Eating 100 LA sandwiches

Food

A sandwich guru shares lessons learned

By Luca Servodio

Published January 12, 2024 5:00 AM

A close up, slightly overhead image of an Italian sandwich from Mickey's Deli in Hermosa Beach. The sandwich sits in two pieces and has been cut down the middle. The portion on the left sits on its side facing towards the camera, exposing the contents, which contains a pile of pink cold cuts, red tomatoes and green lettuce. The cut inside of the bread also shows a thin layer of yellow mustard on the bottom.

The Mickey's combo sandwich at Mickey's Deli was one of the favorites of author and podcaster Luca Servodio, who ate — and ranked — 100 of L.A.'s most iconic sandwiches in 2023.

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Brian Feinzimer

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Topline:

From tortas to tuna melts, sandwiches offer a fascinating snapshot of Angelenos' attitudes toward food and the city's culinary scene-at-large. So food writer Luca Servidio decided to eat 100 iconic L.A. sandwiches in 2023 — and rank them. Now, he's sharing what he learned during his culinary journey.

Why it matters: Sandwiches are edible storybooks, representing all that makes Los Angeles such an exciting place to eat, while offering a window into the highs and lows that L.A.' culinary industry-at-large has experienced in recent years. Sandwiches also illustrate the wide-ranging spectrum of attitudes toward our most iconic foods, from fanaticism for local favorites to jaded nonchalance towards classics.

The backstory: As Los Angeles continues to earn a reputation as one of the most exciting places to eat in the world, the sandwich may just be the best vehicle through which to understand all that the region has to offer.

What's next: You get to dig in and eat along.

Some people treat New Year’s Resolutions as opportunities to run a half-marathon or brush up on Spanish. I, on the other hand, dedicated my 2023 to reviewing and ranking the 100 most epic sandwiches in the Greater Los Angeles Area.

I had accomplished similar feats in 2021 and 2022 with Los Angeles pizzerias and taquerias, respectively, and shared results on my social media accounts, and now on my podcast, The LA Food Podcast. Sandwiches, however, were an entirely unique proposition.

If you’ve ever sat down and tried to identify the dishes that are absolutely essential to Los Angeles, chances are that sandwiches made multiple appearances on that list.

When I moved to Los Angeles in 2009, sandwiches such as The Godmother from Bay Cities Italian Deli in Santa Monica and Philippe’s French Dip near Union Station were the first recommendations locals would offer me as a hungry-but-broke 18-year-old. Even on the ritzier side of the equation, it’s not uncommon to spot celebrities chowing down on the tuna melt at Croft Alley in Beverly Hills, or the Spicy Sushi Sandwich from Erewhon Market across the region.

More than any other food, sandwiches offer an almost uncanny glimpse into certain rhythms and quirks of our city, culinary and beyond. So, with more than 100 sandwiches under my belt and in my belly, here are four lessons I learned about our city and its relationship to foods between bread.

But first…

Determining the rules of the road

As I traversed the city for everything from French Dips to katsu sandos, it quickly became apparent that my goal would require some guardrails. First, I had to define what constitutes a sandwich. I decided to adopt a broad definition anchored in the nomenclature used on restaurant menus. Simply put, if a restaurant referred to an item as a “sandwich,” it was fair game. The only exceptions to this rule were wraps, burgers and hot dogs.

Secondly, ranking these sandwiches called for a meticulously thought-out rubric. Mine consisted of five overall categories, the first three of which judged the basics of sandwich-making and made up 75% of the overall score: Bread, Fillings and Construction.

The final two categories, which accounted for the remaining 25% of a sandwich’s score, measured the intangible factors that render a Los Angeles sandwich iconic. The Experience category assessed factors such as ambiance, historic significance, and overall influence on Los Angeles’ culinary scene, while the Personal Satisfaction category was determined by asking myself how long I would happily wait in line to have the sandwich again. The longer the wait time, the higher the score.

