Philip Shakhnis

Founder & Attorney

Known for a forceful courtroom presence, meticulous case preparation, and a genuinely compassionate approach to client service, this attorney brings more than 20 years of experience advocating for people who have been harmed in places that should have been safe or on roadways where negligence changed everything in an instant. The practice centers on two closely connected areas of law: landlord-tenant litigation and personal injury claims. That combination matters because serious injuries often stem from preventable choices, whether an owner ignores dangerous property conditions or a driver fails to follow basic safety rules.

As a longtime tenant advocate, the work includes representing individuals and families forced to live with conditions that threaten health and safety. The cases often involve longstanding building neglect, deferred maintenance, and code violations that can spiral into serious harm, particularly for children, older adults, and residents with underlying health concerns. Clients have included tenants living in slum conditions where basic habitability was ignored, tenants who endured repeated water intrusion and persistent indoor air issues, and families who needed immediate legal intervention to stop ongoing exposure and secure meaningful repairs. Beyond the legal claims, the focus is on documenting what is happening inside the unit, identifying the responsible parties, and building a case that can withstand aggressive pushback from landlords, insurers, and property management companies.

That tenant-focused work also includes high-stakes matters involving toxic exposures and preventable household hazards. The firm has helped tenants poisoned by carbon monoxide leaks tied to defective or poorly maintained gas appliances and ventilation systems, and represented families whose children were lead poisoned due to deteriorated paint and unsafe housing conditions. These cases require a detailed, science-forward approach, pulling together medical documentation, exposure history, inspection records, and expert analysis to show not only that the hazard existed, but that it was known or should have been known and that the resulting harm was preventable.

Another core focus is protecting tenants from wrongful displacement. In Los Angeles and surrounding communities, housing stability can hinge on local rent control ordinances and tenant protection rules that landlords sometimes ignore or try to work around. The practice includes representing tenants wrongfully evicted or targeted through improper notices, harassment, or bad-faith tactics designed to remove long-term residents from rent-stabilized housing. These matters often move fast and carry enormous consequences, so the approach is grounded in urgency, careful fact development, and a clear strategy for enforcing tenant rights through negotiation when possible and litigation when necessary. The guiding belief is simple and unwavering: every family and every person deserves the right to a safe, decent, and healthy home.

Alongside tenant litigation, the practice includes personal injury representation for people harmed by negligence in everyday life, including injuries caused by dangerous property conditions and serious roadway collisions. This includes claims arising from car accidents, bike accidents, and pedestrian accidents, where the impact can extend far beyond the crash itself. Many clients face mounting medical expenses, missed work, ongoing treatment needs, and a long recovery that insurance companies often try to minimize. The focus is on building the evidence early, proving fault, and pursuing compensation that reflects the full scope of harm, from medical care and rehabilitation to lost income and long-term effects on daily life.

In property-related injury matters, the firm also handles traumatic premises injury cases involving severe injuries, long recovery periods, and substantial financial disruption for the injured person and their household. With experience handling cases that have resulted in multi-million dollar settlements, the approach is investigative and detail-driven, identifying the hazardous condition, determining who controlled the property, and showing how the incident was foreseeable and preventable.

That litigation and settlement experience includes significant results in toxic exposure matters. Notably, work on a lead-poisoning case resulted in a $10,000,000 settlement on behalf of a child harmed by lead-based paint hazards in the home, recognized as one of the largest child lead poisoning settlements in the country. The practice has also taken multiple matters to trial involving unsafe and unhealthy housing conditions and wrongful eviction claims, with an approach that prioritizes preparation, credibility, and sustained pressure on defendants who refuse to take accountability.

Academically, the attorney earned a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1993 and graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1998, completing a certificate in the environmental program. That educational foundation supports a practice that often intersects with building health, indoor environmental quality, and the real-world impacts of hazardous living conditions on families.

Before entering the legal profession, the work included time as an environmental consultant and a year in Israel on a fellowship with the Israel Union for Environmental Defense. During that fellowship, the attorney also assisted in the formation of EcoPeace, a consortium of environmental groups from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority, reflecting a long-standing commitment to public health, accountability, and problem-solving across complex systems.

Admission to practice includes the California State Courts and the United States District Court for the Central District of California.