Arash Homampour

Bob Simon: Yeah, but your cousin also runs your office as the operations part of stuff.

Arash Homampour: He does. One of the important things that I learned by watching other lawyers, especially Brian Panish, early on is delegating and not trying to do everything yourself because you'll burn yourself out. It's like it makes more sense to delegate. So early on, the management of a law firm, I'm not good at. The business of law, I'm not good at. I'm good at trying cases, so I delegate a lot.

Mauro Fiore: As my friend says, create every [00:00:30] day.

Bob Simon: First, you get-

Arash Homampour: Yes. Content create every day. Don't play video games.

Bob Simon: First, you get the money. Then you get the power.

Mauro Fiore: Then you get the woman.

Arash Homampour: What?

Bob Simon: No, the respect.

Arash Homampour: God-

Bob Simon: Welcome to this episode of Bourbon of Proof, where we interview those lawyers who have been successful [00:01:00] at law and life, and we do so over several spirits, always whiskey or whiskey-infused. Of course, my fantastic co-host, Mauro Fiore, Jr.

Mauro Fiore: As usual, Bob, thank you so much for having me again. Hello to Arash Homampour, the Archer.

Bob Simon: Or is it Arash? Is it Arash or Arash?

Mauro Fiore: The Archer DJ, Arash, and Archie.

Bob Simon: Well, nobody calls you Archie. Maybe two people.

Arash Homampour: Two people. We'll make it three.

Bob Simon: I'm wearing my Archer DJ today.

Arash Homampour: Thank you very much.

Bob Simon: I got on that swag very early. This is very fine swag. I [00:01:30] think-

Mauro Fiore: Incidentally, Bob, he's never given me shit.

Arash Homampour: Oh, you just-

Bob Simon: I bought this. I paid for this.

Arash Homampour: You have to ask for it.

Mauro Fiore: I'm going to steal it next time I'm at his house.

Arash Homampour: You will.

Bob Simon: On this episode, we're going to talk about probably the best trial lawyer of our generation, who's had some eight, nine-figure verdicts, and collectible, by the way, and had some fantastic settlements, and who is probably the most well-prepared lawyer walking to the courtroom who I'm very inspired with. But also, actually he told me five or six years ago that he is going to one day play Coachella, and I thought he was batshit [00:02:00] crazy.

Arash Homampour: It's going to happen.

Bob Simon: And it's going to happen.

Arash Homampour: That's right.

Bob Simon: He's now a very well-known DJ that I've seen him with Deadmau5 and et cetera.

Mauro Fiore: He plays at EDC in Las Vegas.

Arash Homampour: Yes. Just beginning.

Bob Simon: Just beginning.

Arash Homampour: All the above, just beginning.

Bob Simon: Beating up on corporate defendants by day, DJing to their junkie friends at night.

Arash Homampour: I try. Junkie friends.

Bob Simon: I don't know. What do you think these low-level people are doing at these corporations? They're going to EDM and dropping pills.

Arash Homampour: [00:02:30] They're existing.

Bob Simon: They're existing.

Arash Homampour: It's the balance of life.

Bob Simon: So the first one. Arash does not drink alcohol. This is going to be the first episode where Mauro and I are going to drink a lot of spirits that have no alcohol.

Arash Homampour: My request to microdose heroin was denied. It's not appropriate for camera views.

Bob Simon: But what we do off-

Arash Homampour: We're going to stick with the nonalcoholic drinking. Yeah.

Bob Simon: But what happens off camera stays off camera.

Arash Homampour: Yes. It's a new thing.

Bob Simon: Arash, by the way, is the only lawyer I know that can pull off neck tattoos and try cases.

Arash Homampour: That's right. Watch out, justice. They bring motions to prevent me from showing my neck tattoos.

Bob Simon: [00:03:00] Really?

Arash Homampour: You haven't heard that one?

Bob Simon: No.

Arash Homampour: Crying and neck tattoos.

Bob Simon: I've seen the crying one.

Mauro Fiore: I've seen the emotion that you can't cry in court. I've seen it.

Arash Homampour: I go to the judge. I go, "Your Honor, the defense has figured it out. What I do is I get up in front of a jury. I just show my tattoo, flash my blue eyes, and go 20 million. And I get 50. Please don't restrict my ability to earn a living and feed my family."

Bob Simon: See how charming he is. God, that was good.

Arash Homampour: Was it good?

Bob Simon: That was good.

Arash Homampour: That's literal.

Bob Simon: That one made me cry.

Arash Homampour: It's literal.

Bob Simon: What am I? A robot?

Arash Homampour: Yeah.

Bob Simon: I got to cry at that motion-

Arash Homampour: We are robots. [00:03:30] We'll talk about that later.

Bob Simon: So this is WhistlePig's Dank & Dry Old Fashioned Cocktail, and it's made with WhistlePig PiggyBack, 100% rye, the non-whiskey version, aged in maple syrup, old fashioned cannabis.
Yeah. So this actually is a cannabis-infused nonalcoholic whiskey, which I don't think it has real cannabis in either.

Arash Homampour: I hope not.

Bob Simon: I've never had this one before, but they just released this.

Arash Homampour: All right. I'm going to try it out.

Bob Simon: It does smell very-

Arash Homampour: Remind me to talk about the robot [00:04:00] comment you made. Very deep.

Bob Simon: All right. I would love to hear the robot ... Oh, this actually looks a little ... This might make us go blind. You would be a really good DJ. You'd probably be like the Stevie Wonder of EDM if you went blind.

Arash Homampour: EDM is a pejorative term, so you really don't-

Mauro Fiore: This smells weird. This smells-

Bob Simon: Cheers.

Arash Homampour: Cheers.

Mauro Fiore: Cheers.

Bob Simon: Thank you for coming on. Oh, it does smell. It smells like weed.

Arash Homampour: Oh, that smells like Snoop Dogg. Yeah.

Mauro Fiore: It smells like weed, but it doesn't taste like weed.

Arash Homampour: It smells like weed.

Mauro Fiore: It tastes a little bit like [00:04:30] some kind of-

Arash Homampour: It's a high THC content liqueur over there. If I start rapping or ...No. Okay. You edit the show, right?

Bob Simon: We edit.

Mauro Fiore: If you bust a freestyle, you know that it got you.

Arash Homampour: Yeah.

Bob Simon: All right. So, Arash, take us all the way back because everybody assumes every person that we've had on this show that's a very successful trial lawyer never came from a lot of means, right?

Arash Homampour: Yes.

Bob Simon: I want you to share with your story because Mauro and I are familiar because we've known you a long time of young Arash [00:05:00] in New York and what it was like.

Arash Homampour: Chicago.

Bob Simon: Chicago. See. Told you.

Arash Homampour: Well, the common thread of all of us, the beautiful thing is that we all started with nothing. The best part of starting with nothing is that there is no box that you live in. You just literally create your own life because no one's giving you opportunities, and you don't know any better. So what did I do?
I grew up in Chicago, twin, poor, middle-class parents, hardworking, immigrant parents, honestly a little ashamed of the immigrant part, wanted the Brady Bunch [00:05:30] family. So I had that internal turmoil of wanting to be Americanized and looking like Brad Pitt, but being a Persian god instead. No, I wasn't a Persian god.

Bob Simon: But how did you get the blue eyes, by the way? You're the only one I know.

Arash Homampour: I'm not complaining. I don't know what transaction happened outside of the Earth's atmosphere that gave them to me, but I will gladly take them and utilize them.

Bob Simon: Does your twin have blue eyes?

Arash Homampour: He does not.

Bob Simon: Wow. That's messed up.