The five categories added up to yield a score out of 100%, which one could easily compare to the grades earned in school. For example, the Banh Mi Dac Biet from My Dung Sandwich Shop in Chinatown earned a very respectable 86% (B or B+ territory), carried by its masterful construction and astonishing value, while the previously mentioned sandwich, The Godmother, earned a 92% (A or A-) on the merits of its superb bread and the extra points afforded by the timeless experience that is ripping off a ticket and waiting for your sandwich amid the seemingly endless selection of imported sodas and snacks.

Now for those lessons…

Italian sandwiches inspire a degree of allegiance usually reserved for sports teams and spouses

Enjoy the ocean breeze with the Mickey's combo at Mickey’s Deli in Hermosa Beach.

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Prior to 2023, I had no idea what an “Italian” sandwich was. This may be due to the fact that I myself hail from Italy, and in Italy we have no such thing as an “Italian” sandwich. In Italy, you’ll find all kinds of cold cuts and cheeses served between all kinds of breads, but if you approach an Italian lunch counter with a request for an “Italian sandwich,” you’d better be prepared for some quizzical looks.

In Los Angeles, almost every neighborhood boasts a bustling deli whose signature sandwich is an “Italian sandwich," consisting of something that looks like a torpedo roll, three or four deli meats, provolone cheese, something pickled, some variation on a vinegar-based dressing, and an assortment of crunchy, fresh vegetables. Some delis even add mustard and mayonnaise, but this is a controversial choice that some patrons consider an affront.

One thing that became clear over the course of my sandwich journey is that Angelenos aren’t just passionate about Italian sandwiches, they are incorrigibly fanatical about their local deli’s Italian sandwich. Were I to compile a dossier of the direct messages I received imploring me to review an Italian sandwich that the plaintiff swore would be the best Italian sandwich to ever grace my taste buds, it would serve as a pretty convincing pitch for Netflix’s next cult-inspired documentary.

Of all the Italian sandwiches I tried on my journey, and there were many excellent ones, including the timeless classic at Claro’s Italian Markets in the San Gabriel Valley and the gourmet number at pop-up Delco Rose Hoagies.

But the Italian sandwich I won’t soon forget is Mickey’s Combo at Mickey’s Deli in Hermosa Beach. Served on a glossy, golden roll that struck the perfect balance between crusty and plush, this sandwich’s construction was impeccable, with the well-balanced combination of salami, prosciutto cotto and mortadella forming a magisterial spiral around ripe tomatoes, thinly sliced red onions and some punchy yellow pepperoncini peppers.

It also didn’t hurt that you’re chowing down on the sandwich mere steps away from the beach, with the ocean breeze billowing through your hair and your only care in the world being whether that stain of Italian dressing on your shirt will come out in the wash. The score: 92% according to the rubric.

Some say Los Angeles is a taco town, but you could just as easily call it a torta town

A close-up image of a sandwich consisting of a long roll made of dark brown bread filled with cubed and shredded meat that's topped off with bright pink pickled onions. The entire sandwich has been drizzled with a dark, reddish-brown sauce that pooled at the bottom of the white, rectangular plate. The plate sits on a tabletop covered with different images of food and words in red and green fonts.

I once had a lengthy conversation with a friend about the differences between Mexican food in the Bay Area versus Los Angeles. He hypothesized that it comes down to San Francisco being a “burrito town,” and Los Angeles a “taco town.” While I was immediately taken with his brilliant characterization and have been pawning it off as my own for years, my sandwich journey has made me rethink my stance. It strikes me that for almost every excellent, mind-blowing, hyper-regional taco in Los Angeles, there is a torta equivalent.

While this is partially a function of the tortilla and the bread of choice being mere vehicles for the ingredients that fill them, there’s more to the story. This may seem obvious, but certain tortas only work because bread is the vehicle. In fact, though essentially every type of taco could be replicated in torta form, not every type of torta could be remade as a taco.

A torta ahogada, for example, hinges on a roll robust enough to soak up salsa while remaining intact enough to stand up to a hearty serving of meat. A torta cubana (which is distinct from the Cubano sandwich of Cuban origins) simply would not work, architecturally speaking, in taco form, and don’t even get me started about the popular breakfast delicacy that is a guajolota (a torta stuffed with a tamal).

