Abbas Hadjian

ENCINO - Abbas Hadjian earned his first law degree in 1965 in his native Iran, but he only began actually practicing law in 1988 after he came to Southern California. Now, he is the leader of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s family law section.

He acquired his thorough knowledge of California family law in 2000 by writing a 400- page book about it in Farsi. “In Iran, it is the main source for people who want to get divorced here,” he said.

Not surprisingly, his practice is unique. Typically, he spends about a third of his time representing other native Iranians in family law matters here. “I know Farsi, I know how they talk, I know what they mean,” he said. He has temporarily stopped taking most new cases since he became chair of the county bar section’s executive committee in August.

Another third of his time is spent serving as a volunteer mediator in family law matters at several local courthouses under the L.A. Superior Court’s daily settlement officer program. Hadjian said he believes many divorce matters involving people from other cultures are especially suitable for mediation.

In some countries, including Iran, a U.S. court’s divorce judgment and property division would not be enforceable. But an agreement reached between the spouses during mediation can be enforced, he said.

Hadjian spends the remaining third of his practice serving as an expert witness in courts around the country on issues related to Iranian family and civil law. His résumé lists more than 50 matters he has worked on, from Perth, Australia, to California, Nebraska and Connecticut — plus one in U.S. Tax Court in New York.

Frequently, he is asked to assess the validity of an Iranian marriage or divorce or of a dowry paid by a groom to his bride. Other times, he is asked about other aspects of Iranian civil law or to verify other court documents.

In the tax court case, Hadjian was asked to verify documents supporting the claim of a U.S. taxpayer to a $5.5 million capital loss due to his property having been confiscated by the government of Iran.

Cross-cultural understanding in family law courts is central to his work. So in 2013, Hadjian launched the Cultural Competency in Family Practice project, which every year puts on a one-day conference about it. His goal was to teach people that, for instance, a party in a divorce who won’t look the judge in the eye is not being disrespectful. “It is probably because his or her culture doesn’t allow one to look at a judge’s eyes,” he said. “In these 10 years, without exaggeration, we have had close to 10,000 attendees and 100 to 200 teachers,” most of them judges, at the conferences, he said proudly.

- DON DEBENEDICTIS