Arash Homampour: He had the personality early on, and then I learned the personality part as I got older.

Bob Simon: Wow. I didn't know that his twin didn't have blue eyes. Did you know this?

Mauro Fiore: Well, he must [00:06:00] feel even worse about himself.

Bob Simon: Well, your cousin looks more like your twin.

Arash Homampour: He does, but he gets upset because people think he's me and he's 10 years younger. So it's not ...

Bob Simon: Yeah, but your cousin also runs your office as the operations part of stuff.

Arash Homampour: He does. One of the important things that I learned by watching other lawyers, especially Brian Panish, early on is delegating and not trying to do everything yourself because you'll burn yourself out.

Bob Simon: Absolutely.

Arash Homampour: It's like I could dry clean and press my own shirts, but there's someone that does that for 4 or $3 a shirt. [00:06:30] It makes more sense to delegate. So early on, the management of a law firm, I'm not good at. The business of law, I'm not good at. I'm good at trying cases, so I delegate a lot.

Mauro Fiore: I always had that. My mom used to work in my office when she was alive. I used to try to do everything myself, and she would always say, "You're never going to last if you do everything yourself. You have to have a good team around you, people you trust, and let them do lots of the things that you're doing now that you don't want to do."

Bob Simon: That you don't want to do. Because I mean you've excelled at literally the practice of [00:07:00] trial, trial practice,

Arash Homampour: Yes. But let's back up. It's important for young attorneys to know they do have to do everything. They do have to photocopy. They have to research. They have to write. They have to do all the grunt work because they need to understand the entire perspective of what it is to be an amazing trial lawyer, which is to be an amazing human. So there's nothing beneath you.
We all have to do it, just at some point, your time is better spent doing things that you're more efficient and better at than things that you're not good at.

Bob Simon: I remember trying a case out in the desert 10+ years ago, and the lawyer that brought me in to try the case [00:07:30] thought it was going to be like this fun party during trial. We're staying at some Holiday Inn, the breakfast, the normal every day. I don't forget. We were out one night at Kinko's doing photocopies because the court clerk needed things in a specific way. We're doing all this stuff. We're stamping them.
He was like, "This isn't fun." And I'm like, "What did you think this was, dude? We're at work."

Mauro Fiore: Trial's not fun, man. It's work.

Arash Homampour: But the irony is, for me, it's fun.

Bob Simon: It is fun.

Arash Homampour: If you saw me in Kinko's, I'd be dancing-

Bob Simon: I'd be laughing.

Arash Homampour: I'd be shimmying. If we go to 7-Eleven, my highlight [00:08:00] of my day is a cherry Slurpee and spicy peanuts. So even the mundane is exciting and fun.

Bob Simon: Do you think that trial is kind of your drug of choice?

Arash Homampour: I wouldn't use a drug because drug is pejorative. Trial is my domain. It's my playground. I was born to do what I do. So if I'm not in a courtroom, I'm not efficiently and powerfully existing. So if I get access to a courtroom, that's where I really have the biggest opportunity to make a difference.

Bob Simon: I mean do you-

Mauro Fiore: Do you feel at home?

Arash Homampour: I feel at [00:08:30] home, at fun, at play. I tell whoever I'm with, the lawyers that I'm with, I'm like, "Just notice how much fun I'm having. Please keep me in a courtroom. Let's keep trying cases."

Bob Simon: But do you feel that when you come out of a long trial, you get a big win, does it take a while for you to acclimate yourself to the real world?

Arash Homampour: No. Someone asked me this. I actually was talking to a therapist about this, and she said, "When you win a trial, how long does that win last?" And it's like a day and I'm over it because [00:09:00] the way I look at life is the past is the past, and I want to devour justice. I want to make the biggest possible difference I can.
So stopping and reflecting on my win for an hour or a day is great, but I'm ready to move forward to the next accomplishment, the next task, the next piece of justice that you can extract.

Bob Simon: But when you come out of trial, not celebrating the victory, but getting back to communicating with humans in the non-trial world where things aren't moving at accelerated pace-

Arash Homampour: [00:09:30] I still don't do that though.

Bob Simon: See, it's weird.

Arash Homampour: I try to minimize my involvement in day-to-day parts of being a trial lawyer because it sucks the energy out of you. When I walk into a courtroom, I'm filled with joy and happy because I do a lot of passion projects. I don't burn myself out, and I'm not doing unnecessary stuff. For example, let's say we have 30 cases at one time, 12 lawyers. They tell me when I need to show up.
Tomorrow, I need to handle depos because it's important that I show up in the case and handle this specific [00:10:00] deposition. Other than that, I really try and limit my involvement because I don't want to be burned out.

Bob Simon: Yeah. I think Arash was-

Mauro Fiore: You're a show pony.

Arash Homampour: Show pony? These words, these phrases-

Bob Simon: He doesn't like labels, if you haven't heard.

Mauro Fiore: He's a show pony.

Arash Homampour: I'm-

Mauro Fiore: They bring out the show pony for the big show.

Arash Homampour: It's not a show pony. It's like you just want to show up as your best self, and you can't do that if you burn yourself out.

Bob Simon: We're blessed to have Arash on the show today because his trial did not get out on Monday, and it's just kind of the trial lawyer Russian roulette, right?

Arash Homampour: We all know that. Yeah.

Bob Simon: You don't know where you're going to ... [00:10:30] People always say, "Can we set up a meeting next week?" I was like, "Well, maybe I'll know Friday."

Arash Homampour: Sure.

Bob Simon: "We can pencil it in." You have to be very conscious, having your family, having your career outside of your passion project, outside of being the passion project of law? Do you have to be intentional? How do you balance those things?

Arash Homampour: Yeah, I mean the first thing is the I'm-busy conversation we all have is nonsense. You're not too busy. I give people my cell phone number. I make myself accessible. If I have free time, I meet with young attorneys or new attorneys that want to [00:11:00] learn about something. There is enough time to do everything. If you're doing those things that you're focused on. Make a list. What are you up to? And then do only those things. Don't do things that don't serve you, the power of no.
It is so flattering for us trial attorneys that people come to us with events and cases and speaking engagements and relationships, and you have to say sometimes, "No. It's not going to serve my big purpose." You have to be scarce with who you spend time with so that you can do the [00:11:30] most powerful you can.

Bob Simon: Yeah. One thing I've learned this past couple years is to avoid those that are just takers, that suck it from you, that are constantly asking for help or advice, and then they don't take it. It's like, "Well, why am I even here?"

Arash Homampour: Yeah. I mean I help everybody.

Bob Simon: I mean me, too, but to a fault.

Arash Homampour: I'm not saying you are keeping track. I don't keep track of that. I give people access to me. If you abuse it, obviously you're asking 20 questions a day, that's ridiculous. But you got to help everybody when you can. I [00:12:00] hate seeing people walk around making mistakes as lawyers, and if I can answer a question in five seconds or give them a document that really is the best version of what they need, why make them suffer?

Bob Simon: I remember the first time I saw him because I'd hear about you, see you on the listserv, and see results. You used to teach this expert deposition thing where people would literally rent out a ballroom. It was the most well-attended thing ever that CAALA did. We'd be standing room only in the back, and Arash would give out ... I remember he'd give us a CD at the end, which is the biggest bangers.

Arash Homampour: [00:12:30] Yeah.

Bob Simon: This is how you take expert depos. This is how you do it. That was my Bible. I took that CD, put it in my little CD-ROM when I got back to the office and just downloaded a bunch of shit.