Once you accept Los Angeles as a torta town, and especially if you allow yourself some leniency with how you define a torta, you begin to see that they’re just as well represented as tacos, and that our city offers some truly stellar ones.

Some of my favorites were the ethereal cemitas at Cemitero Poblano in Boyle Heights, which supplies the bread for many of the other cemiteros around town, and the decadent pambazos from El Sazon de Mary, a take-out only operation in Virgil Village.

The torta that keeps me up at night, however, is the torta ahogada from Tortas Ahogadas Ameca in East Los Angeles. The key to this sandwich is the bread — Ameca uses a classic birote salado, a sourdough demi-baguette of sorts that’s got the perfect amount of crusty stiffness to soak up the sauce while still playing home to a heaping serving of refried beans and carnitas. It’s finished off with a pink nest of pickled onions, and your job is simply to decide whether you’re courageous enough to eat it with your hands. The score: 90% according to the rubric.

Certain sandwiches have become so overrated, they are now underrated

A close-up photo of a sandwich that has been cut in half and positioned to show off the inside: The sandwich has been made on an onion bread roll, and bit of poppy seed and charred onion speckles the top. The interior of the sandwich is made up of slices of dark, reddish pink colored meat that is piled high with a mound of coleslaw, with bits of orange shreds peeking through. There are also green pickle spears, a small serving of potato salad and golden brown French fries on the plate.

There’s a phenomenon in Los Angeles sports in which observers begin referring to a certain player as an “unsung hero,” only to then praise said player’s under-the-radar qualities to such an extreme degree that the player quickly goes from being underrated to overrated. We might call this “The Austin Reaves Effect,” for fans of the Los Angeles Lakers.

When it comes to sandwiches, I’ve noticed the opposite effect happening. Certain sandwiches have achieved such lofty heights of popularity, success and iconic status, that Angelenos begin writing them off as “overrated.”

For example, people following my journey on social media suggested I skip places such as Philippe's or Busy Bee Market in San Pedro, arguing that their reputations for outstanding sandwiches were rooted more in nostalgia than in deliciousness.

However, while eating at Brent’s Deli in Northridge, another eatery that certain voices told me not to bother with, it dawned on me that certain sandwiches might be experiencing a reverse Austin Reaves Effect.

The sandwich I tried at Brent’s was The 555, which features grilled RC Provisions pastrami generously stacked beneath the timeless combination of melted Swiss cheese and slightly sweet coleslaw. It’s sauced with a lovely one-two punch of mustard and Russian dressing, and served between the flaky, buttery crevasses of a perfect onion roll.

The only explanation for this sandwich not being the toast of the San Fernando Valley is that patrons have become jaded to its charms, so much so that the sandwich is now criminally underrated and underappreciated for how truly special it is — the reverse Austin Reaves Effect, if you will. The score: 91% according to the rubric.

Sandwiches offer a stunning snapshot of our city’s culinary state-of-play

A photograph of a sandwich on an oval shaped plate embelished with traditional Asian designs: The sandwich has been made on a light brown baguette, and peeking out of the side are slivers of grilled pork topped with leafy greens. The plate sits on a white surface, and various backlit shadows overlay the plate of food.

Upon embarking on my sandwich journey, it was immediately clear that I’d be experiencing flavors from across the cultural spectrum. From the Korean egg drop breakfast sandwiches at places like Egg Tuck with locations in Koreatown, Hollywood and Westwood Village, to the Armenian basturma sandwiches at Sahag’s Basturma in Hollywood, sandwiches are perhaps the best food vehicle through which to experience the food of the world, rivaled only perhaps by rice-based dishes. In a county where there are at least 224 languages spoken, sandwiches act as an edible interpreter.

