, dementia, and related neurobehavioral disorders across the life span.
Dr. Strickland utilizes multi-project investigations that employ brain imaging, neuropsychological, and other neurobehavioral assessments to pursue two overarching research themes:
the understanding of potential differential expression of neurobehavioral disorders among underserved populations across the life span.
the identification of effective assessment and diagnosis, and potentially promising treatment interventions to be explored in future clinical service and research.
An underlying focus of his work is the development of a research program consisting of experienced and committed professionals conducting innovative clinical neuroCenter for PCS and PTSD Treatmentence investigations that attract Center for PCS and PTSD Treatment from regional, national, and international communities.
He has been the principal investigator of a number of National Institute of Health supported research investigations, and has managed a large number of other projects primarily related to clinical neuroCenter for PCS and PTSD Treatment. He is the author of numerous research articles and has presented nationally and internationally.
Tina Odjaghian
Founding Partner at Odjaghian Law GroupMrs. Odjaghian specializes in catastrophic injury workers compensation litigation with an emphasis on brain injury. She has secured over 150 million dollars in settlements and awards on behalf of catastrophically injured workers with over 30 seven-figure settlements and awards just in the last few years alone. Her trial work has resulted in many published and even notable decisions in the workers compensation arena which have helped injured workers gain access to care industry wide.
Mrs. Odjaghian was recently installed as a board member to the UCLA Department of Neurosurgery and Neurosciences. She also sits on the Board of Governors of the Armenian Bar Association where she serves on their Judicial Evaluation Committee.
Mrs. Odjaghian serves in an advisory capacity to several other governing boards in the brain injury community. Mrs. Odjaghian is a certified course instructor licensed by the California Department of Insurance. She speaks to colleagues, doctors, and nurses on various continuing education panels regarding complex issues surrounding brain injury litigation.
Mrs. Odjaghian was honoured to be named a Super Lawyer in Los Angeles Magazine’s list of Southern California Super Lawyers for the fifth consecutive year in 2019.
Pejman Ben-Cohen
Founder of Carpenter, Zuckerman & RowleyPej embodies the values and commitment to clients that define CZ&R.
Pej believes in his core that being a trial lawyer is a noble calling. He has dedicated his career to standing up to insurance companies and large corporations on behalf of injured people.
Pej’s accomplishments – at the young age of 38 – are numerous. Pej has recovered tens of millions of dollars in jury trial wins and settlements. He is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and was named a Super Lawyer in 2014 – 2016. He was named a Top Attorney in California in 2010 and a Leader in Personal Injury Law in 2012 by Newsweek Magazine’s Showcase. The National Trial Lawyers Association named Pej as a “Top 100 Lawyer Nationwide” and placed him in the “Top 40 Under 40.” Pej was named to the 2018 10 Best Personal Injury Attorneys by the American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys.
More than anything, Pej is a dyed-in-the-wool trial lawyer. Pej focuses on our community’s need for another trial lawyer who has the freedom, skill, and passion to handle back-to-back jury trials. A graduate of Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College, Pej understands that insurance companies and corporations are waging a quiet war on ordinary people who have been injured. Their well-orchestrated public relations campaign demonizes victims who simply wish to be made whole.
Pej teaches young lawyers that our job is to push back against insurance companies and, through jury trials, hold them accountable to the members of our community. Pej teaches young lawyers that only by going to trial and obtaining verdicts will corporations begin to pay victims fair compensation.
More important, Pej practices law by getting to know his clients. To insurance companies, clients are merely a file or a collection of medical records. To Pej, clients are people who have hopes, dreams, and families, all of which have been disrupted or even destroyed by the misconduct of others. Pej teaches that it is only by spending time – a lot of time – with one’s clients can a trial lawyer understand his or her client’s human losses. Pej goes to his clients’ homes, meets with their families and friends, and ultimately tells the human story of what happened.
Finally, Pej embraces CZ&R’s deep commitment to community service. Pej was the second founding president of the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Charities, a non-profit organization committed to improving the quality of life for people in need, with a focus on education, children, and the homeless. Pej is similarly active in the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA) and Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC).
A. Ilyas Akbari
Senior Partner and Bioengineer at Wilshire Law Firm, PLCA. Ilyas Akbari is a senior partner and bioengineer at Wilshire Law Firm. He is an experienced aviation litigator and director of the firm's aviation litigation team, having worked on over 200 aviation cases since 2005. Ilyas has litigated crashes and incidents involving commercial airlines, charter operations, general aviation aircraft, military aircraft, seaplanes, and rescue and air ambulance aircraft, in addition to litigating product liability claims against many of the aircraft and component part manufacturers - this includes 29 cases against Robinson Helicopter Company, Inc.