Mauro Fiore: Over the years on our trial lawyer listserv here in LA, the CAALA listserv, Arash has been so active and answered so many questions and given so much advice, just if you just read ... If you figured out all the posts you did and put them in a book or something, [00:13:00] you could just give that out to people-

Bob Simon: Well, this is what-

Mauro Fiore: ... because the posts are so amazing and so informative.

Bob Simon: This is why I've been trying to get to do the AI chatbot that I've been doing. If you take all of your written stuff, that advice that you've ever given because you can extract it, all your trial transcripts, and have your AI Arash to be able just to answer those questions on scale because I used to save those. I would send an email folder to mine every time you'd have a thing.

Mauro Fiore: I have a bunch of his. I have all of his.

Bob Simon: Of course.

Arash Homampour: People tell me that all the time. They have a folder of all my posts. I want to comment on something. When we use the phrase, AI, I've had [00:13:30] this new distinction. Remember the word, artificial. Let's limit how much artificial anything we do. AI is a tool that will help us be better lawyers, but the phrase, artificial, cannot be kept out of mind.

Bob Simon: Yeah, I get you.

Mauro Fiore: I like that.

Bob Simon: I always say 80, 90% there maybe it's like having an associate prepare you for everything, and then you really have to hunker down and make sure you get it right. That's it.

Arash Homampour: As a trial lawyer and as a human, you need to harness AI. If you don't, you're going to get left behind in the dust. That doesn't mean it's a substitute for natural human-

Bob Simon: [00:14:00] You take these cases. You do 30 at a time with 12 lawyers. We have many more cases with other lawyers at our firm, but you dial in these hard liability cases with big damages that many lawyers turn down.

Arash Homampour: Right. Well, it's hard liability to the defense. It's not hard liability to me. Every case we take is justified. I will not take a case I don't believe in my heart, in my soul, and in my DNA. The reason I love hard cases is because the defense has a reason not to settle or not pay [00:14:30] full value, which means I get in front of a jury, which means outlier results.
It's a no-brainer formula. We take difficult cases because I get access to a courtroom, period. That's why I do it.

Bob Simon: Just in the past year, I think you've had two 30, 40, $50 million verdicts where one was a motorcycle rider that was on meth that the defense was saying going 70, 80 miles an hour, and you got 0% liability on the decedent with all those facts.

Arash Homampour: Rightfully so. He was not high. He was not speeding. [00:15:00] But the defendant thought, "There's no way they can win this case because of those two factors." We got in front of a courtroom. It was a young Hispanic man. Two Hispanic parents testified through interpreters, and the defense thought, "There's no way they're going to get a big verdict." We got 36 million. Again, that's just-

Bob Simon: That's in front of probably the toughest judge. Now he's, thank God, off the bench in LA. Don't name names.

Arash Homampour: Well, he took the verdict away, and it's on appeal.

Bob Simon: He's good.

Arash Homampour: Again, the way I look at life, there's a court of appeal for a reason. I don't get upset or cry over the fact that the judge took the verdict away. I believe in the whole process, [00:15:30] and the reason the court appeal is there is to right any wrongs the trial judge does.

Bob Simon: That judge would do anything he can to have you lose that trial as you're in the moment.

Mauro Fiore: Bob, after myself, 26 years plus in practice, tried over 50 cases, I don't go watch a lot of people in trial, but I go watch Arash in trial. I was at the closing argument on that particular case.

Bob Simon: Really?

Mauro Fiore: It was amazing. During the closing argument, the judge had to stick his nose in it and argue with Arash during [00:16:00] his close. But the judge, you could tell, knew what was coming. He knew a big verdict was coming, and this judge didn't want to see it happen. He was interfering with his close.

Arash Homampour: But it didn't interfere. I don't care. You could yell at me. You could do-

Bob Simon: You teach us all the time.

Arash Homampour: No animation. I'll draw it. I don't care. This is-

Bob Simon: Lawyers out there, because I've seen you be cool as a cucumber. Most lawyers would never be able to get out of ... If somebody objects, sustained even though it should not be sustained, you're like, "Who gives a shit?"

Arash Homampour: Who cares? Yeah. Come on.

Bob Simon: I've seen you in Ventura doing the same show.

Arash Homampour: Well, look, if you-

Bob Simon: The Arash Show.

Arash Homampour: If you [00:16:30] get caught up in every single transaction, traffic, any conflict, you're not going to be your most powerful self. So you have to keep your eye on the ball. It's like what's the end result? Jury getting the best presentation of the facts and argument to give you full justice. Anyone gets in the way, let them try. Justice is going to find its way through the jurors' hands.

Bob Simon: All right. We're going to get into the second one. Mauro, you introduced this because this is what you got for our esteemed colleague here.

Mauro Fiore: This is one I brought in for Arash. [00:17:00] This is Motorhead, the amazing rock and roll band, Motorhead, that was-

Arash Homampour: Lemmy.

Mauro Fiore: Lemmy used to hang out at The Rainbow.

Arash Homampour: We have a visitor here. Who is this? Is this a defense attorney?

Mauro Fiore: This fly's been here for two days.

Arash Homampour: Is this a defense attorney?

Bob Simon: This is the same one that was-

Arash Homampour: What the fuck is this?

Mauro Fiore: It's been here for two days, and we can't get rid of him. Lemmy used to hang out at the Rainbow on Sunset.

Arash Homampour: You got to get an electronic swatter. If there was a fly in the courtroom, it would drive me nuts. But go ahead.

Bob Simon: But you were just talking about deflecting anything and you're distracted by flies.

Arash Homampour: Yes. Because, well, this is evil. This is like-

Mauro Fiore: Just listen.

Bob Simon: You were watching the presidential debate a few years ago, weren't you?

Arash Homampour: No. What happened? They had [00:17:30] a fly in there?

Bob Simon: No, on the ... Whatever. It's a good one.

Arash Homampour: All right. Sorry. Go ahead. Lemmy.

Mauro Fiore: Motorhead was always the loudest rock and roll band ever. I've seen Motorhead play, and they could blow the doors off of-

Arash Homampour: Eat the Rich.

Mauro Fiore: Yeah. They could blow the doors off the Forum. They were so loud. Lemmy, who was the guitar player, used to hang out at the Rainbow on Sunset every night, seven nights that we could go there, and you could hang out with him and Ron Jeremy, by the way. Those were the two guys that hung out at the Rainbow.

Arash Homampour: The guy's in jail for rape. Let's not use his name.

Mauro Fiore: Yeah. I'm just saying those are the scumbags that hung out at The Rainbow, and I used to go there. Motorhead put out their own-

Bob Simon: He was only [00:18:00] there six days a week.

Arash Homampour: Yes, exactly.

Mauro Fiore: Motorhead put out their own bourbon through Ace of Spades, which makes the very high-end champagne. I like this because-

Arash Homampour: Did you get love you? No.

Mauro Fiore: ... the slogan for the Motorhead bourbons is, "Born to lose, live to win," and I like that slogan a lot.

Arash Homampour: What kind of a slogan is that?

Mauro Fiore: I like that.

Arash Homampour: Born to lose what?

Mauro Fiore: Live to win.

Arash Homampour: Okay. I like that. Yeah.

Mauro Fiore: Me and Bob are going to drink this-

Bob Simon: We're going to have some in your honor.

Arash Homampour: Please.

Mauro Fiore: Do [00:18:30] you know how many millions of streams and stuff Arash has?

Arash Homampour: We're just starting.

Mauro Fiore: It's not bullshit that he's a legit world-class DJ.

Arash Homampour: Music producer.

Bob Simon: But how do you balance the two of ... Have you ever had any jurors recognize you, by the way?

