The State Bar of California filed charges Monday against partners and a litigation attorney at Downtown LA Law Group, accusing them of signing up clients across the U.S. without the required out-of-state authorization—while the firm faces other inquiries tied
For people who file personal injury claims, the promise is simple: their case will be handled by lawyers who are properly authorized to do the work—and honest about where they can legally represent them.
On Monday. the State Bar of California charged partners and a litigation attorney at Downtown LA Law Group with alleged conduct that. if proven. strikes at that foundation. The charges land as the firm sits at the center of a separate. larger Los Angeles County scandal tied to the county’s $4-billion sex abuse settlement.
The bar charged founding partners Farid Yaghoubtil and Daniel Azizi. along with litigation attorney Igor Fradkin. accusing them of signing up accident victims in states where they had no attorneys licensed to litigate the cases outside California. The complaint says the firm took on clients in Texas. Florida. Maryland. Arizona. Iowa. Michigan. Tennessee and Virginia. even though it allegedly lacked the out-of-state authorization to handle those matters.
Yaghoubtil faces 16 counts, including practicing law without a license, charging illegal fees, and continuing to represent a client that had fired the firm. Azizi faces 11 counts, and Fradkin faces four.
“The public depends on attorneys to follow the law and to be transparent about where they are authorized to practice. ” George Cardona. the State Bar’s chief trial counsel. said in a statement. “When attorneys extend their practice into jurisdictions where they are not licensed or allow staff to engage in unauthorized legal work in those jurisdictions. they put clients at risk.”.
Downtown LA Law Group, or DTLA, pushed back in a statement, saying the cases the bar highlighted “are multi-jurisdiction with California defendants.” The firm said it was “confident they will be able to resolve the matter to the satisfaction of both the State Bar and our law firm.”
The bar’s complaint also ties the firm’s conduct to specific examples meant to show how far the practice allegedly reached beyond California. On Jan. 19. 2020. the State Bar alleges DTLA signed up Texas resident Kelli Rushing after she was injured at a hotel in Fort Worth. The firm ultimately reached a settlement of about $1.1 million, and the bar filings say DTLA received about $455,0000 from the payout.
Another allegation points to a mother and daughter involved in a Lyft accident near Baltimore. On May 25, 2022, the bar complaint says the firm provided “bicoastal medical treatment,” including spinal surgery in Los Angeles. Later. on May 15. 2025—according to the complaint. while the firm was under investigation for its out-of-state practices—DTLA requested that the client sign a document the bar describes as false.
The document. provided by the firm and quoted in the bar’s complaint. stated: “As was disclosed to you at the time you retained our firm. Downtown L.A. Law Group. LLP is not licensed to practice law in the state where your legal matter is pending.” It also said. “From the outset. we made clear that we would not be acting as your primary legal counsel in that jurisdiction.” The State Bar alleges the document “falsely stated that DTLA made clear” the clients were not licensed in Maryland.
The complaint also alleges DTLA continued representing a California resident. Phyllis Goldsmith. after she asked the firm to terminate on Sept. 1, 2021, when nearly a year passed without the firm filing a lawsuit on her behalf. About a week after Goldsmith asked them to close out her case. the firm sent a demand letter to the insurer representing the defendant even though. the bar says. they were no longer allowed to represent her.
DTLA’s licensing footprint appears to have depended on a shrinking local staffing model. The firm had one lawyer based in Los Angeles licensed to practice in Texas—Darren McBratney—until he left in early 2022. according to bar complaints. The bar alleges the firm refused to remove McBratney’s name from its website for years despite a cease and desist letter.
Under professional rules, attorneys can take cases in states where they are not licensed, but they must partner with local counsel or get permission from the court.
The new charges arrive as the firm faces multiple legal inquiries. DTLA is currently facing another State Bar investigation involving thousands of sexual abuse lawsuits filed against Los Angeles County. along with a probe from the district attorney’s office. Both inquiries. the bar says. relate to allegations reported last year that recruiters paid clients to sign up with the firm and file sex abuse claims. some of which were allegedly fabricated. DTLA has said it “categorically does not engage in. nor has it ever condoned. the exchange of money for client retention.”.
When the State Bar probe tied to the county litigation was revealed in January, the firm said it was cooperating with investigators and “taking whatever steps necessary to protect the legitimate privacy rights of the plaintiffs who are victims of sexual assault.”
DTLA. one of Southern California’s most prolific personal injury firms. was founded by three longtime friends: Azizi and Yaghoubtil. who are cousins. and Salar Hendizadeh. a friend from elementary school. The complaint says they began working together in August 2013. Hendizadeh left the firm last October.
The State Bar charged Hendizadeh on March 5 with similar allegations of signing up clients out of state without a license, including in Texas. The complaint says the firm used the name “Lone Star Injury Law Firm” in Texas and touted itself as “Texas’s #1 Injury Law Firm.”
The case now unfolding at the State Bar level centers on authority—where lawyers can practice. what they can truthfully represent. and how closely firms must keep their operations within the boundaries of state law. For clients who trusted DTLA to handle their injuries, the question is not abstract. It’s whether their representation was built on the legal footing required to protect them. and whether that footing held—across state lines and across time.
State Bar of California Downtown LA Law Group DTLA Farid Yaghoubtil Daniel Azizi Igor Fradkin out-of-state licensing personal injury discipline Los Angeles County $4-billion sex abuse settlement