George S. Azadian

Azadian started his career working in some of the nation's largest defense law firms, representing huge companies, but his goal was to become an advocate for those not on the cover of Forbes magazine.

Today, the president of Azadian Law Group represents plaintiffs in wrongful termination, workplace discrimination and whistleblowers matters.

"There's a major disconnect there from people whose lives have been impacted by major corporations," Azadian said. "When someone is unfairly treated in the workplace, it takes a personal hit on them."

Many who file a legal complaint "have a desire to see the company do better," Azadian said. "We try everything we can to get their lives back on track."

Azadian represents high-level clients in entertainment and businesses including health care and financial services.

"I've spent entire days just negotiating a press release," he said. "It is just so important for my clients to have that good standing."

Some of Azadian's more recent legal successes have involved arbitration, which "is becoming more and more common," he said. "We've had a lot of success in that forum. It's very different in that court, but it has a lot of things you can use in your client's favor."

The process can be challenging, Azadian said. "Your audience is a single attorney, who's also a retired judge. They view things a lot differently than 12 jurors."

In July 2019, Azadian won $6.25 million in an employment retaliation case that was resolved through arbitration.

In March he handled a severance negotiation for a seven-figure amount in Orange County. Along with the money, this case involved making sure the person's online and pubic reputation "was intact and positive," he added.

Azadian has had recent success in the courtroom as well, including a class action on behalf of 700 people that involved incorrect wage statements for beverage company delivery drivers. It was resolved this year. Celiz v. Bottling Group LLC BC678071, (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Oct. 6, 2017).

Azadian said the pandemic didn't affect proceedings. "The court had ruled on everything. The only thing left was final approval," he said.

The plaintiffs argued their wage statements didn't include all the information required under the California Labor Code, and won $700,000. Azadian said his clients were satisfied with the outcome.

-- Karen Weil