A Ilyas Akbari

A. Ilyas Akbari is the Founder and President of KENNEDY WILSHIRE PC. In addition to a trial lawyer, he is also a bioengineer. Ilyas was a Senior Shareholder and Senior Partner at two of the most prestigious law firms in the country prior to starting his own firm. He is an experienced aviation litigator, having litigated hundreds of crashes and incidents involving commercial airlines, charter operations, general aviation aircraft, military aircraft, seaplanes, and rescue and air ambulance aircraft, in addition to litigating product liability claims against many of the aircraft and component part manufacturers.

Ilyas has served in numerous leadership positions and has represented clients in most of the major airline disasters, including the September 11 Litigation, American Airlines Flight 587, Air Midwest Flight 5481 (resulting in first public apology by an airline), Southwest Airlines Flights 1248 and 1380, TACA Flight 390, Continental Airlines Flight 1404, Colgan Flight 3407, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 (only case proceeding to trial, settling prior to voir dire), Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370), Germanwings Flight 9525 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, among others.

Ilyas is a frequent speaker at aviation conferences and is currently Plaintiff's Vice Chair in the American Bar Association Aviation and Space Law Committee. He also serves as the Editor of the ABA Aviation and Space Law Committee Newsletter for the year 2020.

Best Lawyers in America® has named Ilyas Lawyer of the Year annually from 2019 through 2023 in the Consumer Protection category and, additionally, has recognized Ilyas in both the Plaintiffs Product Liability Litigation category and Consumer Protection category since 2016; the Wall Street Journal® similarly named him Lawyer of the Year in Southern California in 2020 and 2021; Los Angeles Magazine recognized Ilyas as one of Southern California’s Top 100 Lawyers; Southern California Super Lawyers

California

State Bar of California

ID Number: 228051

Southwestern University School of Law

J.D. (2030) | Law

2000 - 2003

Honors: President of Student Bar Association

University of California - San Diego

B.S. (1999) | Bioengineering

1995 - 1999

Honors: Founding Vice President of Pharmaceutical Society of Engineers

State Bar of California  # 228051

Member

Current