The National Law Journal and ALM Media recognized Ilyas and his team in 2018 as Elite Trial Lawyers finalists in the Consumer Protection category for their achievement in representing the family of the only two American residents onboard Germanwings Flight 9525, whose co-pilot committed suicide by locking out the pilot and crashing the plane into the French Alps, killing all 150 souls. On the heels of the Daimler and Bristol-Myers Squibb opinions, and despite the airline not having any offices, employees, planes, equipment, routes or advertisements in the U.S., and never paying taxes in the U.S., he argued that Virginia’s long arm statute conferred personal jurisdiction over it because the German airline sold its tickets to passengers that resided in Virginia through its authorized agent and proxy, United Airlines. The Eastern District of Virginia agreed, in a published opinion, Selke v. Germanwings GmbH, 261 F. Supp. 3d 645 (E.D. Va. 2017).
Ilyas has served in numerous leadership positions and has represented clients in most of the major airline disasters, including the September 11 Litigation, American Airlines Flight 587, Air Midwest Flight 5481 (resulting in the first public apology by an airline), Southwest Airlines Flights 1248 and 1380, TACA Flight 390, Continental Airlines Flight 1404, Colgan Flight 3407, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 (only case proceeding to trial, settling prior to voir dire), Malaysia Air Flight 370 (MH370), Germanwings Flight 9525 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 (Boeing MAX8 litigation), among others.
Ilyas serves as Plaintiff Vice Chair to the Aviation and Space Law General Committee of the American Bar Association and is, additionally, the Editor of the ABA Aviation and Space Law Committee Newsletter for the 2020 calendar year. He is also honored to serve as Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America, an invitation-only trial lawyer honorary society representing less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers.
Best Lawyers in America® has recognized Ilyas in the Plaintiffs Product Liability Litigation category since 2016; Southern California Super Lawyers® has listed him as a top rated Aviation & Aerospace attorney since 2007. Additionally, Ilyas has been honored as a Southern California Super Lawyers® - Rising Stars, Up and Coming 100; the National Trial Lawyers: Top 100 Civil Plainiff Lawyers; the Aviation Trial Lawyers Association: Top 10; and Nations Top One Percent, National Association of Distinguished Counsel.
He has earned the highest AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rating through Lawyers.com / Martindale Hubbell®, the highest Avvo.com Superb Score of 10; and is listed in The Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers™, Martindale Hubbell®.
Taylor Smith
Director of Business Development at Wilshire Law Firm, PLCTaylor currently serves as the Director of Business Development for Wilshire Law Firm. This position comes years after practicing law from both the defense and plaintiff perspective.
Prior to joining the Wilshire Law Firm, Ms. Smith was employed by Scott J. Corwin, A Professional Law Corporation, where she worked as his senior associate attorney assisting victims of personal injury accidents. Before becoming a Plaintiff's attorney, Taylor was an associate with civil litigation firm, Daniels, Fine, Israel, Schonbuch and Lebovits, LLP. Here, Ms. Smith was given a tremendous amount of latitude and independence handling wide ranging catastrophic cases and as a result, has litigation experience well beyond her years. Ms. Smith handled the defense of cases concerning all areas of personal injury law. Smith was responsible for the case management and handling these lawsuits from their inception up until the time of trial. Taylor’s litigation experience includes defending and taking hundreds of expert and other depositions, drafting and opposing demurrers and motions including Motions for Summary Judgment, and significant pre-trial preparation including preparing and opposing motions in limine, exhibit and witness lists and trial briefs.
Taylor's experience from both sides of the V has prepared her to take on the role of director of business development at the esteemed Wilshire Law Firm.
Taylor Smith is a member of the California State Bar and received her law degree from Southwestern Law School. While attending Southwestern, she received the Dean's Merit Award, demonstrating academic excellence for students who are in the top 30% of their class. During law school, Ms. Smith took on several extracurricular activities. Most notably, she had the privilege of working for a Federal District Court Judge, the Honorable Judge Algenon L. Marbley.
Ms. Smith is an active member of Consumers Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA), Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) and the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers’ Charities (LATLC). She is a member of the Honorary Board of Governors of LATLC. Ms. Smith was named a member of the National Trial Lawyers’ Association (NTLA) Top 40 Under 40 Lawyer in California.