Arash Homampour: No, but I was at a music festival and someone came up to me, "Are you the Archer?"

Bob Simon: No way.

Arash Homampour: I was at a party, and the bartender said, "Are you the Archer?" And I was like, "Finally."

Mauro Fiore: Well, we'll drink to the Archer's music.

Bob Simon: But you're doing millions of streams-

Arash Homampour: Thank you, sirs. How do I find time [00:19:00] to make music?

Bob Simon: That's good.

Arash Homampour: When you're drinking and having a hangover, I'm making beats.

Bob Simon: I'm not hungover though.

Arash Homampour: I know. I'm kidding.

Bob Simon: But Mauro is.

Mauro Fiore: Yeah.

Bob Simon: He was on the Pedialyte this morning.

Arash Homampour: I like that. It's smart thinking.

Mauro Fiore: Well, yesterday was a little rough.

Bob Simon: He was at that bar.

Mauro Fiore: People who don't know, we do four or five of these shows in one day, and this isn't fake booze. We're actually drinking.

Arash Homampour: And you're drinking good liquors. It goes down smooth.

Bob Simon: Well, sometimes not so good.

Mauro Fiore: This one is really good. [inaudible 00:19:24]-

Bob Simon: This one's really good.

Mauro Fiore: Ace of Spades makes good stuff.

Arash Homampour: Nice.

Bob Simon: Yeah. Do you have set designated [00:19:30] hours where you're making music as opposed to making defendants cry?

Arash Homampour: Yeah. I made music last night. I made music this morning. I mean if I'm committed to something, I find time to do it. So I love making music. It's my favorite-

Mauro Fiore: I've been over to Arash's house. He's got his own private nightclub.

Arash Homampour: Yeah.

Mauro Fiore: If you're in Arash's house, he lives in this most beautiful house, not a thing out of place.

Bob Simon: It matches you.

Mauro Fiore: It's exactly how you would imagine it. Not anything out of place like a museum. You go through this door. You open the door, and it's a nightclub in there.

Arash Homampour: Well, it's a studio. I've got [00:20:00] music, equipment, synthesizers, guitars, basses.

Mauro Fiore: It's nuts. And then you go in there, and he's playing. He's DJing. He's playing the guitar. I mean he's a musician. He's playing the guitar.

Arash Homampour: Look, music is the universal language of love. I'm very committed to fostering and helping undiscovered talent find their music into the world. So we're doing rock, folk, dance music, house, techno. I just love music.

Bob Simon: Is your twin the same way?

Arash Homampour: No.

Bob Simon: Wow.

Mauro Fiore: And then one of the last times I was over there, he said, "I'm tired. You DJ."

Bob Simon: Really?

Mauro Fiore: So [00:20:30] I threw on the headphones, and I was DJing. I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I'm like-

Arash Homampour: It's okay.

Mauro Fiore: It was good though. It was fun.

Bob Simon: What does your shirt say here? I'm feeling-

Mauro Fiore: It says, "I'm feeling supersonic. Give me gin and tonic."

Arash Homampour: It's a quote from an Oasis song.

Mauro Fiore: I'm a big Oasis fan-

Bob Simon: I don't like Oasis. One of the twins, I'm not a huge fan of. I think he's a huge POS.

Mauro Fiore: Noah's a piece of shit.

Bob Simon: Yeah.

Arash Homampour: Hey, you can't defame people.

Bob Simon: Well, but it's true.

Arash Homampour: Okay.

Bob Simon: Liam Gallagher's the best.

Bob Simon: Whatever. Actually, yeah, I don't like their music. It's weird to me.

Arash Homampour: I love their music.

Bob Simon: [00:21:00] It's fine, but it's weird. I like a lot of stuff of that genre. I just don't like Oasis.

Mauro Fiore: You don't like Britpop, man? Come on.

Bob Simon: Come on, man.

Arash Homampour: Oh, my God. If you called them Britpop, they would come and murder you, but that's okay.

Bob Simon: Mauro, when we do road trips together, he's responsible for doing the music. It's like suicide ballads for eight hours in a row.

Arash Homampour: Oh, really?

Bob Simon: Yeah, it's very depressing.

Arash Homampour: Morose.

Bob Simon: Yes.

Mauro Fiore: Yeah, I mean-

Arash Homampour: Unrequited love, Smiths.

Mauro Fiore: A lot of that.

Bob Simon: I like how you find the beauty in these suicide ballads that he picks.

Arash Homampour: All music is unrequited. Taylor Swift is unrequited love. Billions and billions [00:21:30] of dollars from that genre.

Mauro Fiore: I have a very good Taylor Swift story that I told in one of these episodes.

Bob Simon: Oh, yes.

Mauro Fiore: I think Bob said he got some good feedback on it. I'll tell you about it later, Arash. It's a good story.

Bob Simon: Yeah. TLDR, he got kicked out of a Taylor Swift concert for being too drunk.

Mauro Fiore: They threw me out.

Arash Homampour: Okay.

Bob Simon: Who would have thunk?

Arash Homampour: Badge of honor.

Bob Simon: Yeah. So being in Chicago, how are you inspired to fight injustice, and how did you get to California?

Arash Homampour: When we were 10 or 11, we came here to visit my rich uncle who lived in Bel-Air, [00:22:00] palm trees, fancy house-

Bob Simon: Is this The Prince of Bel-Air story?

Arash Homampour: Kind of. No, but when I came here at 10 and we lived in Chicago and we were here for a week, I was like, "Dad, why do we live in Chicago? This is ridiculous." Because LA was so beautiful and his house was in the smell of jasmine and just opulence and beautiful. So we moved. He said, "Really? You like LA better?" I'm like, "Yeah." So the whole family moved, packed up our bags, came here.

Mauro Fiore: God bless your dad, man.

Arash Homampour: I know.

Mauro Fiore: I know your dad is still around, and he's the coolest guy.

Arash Homampour: He is.

Mauro Fiore: Dresses just like Arash, even more.

Arash Homampour: Better. [00:22:30] Better.

Mauro Fiore: Even better than Arash. Have you ever seen the guy?

Arash Homampour: Handsome fellow.

Mauro Fiore: He dresses like a rock star.

Bob Simon: Really?

Mauro Fiore: Yeah, his dad is.

Arash Homampour: Yeah. He's very handsome.

Bob Simon: I've not seen this. We got to drop some photos in the post-production of that stuff.

Arash Homampour: Sure.

Bob Simon: But it's interesting to me that you remember the smell of jasmine.

Arash Homampour: I do. I pay attention to details. It's an important thing. I mean my existence is curated, just like you described my house. Trials are curated. Everything's curated. It's supposed to be seamless. People don't know you're doing it, but you experience that curated experience. It elevates you. It's like if you walk in [00:23:00] here. This entire room is curated. Your lighting is curated versus if you went into a drab industrial place. It's a A big difference.

Bob Simon: This is how when you have a top chef, for instance. They're curating into the food every experience that you're having. Do you feel the same way when you're curating that experience for a jury?

Arash Homampour: Absolutely. You want the best experts. You want simple facts. Keep it simple. Respect their time. Respect their attention. Know when to emote. Just be your authentic self. It's organic, [00:23:30] real stuff.

Bob Simon: Talk to us because a lot of young lawyers think that, oh, great trial lawyers, you can just walk in on Friday, pick up the file, try it on Monday and not have a lot of preparation.

Arash Homampour: No, no. I mean you need to be prepared. Winging it is not going to work. At the same, you also have to not be over-prepared and stuck to-

Bob Simon: A script.

