Michael Allen

Michael Allen began working for LBAC as a law clerk in 1997, and continued until he passed the bar and joined the firm as an associate in 1998. Mr. Allen became a shareholder in 2006.

In 1994, Mr. Allen graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with a specialization in Business Administration. Mr. Allen obtained his Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law in 1998. While in law school, Mr. Allen was active in the UCLA Moot Court Honors Program, receiving an award for Distinguished Advocate in the Moot Court Competition. In addition, Mr. Allen was a member of the UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs serving as a lead editor from 1996-1997.

Since becoming an attorney, Mr. Allen has obtained positive results on behalf of numerous public entities including, but not limited to, the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, and Santa Barbara as well as the cities of Compton, Downey, Inglewood, Montebello, Santa Monica and West Covina.

Mr. Allen’s efforts have led to successful results in a wide variety of cases before the United States Supreme Court, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, California Court of Appeal, United States District Courts, as well as various state trial courts. During the course of his career, Mr. Allen has excelled in his handling of jail litigation and has successfully litigated over 60 jail related cases by obtaining dismissals at the pleadings stage or orders granting summary judgment. Recently, his efforts led to several orders by the Ninth Circuit in Avalos v. Baca and Lake v. Baca as well as a published opinion in Mortimer v. Baca, affirming rulings granting summary judgment in favor of the County of Los Angeles in cases involving claims that inmates were over-detained in the Los Angeles County Jail in violation of their constitutional rights. Also, Mr. Allen’s efforts led to the granting of summary judgment in favor of the County of Los Angeles and various individual defendants in several wrongful death actions alleging claims under both state and federal law based on incidents in which inmates in the Los Angeles County Jail killed their cellmates.