BY MANN ELIAS - Key Persons

After a year of pro-bono work, Imad finally joined the private sector in 1994 where he developed an expertise in employment law litigation. Over the years, he has represented hundreds of plaintiff employment claims covering all claims of discrimination and harassment.

Scott Mann was a superior student at Pepperdine University School of Law, achieving membership on the School's Law Review (top 10%), and winning the school's prestigious Vincent Dalsimer Moot Court tournament. This made it all the more surprising that, following graduation, he was unable to land a job with any of the biggest defense law firms who interviewed him. "In law school, you don't learn the difference between defense and plaintiff litigation practice" explains Mr. Mann. "So during my interviews for these high paying corporate litigation jobs, I emphasized that I would not only work hard, but that I would work smart and efficiently. These firms wanted workhorses, and here I was talking about how efficient I would be for their clients. I thought efficiency was a good quality, but not for them. They simply wanted their associates to work long hours they could bill to their clients. So in a way, they helped me find my calling, to be a Plaintiff's attorney." Through the course of that experience, he was retained by the Legal Office of David Grey to prosecute one of their small PI cases to trial. When the jury returned a verdict well above all expectations, he was offered the job of in-house trial lawyer for the David Grey in 1994. He inherited nearly 200 litigation cases, mostly small car accidents and premises liability claims. This led to Scott honing his advocacy skill by taking a very high number of cases to jury trial. "Having to work under such conditions helped me gain invaluable experience in prosecuting cases in trial." With more and more practice, came bigger cases and larger verdicts. In April of 1998, Scott formed The Law Offices of Mann & Elias with Law School mate, Imad Elias. The firm has thrived ever since, thanks in large part to Scott's expertise in trying cases but also because of his uncanny ability to provide excellent legal representation yet remain extremely efficient in doing so.