Arash Homampour: ... a set of facts or a script or notes because trial and life is fluid. You have to be able to react without tied to the past. But you need to know the basic facts. You need to understand the legal theories, the medicine, [00:24:00] the causation. You need to have a big understanding of the entire picture.

Bob Simon: But you're famous for being so well-prepared for anything. Do you feel like by the time you get to the courtroom, you're just ready to literally curate that experience that you've already set the table for?

Arash Homampour: Yeah. That's the whole point. Yeah.

Mauro Fiore: Do you have that fear? The reason why you're so prepared is the fear of failure?

Arash Homampour: No. Zero fear.

Mauro Fiore: No fear?

Arash Homampour: I tell people, as a trial lawyer, I have no fear whatsoever of anybody, [00:24:30] anything. Fear isn't even a conversation that occurs for me whatsoever. It's bizarre, but none. I was born to do this. It's like, "Welcome. Let's together get-

Bob Simon: Why do you think you were born to do this? Was there some life event that led you down this path to be a trial lawyer?

Arash Homampour: No. It's like how does Jordan know that he was meant to play basketball? Because he's in flow state and it's just you can tell by any observation, this is what he was born to do. Same thing with me as a trial lawyer.

Bob Simon: Do you ever think you'll stop being a trial lawyer?

Arash Homampour: Hell no. Someone's like, "When are you going to stop [00:25:00] being a lawyer?"

Bob Simon: I mean it's crazy because you-

Arash Homampour: Why would I? First of all, I love it. Well, here's an important reason why. My current existence, I'm not about consumption. A lot of people live their life for consumption. They make money to consume, to buy things, to provide. My life is about giving, and so I want access to even larger verdicts to take all the money, to give it away, to help, inspire, and further other people who don't have a chance.

Bob Simon: Tell us [00:25:30] about your charitable contributions.

Arash Homampour: Yeah. Most people should know that you can create a charitable foundation where you put money in that's tax-free, and you can, as long as it's approved by the IRS, give it out to individuals or other organizations. We gave over $600,000 last year, my foundation, to different entities and individuals who want to get to the next level in their life.
My new thing is there are so many undiscovered, powerful humans [00:26:00] all over the country who don't have the economic resources, who don't have the support system to really get to where their potential could get them. So what we're going to start doing is going to high schools in impoverished areas and saying, "Who's your superstar? Who is the person that if they had the money, if they had the moral support, if they had the foundation, they can make it and really be the next Elon Musk or whoever the next superhero is of the universe?"
There's so much undiscovered talent in this universe [00:26:30] that needs someone to believe in them financially, morally, and spiritually.

Bob Simon: And to give them opportunity through that.

Arash Homampour: What's the point? I mean, look, are we getting all these big verdicts and settlements to consume and buy cars and Bentleys and jets? No. You're a vessel for that because God or the universe has entrusted you with abundance to share it and to help others. The minute you get that distinction, consumption, ego, what about me, to I have a talent, how can I make the biggest impact? Your life will transform. You will find [00:27:00] joy in everything. You'll walk through life with ease.

Bob Simon: Did you always have this philosophy? Or is it something that's come more profound as you've accelerated your career?

Arash Homampour: I think everyone knows these things because when I say it to you and I articulate it, it makes sense.

Bob Simon: I feel like it makes sense.

Arash Homampour: It doesn't become true for you until maybe a certain point, maybe with your ... Again, your circle is I provide for me. Then you provide for your family. Then you provide for your larger family, then your law firm, then your legal community. But really. If we all see ourselves as humans and we're all here in it [00:27:30] together, your circle of who you can benefit is everybody.

Bob Simon: Everybody.

Arash Homampour: It brings you joy when you're of service.

Mauro Fiore: Arash told me something in a conversation with him I had years ago, but it stuck with me to this day because it's so true. He said, "Mauro, you don't know how much $1,000 is so insurmountable to someone who has nothing." I know that There Is A Light Foundation, what it's like to give people even [00:28:00] small micro grants. Say, $500 to someone who's got nothing is a gigantic deal. That really stuck with me.

Bob Simon: I remember we were going to college. We tried to fight for every dollar we could. For a grant, to try to afford to go to ... My dad was taking out Teamster loans just to try to-

Arash Homampour: The amount of money some of us make is ridiculous. We deserve it, but it's kind of ridiculous. And again, God is not in the religious sense. God in the spiritual sense didn't give you 100 apples so that you can eat 100 apples. He gave you 100 or She gave you 100 apples because it's trusting [00:28:30] you that you're going to help other people with it who don't have access to growing fruit, eating-

Bob Simon: But how are you able to manage and find those superstars in every depressed area and do that outreach?

Arash Homampour: They're all over. Just go ask somebody.

Bob Simon: But is somebody doing that for you?

Arash Homampour: Yes.

Bob Simon: Because you don't have time to do it, but how do you set that up?

Arash Homampour: Well, I mean my foundation has people working for it. We'd reach out and go find ... That's our new thing. Right now, we've been giving money, cash grants to individuals, 5 to 10,000 to go to production school or dental school or whatever.

Mauro Fiore: I know you gave scholarships [00:29:00] to the DJ school, to the people.

Arash Homampour: Everybody. The new thing is the high school students that can be the next superstar. We want to identify them and help support them. I'm going to be asking you guys for money and for your moral support in encouraging people because there are people who are the next superstar, but they live in an environment where people talk negatively, the parents, because of their own life experience. They don't know what they don't know.

Bob Simon: They have no mentorship. They have no opportunity.

Arash Homampour: They don't know they could be a trial lawyer.

Bob Simon: They don't know.

Arash Homampour: [00:29:30] They don't know they could be a genetic scientist. They just don't know.

Bob Simon: So if you had to give advice to lawyers, what are some steps they should be taking in order to give this chance to folks?

Arash Homampour: Well, one, take my call when we call and ask you for money. And two, make yourself available to publicly speak, to share your story, to inspire other people. Your story of where you came from with your parents and your twin in Pittsburgh is inspiring because people, when they hear it, they go, "Okay, if he did it, I could do it." I mean, dude, you came out of nowhere. I remember.
One day, I'm trying cases [00:30:00] and this guy shows up with his brother and team, and they're doing PowerPoints at home. One guy's trying the case. I go to your office, and you guys are crushing it. You came out of nowhere. So your story is inspirational not only to your community and the people that know you, but people who don't know who need to hear it. Mauro, your story is inspirational. There's just so many people who don't know and they need someone to believe in them.

Bob Simon: That's one thing that I've committed to do more this year is I'm going to try to do every other month to have these type of things, to invite younger lawyers, to show them and inspire them, but also [00:30:30] people in the community, to understand that they can do these things. It's just about having that support system.
So the last whiskey we're going to pour here today, this is Watertown Whiskey, which you've never had before. This was a coconut-

Mauro Fiore: Watertown from Boston?

Bob Simon: Yeah. How did you know that?

Mauro Fiore: I've been to Watertown.

Bob Simon: Oh, well, you know the stupidest things. But anyways, Watertown. You looked at the bottle.

Mauro Fiore: No.

Bob Simon: All right, sure. It's coconut-infused. We're doing lower-

Mauro Fiore: Have you ever seen The Town

Bob Simon: No.

Mauro Fiore: With Ben Affleck?

Bob Simon: Oh, yeah, I've seen The Town.

Mauro Fiore: They're in Watertown in that movie.

Bob Simon: [00:31:00] Oh, there you go. Because my buddy I know that's the founder of this company, he looks like he comes from that area.

Mauro Fiore: Does this have booze in it?

Bob Simon: Yeah.

Mauro Fiore: Okay.

Bob Simon: But I think it's 35% or something. It's not crazy.