Sandwiches are also a great way to learn about the many policy and social issues that face Los Angeles’ restaurateurs these days. I personally learned a lot thanks to All Day Baby in Silver Lake, which I visited for their epic breakfast sandwich built on a house-made biscuit. Co-owner Lien Ta has not only been a pivotal part of founding Regarding Her Food, the Los Angeles-born organization dedicated to supporting women entrepreneurs in the food and beverage industry, but a leading voice advocating to make the city’s Al Fresco dining program permanent.

Finally, sandwiches are a reminder of the uniquely precarious times restaurants and those who make their living in them have had to endure in recent years. There are inspirational success stories, such as LaSorted’s in Silver Lake (visited for their excellent mortadella sandwich served on hand-crafted focaccia) or beloved breakfast sandwich pop-up Calabama, which both began as “pandemic pivots.” But there are also sobering reminders of the tough economic conditions that continue to plague restaurants, with certain sandwich shops I visited, including Korean fried chicken specialists Michin Dak, closing permanently since I reviewed their sandwiches.

One sandwich shop that captures what makes Los Angeles’ culinary scene great is Open Market in Koreatown. Founders Ralph Hsiao, Brian Lee, Yoonna Lee, and Andrew Marco have spoken about the restaurant’s dual mission to celebrate Los Angeles’ diverse tapestry of flavors, while creating a space for community to counteract the pandemic-wrought isolation many still feel the effects of.

Their Olympic sandwich features a dainty Clark Street Bakery baguette layered with grilled lemongrass chicken, pickled radishes, and a crispy layer of fried chicken skin for crunch. There’s a lovely smattering of herbs, a generous slathering of spicy serrano mayo and a sprinkling of Nam Jim to bring it all together. The score: 90% according to the rubric.

Next up for me in 2024? Noodles.

The author is a communication professional by day and spends nights and weekends searching the L.A. area for his next meal. His exploits can be tracked via his TikTok and Instagram and his weekly podcast, The L.A. Food Podcast, with his co-host, Father Sal.

Criminal Justice

OC judge resigns

He also pleaded guilty to mail fraud

Jill Replogle covers public corruption, debates over our voting system, culture war battles — and more.

Published January 12, 2026 4:46 PM

A view of a tall building from closeup and below.

Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana.

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Topline:

An Orange County judge pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of mail fraud for his role in a scheme to defraud California’s workers compensation fund.

Who’s the judge? Israel Claustro was a long-time prosecutor who won election to Orange County Superior Court in 2022.

What did he do? While working as an O.C. prosecutor, Claustro also owned a company that billed the state for medical evaluations of injured workers. That was illegal because, in California, you have to be licensed to practice medicine to own a medical corporation.

Anyone else involved? Claustro’s partner in the business was a doctor who had previously been suspended for healthcare fraud and therefore was prohibited from being involved in workers’ comp claims. Claustro knew this and paid him anyway, according to court filings from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Will he go to prison? Claustro could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office is recommending probation instead as part of the deal. In an email to LAist last week, Claustro’s lawyer, Paul Meyer, said his client “deeply regrets” his participation in the business venture and was resigning as judge “in good faith, with sadness.”

What’s next: Claustro is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26. California’s Constitution calls for the governor to appoint someone to temporarily replace Claustro on the bench for the next few years, followed by an election.

Go deeper … on the latest in Orange County.

Who gets to be a parent is being reshaped by increased access to IVF

The nation's first IVF baby was born in 1981, when the process was such a novelty that she was referred to as a "test tube baby." Since then, its use has surged in the United States, and today, IVF accounts for almost 100,000 births each year. That's up 50% from 10 years ago.

With IVF, which accounts for around 2% of births in America, a woman's eggs are retrieved from her body and fertilized with sperm in a lab. The resulting embryo is then implanted in her uterus, with the hope it will lead to a pregnancy.

This process has opened the door for many people who couldn't otherwise conceive children and reshaped who gets to be a parent, including more LGBTQ+ couples.

It has also become a big driver in the number of older single mothers in the U.S. at a time when the country's overall birth rate is declining. The number of unmarried women in their 40s who are having babies has grown by 250% in the last 30 years, according to data from the government. A portion of these women have partners, but many don't.

