Tigran Palyan is a founding partner of Palyan Hiett LLP and a Certified Family Law Specialist (CFLS), certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. He represents clients in complex, high-asset family law matters, including high-net-worth dissolutions, business and property division, spousal and child support, and contested child custody disputes, including move-aways. His work has earned recognition throughout the legal community, and he currently serves as Chair-Elect of the Family Law Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, one of the largest metropolitan bar associations in the country. He has lectured and taught for numerous bar organizations on a wide range of family law issues, including trial advocacy, appeals, and mediation.

Early Career and Perspective from Inside the Courtroom

Before entering private practice, Mr. Palyan served as a research attorney and judicial law clerk at the Los Angeles Superior Court, and completed externships with the court's Planning and Research Unit (PRU) and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He worked in the unlimited civil departments before serving exclusively in five family law departments, including two judicial officers who went on to become Supervising Judge of Family Law for Los Angeles County. In that role he researched, analyzed, and recommended rulings on motions, Requests for Orders, and Orders to Show Cause in hundreds of family law proceedings.

Representation in Complex, High-Stakes Matters

Prior to founding Palyan Hiett LLP, Mr. Palyan was a founding partner of Storm Palyan LLP and, before that, managing attorney of his own firm, Palyan Law, APC. He began his family law career at Trope and Trope LLP. He has represented clients from every background, including business owners, heirs, professional athletes, entertainment executives, physicians, attorneys, accountants, wealth managers, corporate directors, educators, and public servants.

The Daily Journal, one of California's most respected legal publications, has named Mr. Palyan one of California's top family law attorneys in both 2022 and 2025. He has also been profiled in the Daily Journal several times for his practice and his approach to complex, high-stakes family law matters. Mr. Palyan has spoken on television programs on a range of family law issues, has been asked to comment by news outlets, and has been quoted in legal publications.

Appeals, Writs, and Receiverships

In addition to his trial work, Mr. Palyan takes on family law appellate matters, drawing on his prior work in both federal and state courts. As a judicial extern to the Honorable Arthur L. Alarcón of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, he authored bench memoranda on matters before the Ninth Circuit and the United States District Court for the Central District of California, analyzing records and recommending dispositions in the manner of appellate chambers. As a judicial law clerk at the Los Angeles Superior Court, he served its Writs and Receiverships department, which also adjudicated preliminary injunctions and temporary restraining orders. Both inform his work in high-asset dissolutions, where the most contested matters often require the appointment of a receiver over a community property business and where pivotal issues are frequently tested through writ petitions or resolved on appeal.

Bar Leadership, Access to Justice, and Civility

Mr. Palyan has served on the Executive Committee of the Family Law Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA) since 2013 and is currently its Chair-Elect. While his day-to-day practice often serves high-net-worth clients, much of his community and bar service is devoted to access to justice for those who cannot afford counsel. He co-managed the Judgment Assistance Day (JAD) Program at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, a pro bono initiative run in partnership with the Los Angeles Superior Court that helps self-represented litigants finalize their family law judgments, and was recognized by the court for establishing and managing it. He earlier co-chaired LACBA's Trial Readiness Clinics, a related program preparing self-represented litigants for trial, and continues to serve as a Daily Settlement Officer (DSO) for the Los Angeles Superior Court. Within LACBA more broadly, he has served on the association's delegation to the California Conference of Bar Associations and on its Access to Justice Committee. Beyond LACBA, he has served as Legislative Liaison to the Family Law Section of the California Lawyers Association and on the Executive Committee of the Beverly Hills Bar Association's Family Law Section. Outside the bar, he has served on the Board of Governors of the Armenian Bar Association, where he launched a partnership with LACBA's Domestic Violence Project to assist victims seeking restraining orders, and on the boards of the Glendale Memorial Health Foundation and the LevittQuinn Family Law Center.

Mr. Palyan has made civility a central theme of his bar leadership, convening panels of judges and experienced practitioners to examine professionalism, reputation, and the standards that govern conduct in family law. As part of the Section's symposia, he organized a first-of-its-kind anonymous survey of judicial officers and presented its findings, offering candid insight into what the bench values as effective advocacy and what undermines an attorney's credibility.

Original Scholarship and Teaching the Next Generation

Mr. Palyan's scholarship has been widely cited. His law review article on privacy, Common Law Privacy in a Not So Common World: Prospects for the Tort of Intrusion upon Seclusion in Virtual Worlds, 38 Sw. L. Rev. 167 (2008), introduced a “reasonable avatar standard” for applying privacy tort law to virtual worlds and has been cited in more than a dozen publications, including the Journal of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

Privacy has been a throughline of his work ever since. The questions he first examined as a scholar surface constantly in his practice: how the law safeguards personal, digital, and financial information when a dissolution lays bare a client's most sensitive affairs. Mr. Palyan draws on that background to protect clients' privacy in litigation and to keep sensitive, high-profile matters out of public view.

Mr. Palyan was invited to teach as an adjunct professor shortly after graduating law school and has taught since 2013. He is currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at Pepperdine University's Caruso School of Law, where he teaches family law, and at Southwestern Law School, where he teaches Family Law Practice and Procedure and Small Firm Practice Management. He has served the State Bar of California as a consultant for the Family Law Specialization examination.