Mauro Fiore: Geez. A good pour, too.

Bob Simon: There's coconut in here. I'm trying to keep you hydrated.

Mauro Fiore: You're trying to knock my socks off.

Arash Homampour: Why would they put coconut whiskey?

Bob Simon: Well, the story is the founder always put coconut water into his whiskey. He did a lot of day drinking. He did a lot of events and stuff [inaudible 00:31:26]-

Mauro Fiore: I feel like Jimmy Buffett.

Bob Simon: Yeah. It feels like a coconut almost rum, [00:31:30] but it's very good.

Mauro Fiore: Excellent.

Bob Simon: But it's 75%, I think.

Mauro Fiore: 73 proof. Not bad.

Arash Homampour: That's a lot.

Bob Simon: It's proof, so it's 30. It's half of that. This one's probably 50%.

Mauro Fiore: It says, "Shoot it, rip it, or sip it." I like it. I'm going to rip it.

Bob Simon: Oh, here we go.

Arash Homampour: Chug it.

Bob Simon: Chug it. Chug-

Arash Homampour: Go, go. Yay. Finally, let's get some real questions, heartfelt questions.

Bob Simon: Well, I want to ask you the hard times, my friend.

Arash Homampour: Hard times?

Bob Simon: Hard times.

Arash Homampour: It's always hard times. You have kids?

Bob Simon: Yeah. But this is-

Arash Homampour: What?

Bob Simon: Let's go through two. One has one on the personal side, [00:32:00] the other one on the business side because there's no way you came out just crushing verdict after verdict. Everything was peachy-toasty.

Arash Homampour: Oh, come on, dude. When I started my law practice, my then-wife had to sell her car so that we could afford rent to start a law firm. I mean I had to barter everything. We had no money. We couldn't afford anything. But we did have a hunger and a belief in the American dream, that if you work hard, you're doing what you love and you wait and you're patient and you keep at it and you reinvest your money into growing [00:32:30] your practice and not buying a lot of stupid things, one day, you'll get to a point where you make a sustainable living.

Mauro Fiore: Did you have a plan?

Arash Homampour: Absolutely.

Mauro Fiore: You had a plan?

Arash Homampour: My plan was I started with small cases, 5,000, $10,000 cases. I always knew I wanted to do eight-figure cases. I always knew I was going to go from 100 cases to 50 cases to 20 cases. Now my next step is to do billion-dollar trials, again, only to make the money, to give it away.

Bob Simon: [00:33:00] We had this discussion. With your skillset, you should be trying these where they have these mass tort group folks and having the one-offs and really making a difference.

Arash Homampour: Well, I mean the beautiful thing about our area of law is that even though we're competitors, we all help each other. Brian Panish got me into the Inner Circle, which is a very prestigious group-

Bob Simon: So you know now? People told me a while ago, "Don't tell Arash, but he's in."

Arash Homampour: No. He got me in-

Bob Simon: Do you know this? He's in the Inner Circle.

Mauro Fiore: You're in the Inner Circle of Advocates.

Bob Simon: Cheers to that.

Arash Homampour: It's a big deal. It's a big deal.

Mauro Fiore: I might have to have another rip for that.

Bob Simon: You should have another [00:33:30] rip for that.

Arash Homampour: I went to our first meeting in Miami and met attorneys who get billion-dollar verdicts and settle $17 billion cases.

Bob Simon: Cheers to Arash.

Arash Homampour: I'm excited because Brian has agreed to take me on the national stage and to try bigger cases. Again, one, because-

Mauro Fiore: Brian is a tremendous guy.

Arash Homampour: ... I should be. Again, we're competitors, and he's such a lovely human being, that he brought me in to help. We all help each other.

Bob Simon: Yeah, all the time.

Arash Homampour: My thing is there's enough space for all of us to shine. [00:34:00] There is.

Bob Simon: We all do different types of stuff.

Mauro Fiore: Defense lawyers hate each other.

Bob Simon: I know. I'm speaking actually-

Mauro Fiore: It's so weird.

Arash Homampour: They love us. They all want to be our best friend, these defense lawyers.

Bob Simon: I'm speaking at that their seminar tomorrow.

Arash Homampour: Okay, good.

Bob Simon: It's pretty funny.

Arash Homampour: Good.

Bob Simon: No, but for those of you who are listening or watching, depending on the medium, the Inner Circle is literally 100 lawyers that get into the Inner Circle, and it is hard. You have to be vetted, invited, and somebody literally has to die for you to get in to the 100.

Arash Homampour: It's just the top plaintiff trial lawyers-

Bob Simon: In the nation.

Arash Homampour: ... in the country [00:34:30] getting together and really just ... It's a wonderful, powerful group of really beautiful human beings. It was just such an honor that I was asked to be in and was accepted in, and I'm going to not let them down.

Bob Simon: I think I know maybe a handful. I know Brian. Now I know you. Brian Panish, Arash.

Arash Homampour: Rahul, Ricardo.

Bob Simon: Ricardo.

Arash Homampour: A lot of Californians that's coming in this year.

Bob Simon: Randi McGinn is in, I believe.

Arash Homampour: Yes.

Bob Simon: Chris Magnoli, I think, is in?

Arash Homampour: No.

Bob Simon: She's not?

Arash Homampour: I'm not sure.

Bob Simon: I know Randi is in, for sure.

Arash Homampour: I didn't see her at the last meeting.

Bob Simon: Which it was Miami.

Arash Homampour: Yeah.

Bob Simon: But no, congrats. [00:35:00] There's no other accolade you can get after.

Arash Homampour: Well, I don't want the accolade. I want access to bigger cases to make a bigger difference. So I appreciate the accolade.

Bob Simon: Bigger cases for a bigger difference.

Arash Homampour: It's all it is. That's my new motto.

Bob Simon: I like this. You should get another tattoo. I want you to go across like your belly instead of thug life. He says, "More Twinkies." He had another Twinkie on the way in.

Mauro Fiore: I had a Twinkie.

Bob Simon: He did. Actually, you had three.

Mauro Fiore: Mine says [inaudible 00:35:23] and she put the T right here.

Arash Homampour: I'm just going to give the justice tattoo. It's due.

Bob Simon: I like this.

Arash Homampour: Yeah.

Mauro Fiore: I have a Hebrew tattoo [00:35:30] that says, "Only God can test-"

Arash Homampour: But it was cool going to the Inner Circle meeting. It's older dudes and then showing up with tattoos. I'm like, "Is this the tattoo convention here or no?"

Bob Simon: Man. But it's mostly it's the older folk that are still at the top of the ... You're probably the youngest one in.

Arash Homampour: No. There's a guy named Itkin from Texas.

Bob Simon: I know him. Yeah, yeah.

Arash Homampour: He's in his 40s, and he got the two-point-something billion-dollar Monsanto verdict. Rick Friedman was there. Such a lovely dude, Rick Friedman. Wrote books. I love that guy.

Mauro Fiore: Yeah, I know him because I practice up in Seattle. So he's up there. He's the king of Seattle, Rick [00:36:00] Friedman.

Bob Simon: He has an office in Bremerton. Our daughter that we adopted, we were in Bremerton for a week during the adoption process, and we saw Rick Friedman.

Arash Homampour: Everyone's just, they're so lovely and welcoming and warm and just such an amazing group.

Bob Simon: Any guy from Alaska hitting eight-figure verdicts, you know got something in their system.

Arash Homampour: Yeah. That's right.

Bob Simon: Yeah, but-

Mauro Fiore: What does yours say?

