The Personification of the American Dream: Albert Abkarian
A successful personal injury attorney and business litigator, Albert Abkarian and his namesake firm boast a 33-year track record of results. He has been named a Super Lawyer for the past six years by attorney peers and Los Angeles Magazine and featured in Forbes and Newsweek magazine as a top attorney.
“My Armenian family immigrated to the U.S. from Iran during the revolution,” Abkarian says. “I was 15 and couldn’t speak a word of English, but education was my goal, so I worked as a law clerk and went to school at night.”
That experience of escaping to a new place with his family led to his pursuit of the legal profession where he represented people in court. He attributes success to hard work and the opportunities afforded by life in the United States where that effort can translate into a rewarding career. Albert Abkarian & Associates prides itself on providing personalized, boutique service and a high success rate in personal injury, business litigation and entertainment law cases that have earned them a myriad of awards and recognitions. Abkarian is also a statewide lecturer on ethics and personal injury and is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court Central District, U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit, California Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Nowhere else in the world do you get a chance to work hard and get to where you are,” Abkarian said. “My dad said it doesn’t matter what you do in life. As long as you are the best at what you do, you will succeed. That has become my mantra.”
In addition to his work as an attorney, he has found success mentoring young attorneys and law clerks. He has had in excess of 30 clerks who have worked in his office, and they have all become attorneys. Rather than seeing them as future competition, he appreciates the opportunity to help people have a path to help themselves. There may be a chance to mentor his own children, who are now young adults. His eldest son is planning to take the bar exam next year, while his younger son is a student at U.C. San Diego and plans to become a lawyer.
Looking forward, Abkarian says that technology is key to growing his practice. He launched a mobile app for clients in the Apple and Google app stores. Its features help intake new clients by allowing them to enter information, ask questions and upload documents, such as contracts that are summarized using AI technology. The app can also scan medical bills and search for duplicate charges.
It’s become an integral part of his business. There are added costs for the new resources, but the time savings are enormous, and it has allowed the practice to expand by reviewing more cases while concurrently lowering the number of billable hours needed to research and evaluate a case. It comes at a time when insurance companies have become more litigious on personal injury cases and are going to trial more often. He noted that there are some months in which there are no cases settled, whereas insurance companies were less likely to go to trial in the past.
“We have moved to the next generation of AI. It has broadened our ability to review more cases and gives us a better understanding of the issues that we need to research. It’s opened up a brand-new way to review everything,” Abkarian said.
Abkarian & Associates offers the resources of a large firm, while maintaining the personalized service and cost-effectiveness of a small firm. Every case is personal to them. To get in touch, call (855) 888-1808 or email info@abkarianlaw.com.
3827 Ocean View Blvd. | Montrose, California 91020