Mike Arias

Mike Arias is the founding and managing partner of Arias Sanguinetti Stahle & Torrijos LLP. During his 30+ year career, he has handled matters throughout the United States and has litigated and tried matters from New York to Texas to California, in both state and federal court. He has served as lead, co-lead or liaison counsel in well over 100 class and mass tort actions. He has resolved hundreds of matters, either by trial, arbitration or settlement, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in recovery for the firm’s clients. His most recent class action trial victory resulted in a judgment and subsequent settlement in excess of $19 million and his most recent major personal injury matter resulted in a $10 million settlement. Although his practice is diverse, he primarily handles the firm’s complex, class action, multi-party, mass tort, major personal injury, employment and business litigation matters.

Mr. Arias has written, lectured and spoken on various subjects at law schools, legal seminars, webinars and legal conferences on topics including: class actions, mass tort litigation, expert witness depositions, death care litigation, unfair business practices, business litigation, settlement issues and strategies, construction defect litigation, business torts, complex litigation, electronic evidence, discovery, jury selection, employment law, trial of class actions and representative actions. He also has been featured in numerous local, state and national news articles and professional publications. Mr. Arias has obtained an “AV” rating by Martindale-Hubbell. The “AV” rating is the highest rating given and is awarded only upon reaching “heights” of professional excellence, both in terms of legal ability and ethical standards. He has also been selected annually as a Southern California Super Lawyer, an honor reserved for the top 5% of attorneys practicing in Southern California. Mr. Arias has also been retained as an expert witness/consultant in numerous matters.

Mr. Arias is admitted to practice law in California, New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia. He also is admitted before numerous federal courts throughout the country. He serves on the Board of Governors of the American Association of Justice (“AAJ”), is Third Vice-President of the Consumer Attorneys of California (“CAOC”) and currently serves as Second Vice-President of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (“CAALA”). Mr. Arias serves as Vice-chair of the Class Action Litigation Group of AAJ, Chair of the Education Committee of CAOC and is the Founding Chair of CAALA’s Plaintiffs Trial Academy. He is a member of the American Bar Association, Public Justice, California Employment Lawyers Association (“CELA”), Los County Bar Association and the Sports Lawyers Association. He served as an arbitrator for the Beverly Hills/Los Angeles County Bar Association Fee Dispute Program and serves as a Settlement Officer for the Los Angeles County Superior Court “Crash Settlement” Program. Mr. Arias has been certified as an agent with the National Basketball Players’ Association, Major League Baseball Players’ Association and National Football League Players’ Association, and has negotiated millions of dollars in contracts for dozens of professional athletes.

Mr. Arias is the immediate past President of the Neighborhood Council of Westchester/Playa del Rey. He served as Vice-President of Governmental Affairs of the LAX Coastal Area Chamber of Commerce and serves on the Board (and is a past Chair) of the Westchester Family YMCA. He serves on the Board of Directors of numerous organizations including the Westchester Playa Del Rey Youth Foundation, LAPD Pacific Area Boosters Association and served on the Board of the Westchester Rotary Club. In addition, he volunteers in various other organizations, has chaired several charity golf tournaments and has coached several youth sports teams.

Mr. Arias has been honored as Citizen of the Year by the Los Angeles Police Department – Pacific Division Boosters; as Entrepreneur of the Year by the Loyola Marymount University – School of Business; as Volunteer of the Year by the Westchester Family YMCA of Los Angeles, the Community Service Award by the LAX Coastal Area Chamber of Commerce and was awarded the YMCA Kids Need Heroes – Community Pillar Award. He was recently inducted into the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles’ Golden Book – the Y’s highest honor – in recognition of his many years of service.