MSD Lawyers Appoints Veteran Trial Attorney Mark Russ as Trial Counsel, Bolstering Los Angeles Employment and Litigation Practice.

LOS ANGELES, April 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- MSD Lawyers (Mills Sadat Dowlat) has named Mark Russ as Trial Counsel, adding more than three decades of courtroom experience to a firm that represents Los Angeles workers and injured individuals across some of the most consequential legal disputes in the region. Visit https://msdlawyers.com/attorneys/ to learn more about Mark and the MSD team.

"Mark brings the courtroom experience and the client-first mindset we've built MSD around," said Arash Sadat, partner at MSD Lawyers. "He'll be a strong voice in our trial practice, and our clients are the ones who benefit."

The hire comes as Los Angeles employers face heightened scrutiny over wage-and-hour compliance, worker misclassification, and workplace misconduct, creating growing demand for trial-ready legal representation. 

Mark Russ: Career Milestones

"MSD's commitment to their clients and to their people is what drew me in," said Mark Russ. "I'm looking forward to putting my trial experience to work on behalf of the firm and continuing to build a practice we can be proud of." Russ brings a litigation record spanning three decades and multiple court systems across Los Angeles County. 

Key career milestones include:

• Late 2000s: While at Loyola Law School, Russ began building his trial practice as a case manager, advancing to represent clients at trials and contested hearings under the State Bar of California's Practical Training of Law Students (PTLS) Program. 
• Post-graduation: As a trial attorney representing criminal defendants from arraignment through verdict across Los Angeles County, Russ developed the full toolkit of high-stakes advocacy: jury selection, direct and cross-examination, closing argument, and the ability to perform under pressure when a client's future is on the line.
• 2018: Los Angeles County Public Defender: Handled hundreds of matters in pretrial and trial proceedings at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, Metropolitan Courthouse, East Los Angeles Courthouse, West Covina Courthouse, and more. That volume of courtroom experience laid the groundwork for the most complex cases in the public defense system.
• 2023: Los Angeles County Alternate Public Defender: Represented clients with felonies, including three-strikes/life and homicide cases, including cases of false accusation and police misconduct.

Strengthening Client Representation Across Los Angeles

"When I first sat down with Mark, what stood out was how he thinks about a case from the client's perspective before anything else," said Camron Dowlatshahi, Partner. "That's the standard we hold here, and it's why I knew he was the right fit for MSD."

The addition of Mark Russ to the MSD Lawyers trial team comes at a critical moment for Los Angeles workers navigating a complex wage-and-hour enforcement landscape. Legislation approved by the City Council in October 2023 seeks to empower the City's Office of Wage Standards to investigate state wage-and-hour violations locally, including overtime, meal and rest breaks, and tip violations, though implementation remains ongoing. Under California Labor Code Section 226, employees can recover up to $4,000 from employers who knowingly fail to provide accurate wage statements, plus costs and attorney's fees. With recovery timelines ranging from 4 to 24 months, depending on the path pursued, having trial-ready counsel from the outset matters. Russ's addition positions MSD Lawyers to combine individual wage claims with PAGA representative actions and apply the courtroom pressure Los Angeles workers need.

MSD Lawyers has built a record of significant client recoveries, including millions recovered in wage-and-hour cases, federal court judgments, and arbitration awards. Russ's appointment reinforces the firm's capacity to take cases from inception through trial across its core practice areas: employment disputes, including sexual harassment, worker misclassification, and unpaid wages; catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death; rehab center abuse and neglect; and complex business litigation.

MSD Lawyers is a leading employment and personal injury law firm headquartered in downtown Los Angeles. Serving clients across industries as diverse as the city itself, MSD represents workers and injured individuals in matters including sexual harassment, wage and hour violations, worker misclassification, unpaid wages, catastrophic personal injury, and wrongful death. The firm's attorneys bring the same level of aggressive, personalized advocacy to every case, from pre-filing investigation through trial, that was once reserved for only the largest corporations. MSD's mission is to protect the rights of individuals and hold wrongdoers accountable, no matter the size of the opposition. For more information, visit https://msdlawyers.com/

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SOURCE MSD Lawyers