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There are many reasons for this rise, says Rosanna Hertz, author of the book Single By Chance, Mothers by Choice. Increasingly, she says, young women are pursuing higher education, focusing on their careers, or fulfilling personal goals such as traveling around the world or buying homes.

And when they're ready to partner up in their mid-30s, "there's no one to settle down with," says Hertz, a sociologist with a focus on gender and family at Wellesley College. "So, am I going to spend my time waiting for somebody to come along?"

Hertz says her research shows most women who want a family would rather do it with a partner. For them, IVF is Plan B. But as their reproductive windows narrow with age, some decide to move forward by themselves.

A framed photograph of two women, both with light skin tone wearing light-colored clothes in front of a white background, pose for a photo where one woman is holding a baby wrapped in a pink blanket. The frame sits on a wooden shelf in front of a brick wall.

Becoming a mother is a marker of adulthood for them, Hertz says.

"There is a sense that I'm now ready to do something that is selfless, that involves the care and nurture of another human being and be part of a broader community," she says. "What a child does is tie you into a community."

Do I really want to have a baby? How do I choose a donor?

Terry saw that care and community in her own sister's family, when it drew her to Nashville to spend time with her nephews.

Once she knew she wanted to be a mom, she started mapping out her path through the language she understood, which is spreadsheets and PowerPoints.

"I made a decision tree," she says.

The root of that tree was a fundamental question: Did she really want a child? It branched from there to examine how she would become a mother and which path would give her the best chance of having a baby. It led her to IVF.

Soon enough, she was faced with another decision: choosing a sperm donor. Faced with an array of choices, she resorted to another spreadsheet "that was like 30 rows long and 30 columns wide."

In it, she started by listing factors like race, height, ethnicity and education. Then she narrowed it down to a few that really mattered to her: "I cared about some physical attributes to look like me. And I cared about family health history."

Terry was extremely lucky with her IVF process: She got pregnant on her first try. She gave birth to Eleanor in 2021 and Margaret came two years later.

"I should be quite grateful for what my process was," Terry says. "The results were beyond what you statistically expect."

A woman with light skin tone, wearing a black shirt with floral print, eats a slice of cucumber facing two children sitting and standing on chairs with peeled and cut cucumbers on cutting boards on a counter.

She's right: The odds of conceiving a child with just one try of IVF are below 50% after a woman turns 35. And the chances drop rapidly each year after that. Many women try multiple cycles of IVF with no guarantee that they'll get pregnant.

Pregnancies at an older age can also carry health risks for both mom and child, with a high chance of miscarriage. All of this can take a huge physical and emotional toll.

Women with higher education are the top users of IVF

When Kate Snyder, who lives in northern New Jersey, was ready to have a kid, she looked for the right guy. "And, you know," she says, "it didn't happen."

Snyder was already in her 40s when she started thinking of IVF.

A woman with light skin tone, wearing a denim shirt, walks down a set of wooden stairs in a home while holding the hand of a small child.

"Once I came to terms with the fact that the father of my child doesn't have to be the person I end up with, and you separate the two, it's very freeing," she says. "And it just took the pressure off."

Now 48, she is the mother of a 2-year-old daughter, who loves to talk and fills their home with chatter. "She comes home from day care with gossip," says Snyder, who is an interior designer and artist. "She's telling me who pooped their pants and how the teacher had a lollipop today and this person got out of her cot."

Snyder says Google, her former employer, covered a small portion of the cost of freezing her eggs. But she paid for the IVF process herself.

Each time a woman tries to get pregnant via IVF, the cost can range from $15,000 to over $30,000. It's why IVF is out of reach for many.

A woman with light skin tone, light brown hair, smiles as she looks at a small child in a car seat.

It's gotten the attention of President Trump. In October, he announced proposals to help reduce the cost of the drugs necessary for IVF. He also encouraged employers to offer broader infertility coverage directly to workers.

Some people go into debt, while others like Snyder use up their savings. Some women, like Terry, have theirs covered by insurance. Even that is not common — only 1 in 4 companies with more than 200 employees pays for a part of the process.

