Los Angeles law firm accused of unauthorized practice in Texas, Virginia, Arizona, Iowa and Michigan
Farid Yaghoubtil, a plaintiff personal injury lawyer, is one of four lawyers from California’s DTLA Law Group charged by the state bar trial counsel with multistate unauthorized law practice and collecting illegal fees. (Screenshot via YouTube)
Three lawyers associated with California’s DTLA Law Group were charged with operating personal injury practices in jurisdictions where they are not licensed, according to a State Bar of California media advisory.
Charges announced Thursday by the bar’s Office of Chief Trial Counsel are against two of the firm’s founding partners, Daniel Azizi and Farid Yaghoubtil, and Igor Fradkin, a lawyer at the firm. Besides multistate unauthorized law practice, the charges involve collecting illegal fees.
“While we are disappointed with the decision to file charges, we look forward to presenting all the facts and evidence and fully cooperating with the Office of Chief Trial Counsel,” a spokesperson for the firm told the ABA Journal.
The charges are similar to those brought in March against Salar Hendizadeh, a former partner at the firm. The state bar’s trial counsel filed a request that the cases be heard together.
Hendizadeh in April asked the State Bar Court of California to dismiss the charges, on the basis that bar trial counsel did not adequately allege misconduct, Reuters reports.
According to the state bar advisory, Azizi and Yaghoubtil did not secure local counsel in multiple jurisdictions outside of California, and they let nonattorney staff issue legal advice and documents they weren’t authorized to provide. DTLA allegedly represented their firm as authorized to practice in jurisdictions including Texas, Florida, Maryland, Arizona, Iowa, Michigan, Tennessee and Virginia.
Additionally, state bar trial counsel claims Azizi supervised lawyers who did work in jurisdictions where he knew they were not licensed.
Also, state bar trial counsel alleges that Yaghoubtil continued to represent a client after the client fired him and had new counsel. The agency also alleges that Yaghoubtil secured a high-interest loan for a client under false pretenses.
Fradkin allegedly practiced law in Texas and Maryland, where he is not licensed, and helped the partners “in a broader scheme of unauthorized multistate practice,” according to the state bar advisory.
Separately, DTLA is being investigated for allegedly filing false claims in a settlement Los Angeles County made regarding more than 6,000 sexual abuse claims, according to Reuters. The news agency also reported that the law firm is named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed by Uber. The complaint alleges that various law firms conspired with medical providers to submit artificially inflated medical bills.
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