Attorneys

A.J. was born in Northridge, California on February 20, 1980. He received his B.A. in Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts from the University of California at San Diego in 2002 and then proceeded to the University of San Diego School of Law, earning his J.D. in 2006. While in Law School, A.J. was awarded a scholarship from the Warren Family Endowment, was a member of the International Law Journal, and also received the Outstanding Oral Advocacy Award in his first year lawyering skills class. He was admitted to the California State Bar in January of 2007.

A.J. says: "I've always been grateful for the opportunities I've had to help others and pursue just causes. As a teenager, I was active in the Boy Scouts of America. In pursuing my goal of achieving the Eagle Scout rank, I was blessed with many chances to work for the common good.

Our group contributed to the community in a variety of ways, ranging from constructing small installations at local state parks to conducting fund-raisers for charitable projects. Four years of backpacking, hiking, and volunteering finally culminated with the last step in my pursuit of the Eagle Scout rank: my final project. To fulfill this requirement, I designed and constructed a wooden kiosk at a trail head. The group celebrated my accomplishment by holding a ceremony for me, where I was encouraged to invite city council members from the community.

At the end of the ceremony, I was to give a closing speech about my experience with community service and my future aspirations. Much to the dismay of my Scoutmaster, I took the opportunity to voice my concerns over a social issue that had disturbed me for some time. There was a street corner in the neighborhood where many poor men, mostly immigrants, would gather on the weekends with the hopes of finding work. They were hardworking men whom many adults in the community employed from time to time to help with various projects in the neighborhood. In the recent months, however, the city council had placed a large sign on that corner threatening anyone who solicited work with criminal fines.

At my Eagle Scout ceremony, with the mayor and other city council members in attendance, I proceeded to respectfully lambast them for their shortsighted and unkind efforts to keep poor people from finding employment. Although this speech earned me a severe reprimand from my Scoutmaster, several other people at the ceremony, including the Scoutmaster's wife, later came up to me and told me that they agreed with my stance and were glad I voiced my opinion.

This event sparked something within me that caused me to look for other areas where I could provoke a reaction from people in charge, especially those who were adversely affecting an "underdog" group. In college, I worked with the California Public Interest Rights Group to promote legislation that was beneficial to the environment and the common consumer. We took a road trip to Sacramento where we had the chance to meet with state legislators to lobby for certain environmental bills, some of which actually were later enacted into law.

After this and other small victories, I yearned for more challenges and thought, what better place to learn how to take on large corporations for the benefit of the earth and the common man than law school? I decided to attend the University of San Diego School of Law, where I had several more opportunities to fight for just causes. I spent a semester with the Environmental Law Clinic working on cases affecting the quality of life of local San Diegans. I also interned with the Employee Rights Center representing employees against employers that were trying to take every advantage of the people who had worked so hard for them.

The road to becoming a lawyer was not without its sacrifices and extreme difficulties, but to finally take the oath to uphold the Constitutions of the United States and the great state of California as an attorney at law filled me with the greatest feeling of pride and honor as a human being. In addition to the intellectual challenges of being a lawyer, I am thrilled every day to be part of the team dedicated to fighting corporate greed and deception for the good of the common man."