Women with higher education — especially master's degrees, doctorates or professional degrees — are more likely to use IVF than those with less education, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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These women, on average, have higher incomes. All that gives them the agency to start and support their own family.

"My knees hurt"

Both Terry and Snyder were financially comfortable enough to step off the career treadmill and create time and space for their new families. Snyder now works four days a week. Terry took a pay cut for a different role that was less intense — it allowed her to work from home and requires less travel. Neither has qualms about it.

A woman with light skin tone, wearing a denim shirt and jeans, sits on a floor with toys and books around her.

Still, parenting in your 40s is hard.

"It's so physical being a mom. I don't think I expected that," says Snyder, thinking back to her first two years of motherhood and carrying her daughter up and down the stairs or getting her in and out the car. "Motherhood in your 40s, you know, my knees hurt and there are things that are starting to fall apart."

For Terry, one of the hardest parts of being a single mom is not being able to take a break. "If I'm tired or had a rough day at work or I'm frustrated, I'm feeling overwhelmed and I want to step away from my kids, I often can't," she says. "I have to meet their needs first and meet my needs later. And that's hard."

And then there is the weight of decision-making. She discusses her choices with her friends and family, "but ultimately all of that rests on me and that feels really heavy," she says.

A woman and two young children with light skin tone sit on a carpet with an alphabet design.

"Was he sorry I didn't have a husband?"

Even though there are more families like Terry's and Snyder's today, they're still rare. And society hasn't quite caught up with them.

Like when Terry moved to her new home in Nashville, she introduced herself and the girls to a neighbor, who asked what her husband did for work. Terry explained that they were a "mom and kids family" with two cats. The response took her aback.

"He said, 'Oh, I'm so sorry,'" she recalls. "Was he sorry I didn't have a husband? I still don't know to this day. But there is very much like a moment of feeling other and different — and that's often an uncomfortable feeling."

Terry worries about how her daughters will handle such questions. She prepares her oldest child by role-playing with her. But even then, sometimes it doesn't quite play out the way they've practiced.

Recently, she recalls, one of her daughter's classmates said, "'Hey, Eleanor, is that your mom?' And she said, 'Yes.' And they said, 'Well, where's your dad?' And Eleanor just froze in that moment."

But more often than not, the tenderness of motherhood triumphs over such unsettling interactions. Terry treasures the sweet moments she shares with her kids, like when they climb onto her bed in the morning to wake her or when they sit next to each other on the couch to read before bedtime.

"I love moments where they say, 'Mama, I need a snuggle.' Just holding them for a minute or two and seeing how that calms them is really, really powerful."
Copyright 2026 NPR

A woman with light skin tone, wearing a cream-colored sweater, reads a book to two small children sitting at her sides on a couch.

Housing & Homelessness

Eviction lawyer charges

LA eviction attorney faces state bar discipline

David Wagner covers housing in Southern California, a place where the lack of affordable housing contributes to homelessness.

Published January 12, 2026 1:16 PM

Two men with light-tone skin appear in side-by-side windows. Each wears a dark suit and red tie. The chyron at the bottom reads: Q&A session and has contact info for the eviction attorney.

Dennis Block discusses Southern California tenant protections in a video posted by the Apartment Owners Association of California.

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Topline:

Over his nearly 50-year career, Burbank-based attorney Dennis Block has built a reputation as a staunch advocate for Southern California landlords seeking to evict their tenants. But disciplinary charges filed against him last month by the California State Bar raise questions about his treatment of clients.

The allegations: Block faces charges involving a series of clients over a span of years. According to the 10 counts against him, Block allegedly collected fees wrongly described as “non-refundable,” failed to account for his charges and didn’t return a client’s property in a timely manner following termination of his employment. In one case, Block allegedly failed to pay court sanctions on time. In another, he allegedly created a conflict of interest by representing both a tenant and her landlord.

The backstory: This isn’t the first time Block has faced repercussions for alleged ethical lapses in recent years. In 2023, LAist reported on a filing Block’s firm submitted in an eviction case that contained multiple references to fake case law. Legal experts told us the filing, which led to court sanctions, was likely produced through misuse of AI.

