Mike Arias

Arias is a self-described “military brat.” His stepfather was an officer in the military. Though Arias didn’t follow in his stepfather’s footsteps, he defends legal and constitutional ideals as an attorney.

As a plaintiffs’ attorney, Arias spends much of his time helping people who are in some way disenfranchised.

“I think if you represent a major corporation and you get a victory for them, sure, they’re happy as hell because you saved them money or got them money,” Arias said. “But when you help somebody who’s been severely injured or lost a loved one or lost a limb or was fired because of their age or their sexual preference, there’s no better feeling.”

He is co-liaison counsel for more than 160 individuals who accuse George Tyndall, a former University of Southern California gynecologist, of assault.

Arias played a critical role in drafting legislation that would change the statute of limitations given to assault survivors to report crimes.

“It was something that needed to be done,” Arias said. “We did this legislation so that all the victims, even the ones that have not yet filed, have a right to confront Tyndall and to pursue their claims individually.”

Consumer Attorneys of California, of which Arias is the president, played a role in getting the legislation to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk. He also served as the president of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles in 2018.

Arias said his roles in the community as a changemaker and educator are of vital importance to him. Through policy-making advocacy through CAOC, the litigation he handles and the young lawyers he’s mentored through plaintiff’s organizations, Arias said good lawyers dedicate themselves to their communities as as well as the courtroom.

“This [Top 100] award comes to me at a time when I think, ‘Wow, it’s a nice culmination of not just being a lawyer’ because most people I hope are good lawyers,” Arias said. “But combine that with all the other things that I’ve accomplished and led and tried to do to make the practice of law easier for consumers and easier for trial lawyers, it has been, I think, more of an accomplishment.”

— Nicole Tyau