Arash Homampour: But we were slacking because me and Ricardo and Rahul were like, "Eight-figure verdicts? There's people like nine-figure verdicts. Okay, what's up?"

Bob Simon: But is-

Arash Homampour: Literally, you're like a baby compared to these other trial lawyers.

Bob Simon: But think about this. This was just the opportunity that somebody brought them this case to try. [00:36:30] I've seen a lot of gifted trial lawyers, and you're the best I've seen in the courtroom. So why couldn't you take that same dedication and do it?

Arash Homampour: I'm ready. Yeah, of course.

Bob Simon: It's crazy.

Mauro Fiore: So do you think that what you're doing, trying these cases, obtaining these big verdicts, this is how you can make the biggest difference?

Arash Homampour: Yeah. By taking money from wrongdoers and then spreading it out and helping people who otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity to be their best self because then they're going to make a difference in this universe. There's so many powerful musicians and scientists and potential doctors and other lawyers [00:37:00] that just don't know what they don't know that I want to give access to.

Bob Simon: Wow.

Mauro Fiore: I've met your friend, Graham. He's amazing.

Arash Homampour: Yeah.

Mauro Fiore: These are musicians and people that he hangs out with, the most amazing human beings you've ever met.

Arash Homampour: Just kind, loving people. And again, music is everything to me. I mean that's my oxygen, music.

Mauro Fiore: Me, too. Music's everything to me.

Arash Homampour: It's timeless, and so-

Bob Simon: I like more like white noise.

Arash Homampour: Do you?

Bob Simon: It's my favorite channel.

Arash Homampour: Brown noise? Green noise?

Bob Simon: Yeah. Just white noise.

Arash Homampour: We'll talk about that.

Bob Simon: I put on something-

Arash Homampour: Do you want to ask me about the robot thing? The distinction of robot?

Bob Simon: Yeah, I want to talk about it. Let's go.

Arash Homampour: Do you meditate? [00:37:30] Anyone here meditate?

Bob Simon: I do with my daughters now every morning. We do a little quick little prayer and little meditation to have them set their affirmations for the day.

Arash Homampour: This is very deep, but I'm going to try and say it succinctly. As human beings, we're kind of robots in the sense that we get inundated with data through our five senses. The data comes at us so quickly in real time that it's difficult for your spiritual self to distinguish reality from what's really just data coming in. But if you look at life as you're a robot with these five [00:38:00] senses taking in all data and you stop and you access your spiritual self, you'll realize none of this is real.
It's just data coming at us and that you have a lot more power and agency in who you're going to be than you really think you do because we believe this is all real. Meditation gives you access to your spiritual self in a way that you can consciously choose who you're going to be in spite of the overwhelming data that's coming at you that overwhelms you.

Bob Simon: Data.

Arash Homampour: So what I've been doing with a lot of people is meditation [00:38:30] is not a breakfast. It is not a task or an event. Meditation is a way of being where you can go. My spiritual self stops this data and chooses, despite whatever circumstance, I'm going to be loving. I'm going to be kind. I'm going to be whatever you declare yourself to be. That's the beauty and power of accessing meditation. You can do it in a courtroom. You could do it in a relationship. You can do it with your children.
I did it the other day with my father. We were talking. He was saying something, and I was just arguing [00:39:00] with him as a pattern, just to be whatever, contrarian. I stopped, and my spiritual self said, "What's really going on here? My dad just wants to spend time with me." Instead of arguing with him, my spiritual self accessed back, came in and said, "Dad, I love you."
So it's the power to not be a victim of your circumstance, but to really just stop and go, "I want to be my best spiritual, loving self." By the way, when you are your best spiritual, loving self, you can manifest anything you desire, and [00:39:30] you'll see how the world unfolds for you in a loving, beautiful way. I hope that makes sense.

Mauro Fiore: I was going to say, that was my first comment is it sounds like manifestation, which I have done a lot of in my life. I've never done meditation. I know a lot of people are into Transcendental Meditation.

Arash Homampour: We'll talk about it.

Mauro Fiore: But manifestation, for sure.

Bob Simon: Why don't-

Arash Homampour: Well, let me explain something. Manifestation's woo woo. People go, "What is manifestation?" Well, listen, someone had to manifest a microphone before a microphone existed. Manifestation is physical. It's real. Again, [00:40:00] before that microphone existed, someone had to manifest a microphone, a device that records us. So you can manifest anything you want. You just have to believe in it, think in it, and be it.

Bob Simon: I do think, honestly, one of my friends gave me the nickname Planet Fun Bob because I was just always the happiest person in the room. I would just think. I'm just, "Why are you not happy and helping people every single day of your life?" There's no reason not to. But I'm a big putting energy out there. You are what you get back type of deal. [00:40:30] But for you at this point in your career, you're still a young trial lawyer.

Arash Homampour: Yes, absolutely.

Bob Simon: You're still very young.

Arash Homampour: A baby doing it.

Bob Simon: But you've been crushing it.

Arash Homampour: Yes.

Bob Simon: Where'd you go to law school?

Arash Homampour: Southwestern. They named me Alumni of the Year, I think.

Bob Simon: Alumnus.

Arash Homampour: That's nice. Alumnus, whatever. Yeah. I'm going to get an award in June for something.

Bob Simon: Congrats.

Arash Homampour: Yeah.

Bob Simon: I was Pepperdine's Alumnus of the Year last year.

Arash Homampour: Were you?

Bob Simon: Yeah.

Arash Homampour: Nice. They're smart.

Bob Simon: Mauro, how about yours? How about yours?

Mauro Fiore: My school gave me an award because I'm the one person who passed the bar who went there.

Bob Simon: There you go.

Arash Homampour: Well, I almost got kicked out of Southwestern [00:41:00] for drinking in the library. So this is-

Mauro Fiore: Drinking in the library-

Arash Homampour: I had a sordid past.

Bob Simon: Look how many great trial ... Well, my twin brother went to Southwestern. Brian Panish went to Southwestern.

Arash Homampour: The top three lawyers in the top 10 super lawyers were from Southwestern. It's a great school.

Mauro Fiore: It has a reputation of being a school that's very hard to get out of. They flunk everyone out.

Arash Homampour: Well, look, I tell people-

Bob Simon: Do they still do that. That's messed up.

Mauro Fiore: They still do that.

Arash Homampour: Let's say USC Law School's a great school. They're great schools, but you go on a certain path.

Bob Simon: They're [00:41:30] molding you for-

Arash Homampour: You have a certain box. If you go to some other schools where you don't have 100 firms lining up to hire you, you then have the freedom to create whatever life you want. The reality is if you take a trial lawyer from Southwestern or whatever that's successful, they'll probably do a lot better than, let's say, the Harvard-trained trial lawyer because we come from a different, scrappier, real background.

Bob Simon: You're hungrier. So one of the other things, I see outside of our industry these venture capitalists that are strategic, [00:42:00] where they come into companies. They help people they believe in, founders they believe in. They give them capital, and they show them the path. We should be doing that with lawyers, showing them that why go? You should be able to pursue your passion, not be beholden to golden handcuffs of big law.
Let us take you out, give you the seed capital you need. Here's your support system, and now you're helping people on scale. That's been true to my heart for the past few years.

Arash Homampour: But a lot of people don't want the overhead. They don't want to be business people. They prefer a paycheck and a steady-

Bob Simon: It's not [00:42:30] for everybody.

Arash Homampour: They like what they like. Everyone's-

Mauro Fiore: A lot of people are not into running a business.

Arash Homampour: It's hard work.

Bob Simon: That's why you could have an operate like my twin brother, God bless him, he's a lawyer, went to Southwestern, but he operates the day-to-day of our firm.