Read on… to learn why legal ethics experts say the charges are serious.

Over his nearly 50-year career, Burbank-based attorney Dennis Block has built a reputation as a fierce advocate for Southern California landlords seeking to evict their tenants.

But disciplinary charges filed against him last month by the California State Bar raise questions about his treatment of clients.

Block faces charges involving a series of clients over a span of years. According to the 10 counts against him, Block allegedly collected payments wrongly described as “non-refundable,” failed to account for his fees and didn’t return a client’s property in a timely manner following termination of his employment.

In one case, Block allegedly failed to pay court sanctions on time. In another, he allegedly created a conflict of interest by representing both a tenant and her landlord.

When LAist asked Block how he responded to the charges, he told us to reach out to his defense attorney Erin Joyce. In a statement, Joyce said, “While we cannot comment on the specifics of the case, we believe the matter will be resolved in Mr. Block’s favor prior to trial at the settlement conference.”

The ultimate penalty in California State Bar Court is disbarment, which would prevent Block from continuing to practice law. Lesser punishments could involve a brief suspension or an order to complete an ethics exam.

Should fees have been ‘non-refundable’?

This isn’t the first time Block has faced repercussions for alleged ethical lapses in recent years.

In 2023, LAist reported on a filing Block’s firm submitted in an eviction case that contained multiple references to fake case law. Legal experts told us the filing, which led to court sanctions, was likely produced through misuse of AI.

Legal ethics experts said the new charges against Block are serious.

“The worst thing a lawyer can do is steal a client's money,” said Scott Cummings, a law professor at UCLA. “This is effectively what the bar is saying Mr. Block has done here in roughly half a dozen cases.”

Many counts involve Block allegedly charging up-front fees described by his firm as “non-refundable.” Bar rules state such fees must constitute a “true retainer,” meaning money paid to reserve an attorney’s availability for a specific case or period of time.

LAist previously reported that former clients have complained about poor communication and a lack of availability from Block and his associates.

Richard Zitrin, an emeritus lecturer with UC Law San Francisco, said the rules may sound esoteric, but the bar takes violations seriously.

“When you get right down to what's going on under the surface, it looks like the accusations are that this guy could not do the work for these various clients,” Zitrin said. “If it's one time, it could just be an honest mistake. But if he's doing it repeatedly, serially, of course that's of more concern.”

Representing both sides?

In one case, Block’s firm is accused of taking on a tenant who was in a dispute with her roommate. A few months later, while still representing the tenant, Block’s firm allegedly took on the tenant’s landlord. Block’s firm then sent a letter threatening to evict his own client, according to the charges.

“Lawyers cannot represent opposite sides of a particular case because they owe their duty of loyalty and confidentiality to each client,” said Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Law School. “It's very likely that one side or the other will feel that the lawyer sold out to the other client.”

Despite the severity and the number of allegations, UCLA’s Cummings said Block’s disciplinary record — which shows no infractions so far — could help him avoid disbarment.

“Suspension seems like — if these facts were all proven to be true — definitely an appropriate sanction in this particular case,” Cummings said.

It’s not yet clear what the charges could mean for Block’s firm, which prides itself on handling a high volume of cases at any given time. Block once reportedly described himself as “a man who has evicted more tenants than any other human being on the planet Earth.”

A status conference in Block’s case is set for Feb. 9.

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The Brief

Determining the rules of the road

Italian sandwiches inspire a degree of allegiance usually reserved for sports teams and spouses

Some say Los Angeles is a taco town, but you could just as easily call it a torta town

Certain sandwiches have become so overrated, they are now underrated

Sandwiches offer a stunning snapshot of our city’s culinary state-of-play

Keep up with LAist.

Who gets to be a parent is being reshaped by increased access to IVF

Do I really want to have a baby? How do I choose a donor?

Women with higher education are the top users of IVF

"My knees hurt"

"Was he sorry I didn't have a husband?"

Should fees have been ‘non-refundable’?

Representing both sides?