Arash Homampour: You're very lucky.

Bob Simon: I'm very lucky.

Arash Homampour: Same with me. I got Farzad Yassini running the law firm.

Bob Simon: That's your cousin.

Arash Homampour: If you have someone you trust running the firm and you can focus on your skillset, it's the best. I tell everyone, find a family member or someone you trust.

Mauro Fiore: I have at my office, too. It's amazing.

Bob Simon: He has an operator, full-time [00:43:00] COO. When lawyers come out to me and they say, "What's the first thing? Who's the first person I should hire when I start my own firm?" I was like, "You have to hire somebody that does the stuff you don't want to do to run the business. It should be an operator, and it does not have to be a lawyer."

Arash Homampour: Right, absolutely.

Bob Simon: We're going to wrap up this show. We usually ask you for what your bourbon of proof is.

Arash Homampour: Okay.

Bob Simon: What's another question we can ask Arash because he just tried the cannabis-infused whiskey, which it actually tastes like wee. We can't be bourbon of proof, but what's your-

Arash Homampour: What's a bourbon of proof? What do you mean?

Bob Simon: We always ask guests, "Out of these three, what's your favorite one? [00:43:30] Where do you like to live?" But for you, you didn't try any.

Arash Homampour: You know what-

Mauro Fiore: Maybe we ask him, do you have anything right now, a project that lights you up?

Bob Simon: Yeah.

Arash Homampour: Everything. I mean right now I'm immersed in music.

Mauro Fiore: What's your project that lights you up.

Arash Homampour: Right now it's making a ton of music and working with new artists. I'm just excited about getting to the Coachella stage. That's the next big thing. And then billion-dollar verdicts and then going to inner cities and getting the high school kids, sponsoring them to really get to the next level. Those are the three things I'm going to make happen [00:44:00] and manifest.

Mauro Fiore: As my friend says, create every day.

Arash Homampour: Yes, content create every day. Don't play video games.

Bob Simon: First you get the money. Then you get the power.

Mauro Fiore: Then you get the woman.

Arash Homampour: What?

Bob Simon: No. The respect. God, you ruined the line.

Mauro Fiore: That's from Scarface.

Bob Simon: I know.

Arash Homampour: Let's do this one more time.

Mauro Fiore: That's from Scarface.

Arash Homampour: Is it?

Bob Simon: Yeah, he knows.

Arash Homampour: Let's do it one more time.

Bob Simon: It is from Scarface. First you get the money. Then you get the power. Then you get the respect.

Mauro Fiore: Then you get the woman.

Bob Simon: No, respect.

Mauro Fiore: Then you get the respect. Then you get the woman.

Bob Simon: No, come on. He's had too much already. These are all [00:44:30] watered-down whiskeys.

Arash Homampour: It's okay. I have that conversation with my daughters about the power of women. We'll talk about that later.

Bob Simon: Man, my whole household, it's all women. Even my dogs are girls.

Arash Homampour: I prefer women to men, generally. My men as friends are half women. You, we're close. You've got strong feminine energy. You do, too.

Mauro Fiore: You know what? I've got a funny Arash story. One time I went over to his house-

Arash Homampour: Wait. You better be careful.

Mauro Fiore: It's a good story.

Arash Homampour: Okay.

Bob Simon: Better be careful.

Mauro Fiore: I like music just like him.

Bob Simon: You guys are neighbors, the Hollywood Hills.

Mauro Fiore: He's my neighbor. So he lives right by me a couple minutes away. [00:45:00] I'm at his house. He's playing music. He's doing beats, and we're having the greatest time. Steve Vartazarian had come over that day to make this crazy dinner for us. And then Arash, he doesn't eat much anyways. But then Steve was making all this food, and he's like, "You guys going to eat?" And we're like, "No, man. We're playing music today." He was so upset.
He brought a cooler with lobsters and steaks. We didn't eat anything because we were having fun because I [00:45:30] get lost in music like him. I could get lost in the music for days. Steve was so mad because he brought all this food over, and he didn't eat a bite.

Arash Homampour: How is that a good story? [inaudible 00:45:38]-

Mauro Fiore: But it's just a funny story how do you get lost in what you love.

Arash Homampour: Well, I operate at 60% food capacity. That's deliberate. You should never eat too much. If you eat too much, you become lethargic.

Bob Simon: We should have a talk about that because I like to eat too much.

Arash Homampour: 60%.

Mauro Fiore: I eat 160%.

Bob Simon: We're making up for you, bro.

Arash Homampour: All right, good. You can have it.

Bob Simon: We heard from Blake, one of the best trial lawyers of all time where he's ascending. [00:46:00] Everyone thinks you've reached the pinnacle of your career.

Arash Homampour: Hell no.

Bob Simon: You're not even close.

Arash Homampour: I'm starting, dude. That's crazy. Get out of here.

Bob Simon: So helping people on a massive scale, helping on helping on helping I think the big takeaway today is what an amazing human being you are.

Arash Homampour: I'm just a reflection of the two of you, my friends.

Bob Simon: You need to watch this show on YouTube or whatever medium because you need to see these stunning blue eyes and that nice little justice tattoo.

Arash Homampour: Yes, there you go.

Bob Simon: It's very cute.

Arash Homampour: Thank you. Cute?

Mauro Fiore: That's what they call the-

Arash Homampour: compelling and handsome.

Bob Simon: Compelling and handsome.

Mauro Fiore: Neck tattoos [00:46:30] are what they call job killers.

Arash Homampour: Yeah, I-

Mauro Fiore: That's a job killer.

Arash Homampour: I got top 10 super lawyer and I was like, "You know what? Eff this. I'm fucking getting neck tattoos." I'm like, "I don't care at this point. What are they going to do at this point?"

Mauro Fiore: My tattoos-

Bob Simon: My rule is not below ... I even cut it above the sleeve because I roll it up, or the neck.

Arash Homampour: You could edit this or not, but my daughter goes, "Dad, you're so hot already. But now with the neck tattoos, oh my God." I was like ...

Mauro Fiore: Yeah. You know what? When I try a case, you wear a suit. No one's going to see [00:47:00] my tattoos. But once in a while, I'll pull it up or someone will see it, and you can see the jurors that notice it.

Arash Homampour: Dude, the first-

Bob Simon: They stare at you the entire time.

Mauro Fiore: Some of the jurors are like-

Bob Simon: Jurors stare at the lawyer the entire time.

Mauro Fiore: They look at you and they're like, "Ah."

Arash Homampour: Do you want to know what the jurors say to me after every trial? Two things.

Bob Simon: You don't wear socks.

Arash Homampour: No. I wear socks in court. They go, "Two things. Who's your tailor, and can I touch your tattoos?"

Bob Simon: Really? That's what they say? Do you put any shine on your tattoos during trial?

Arash Homampour: No, no.

Mauro Fiore: You got to put cream on them.

Bob Simon: I had one photo shoot one time, and [00:47:30] they were like, "If you put hairspray on your tattoos, it makes them pop for the camera.

Arash Homampour: We didn't do any today. You didn't have any.

Bob Simon: Just think about that.

Arash Homampour: I asked. They didn't have it.

Bob Simon: Really? See, you did ask.

Arash Homampour: I did.

Bob Simon: This meticulous guy. All right. From the jasmine scents of Bel-Air to now the king of the legal industry, we look forward to your billion-dollar verdicts and helping out finding the Taylor Swifts in every urban area across the United States.

Arash Homampour: Thank you for having me.

Bob Simon: Thank you, Arash Homampour.

Arash Homampour: Thank you.

Mauro Fiore: Thank you.