Bar Admissions & Certifications

  • State Bar of California, 2009
  • Certified Family Law Specialist (CFLS), State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization, 2020

Education

  • Juris Doctor, cum laude, Southwestern Law School, 2009 (top 10% of the class)
    • Associate Editor, Southwestern University Law Review (2008–2009); recipient, Bluebook Award (2008)
    • Member, Moot Court Honors Program (2007–2008); Brief Writer, John Marshall Competition, Chicago (2007)
    • CALI “Excellence for the Future” Award (highest grade in course): Constitutional Law II; Legal Analysis, Writing & Skills I; Legal Analysis, Writing & Skills II
    • Senior Dean’s Fellow (2008–2009); Dean’s Fellow (2007–2008)
    • Guest Speaker, Singularity Law (Technology Law Podcast); Guest Writer, Commentator (law school publication, 2008)
  • Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, Philosophy, University of California, San Diego, 2006 (top 10% of the class); Provost’s Honors (2002–2006); University Merit Scholarship (2005)
  • Graduate, National Family Law Trial Institute, Houston, Texas, 2015

Academic Appointments

  • Adjunct Professor of Law, Pepperdine University, Caruso School of Law
  • Adjunct Professor of Law, Southwestern Law School

Professional Experience

  • Founding Partner, Palyan Hiett LLP, 2026–Present
  • Founding Partner, Storm Palyan LLP, 2022–2026
  • Managing Attorney, Palyan Law, APC, 2017–2022
  • Partner, Trope & DeCarolis LLP, 2016
  • Associate Attorney, Trope and Trope LLP, 2012–2016
  • Associate Attorney, Brot & Gross LLP, 2012
  • Research Attorney / Judicial Law Clerk, Los Angeles Superior Court, 2009–2011
  • Judicial Extern to the Hon. Arthur L. Alarcón, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2008
  • Judicial Extern, Planning and Research Unit (PRU), Los Angeles Superior Court, 2007
  • Law Clerk, Kabateck Brown Kellner LLP (now Kabateck LLP), 2008–2009

Honors & Recognition

  • Super Lawyer, Southern California Super Lawyers, 2024–2026; Rising Star, 2014–2023; Up-and-Coming 100, 2023
  • Doyle's Guide, Leading Family, Matrimonial & Divorce Lawyers, 2024–2026
  • Best of L.A. Legal, Los Angeles Magazine, 2026
  • Best of Pasadena Legal, Pasadena Magazine, 2026
  • Top Family Lawyers, Daily Journal, 2022 and 2025
  • Top 20 Under 40 Rising Stars, Armenian Bar Association, 2019
  • Certificate of Appreciation, Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles (Judgment Assistance Day Program), 2022–2023
  • Service Award for Community Contributions, County of Los Angeles, 2015; Certificate of Recognition, U.S. House of Representatives, 2015

Leadership & Professional Service

  • Chair-Elect (Chair, August 2026) and Executive Committee Member since 2013, Family Law Section, Los Angeles County Bar Association
  • Co-Manager, Judgment Assistance Day Program, Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 2021–2024
  • Co-Chair, Trial Readiness Clinics, LACBA Family Law, 2013–2018
  • Daily Settlement Officer (DSO), Los Angeles Superior Court, current
  • Chair, Symposium Committee (2023–2024) and Continuing Legal Education Committee (2022–2024), LACBA Family Law
  • Legislative Liaison, Family Law Section, California Lawyers Association, 2018
  • Executive Committee Member, Family Law Section, Beverly Hills Bar Association, 2018–2024
  • Board of Governors, Armenian Bar Association, 2021–2025
  • Board Member, Glendale Memorial Health Foundation, 2025–Present
  • Board of Directors, LevittQuinn Family Law Center, 2023–2026
  • Consultant, Board of Legal Specialization, State Bar of California, 2021–2022

Selected Publications

  • Common Law Privacy in a Not So Common World: Prospects for the Tort of Intrusion upon Seclusion in Virtual Worlds, 38 Sw. L. Rev. 167 (2008)
    • Cited in more than a dozen publications, including:
      • Extended Privacy for Extended Reality: XR Technology Has 99 Problems and Privacy is Several of Them, Notre Dame Journal of Emerging Technologies, 4:2 (2023)
      • Constitutional Law: An Alternative Analysis to Intangible Emotional Harm Standing in the Way of Constitutional Standing, 28 Suffolk J. Trial & App. Advoc. 241 (2023)
      • Judging Offensiveness: A Rubric for Privacy Torts, 100 N.C. L. Rev. 1557, 1619 (2022)
      • Revenge Porn: The Name Doesn't Do Nonconsensual Pornography Justice and the Remedies Don't Offer the Victims Enough Justice, 98 Or. L. Rev. 197, 228 (2020)
      • Drone Invasion: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and the Right to Privacy, 94 Ind. L.J. 1065 (2019)
      • Potential Tort Liability for Personal Use of Drone Aircraft, 46 St. Mary's L.J. 573, 602 (2015)
      • The Sky Is the Limit: UAVs By Private Actors and the Implications to Common-Law Privacy, 10 FIU L. Rev. 803, 838 (2015)
      • No Vengeance for ‘Revenge Porn’ Victims: Unraveling Why this Latest Female-Centric, Intimate-Partner Offense is Still Legal, 42 Fordham Urb. L.J. 233, 289 (2014)
      • Sins of the Flesh? Obscenity Law in the Era of Virtual Reality, 19 Comm. L. & Pol'y 563 (2014)
      • Integration of Drones into Domestic Airspace: Selected Legal Issues, U.S. Congressional Research Service, R42940 (Apr. 4, 2013)
      • Use of Social Media in Post-Adoption Search and Reunion, 41 Cap. U. L. Rev. 177, 235 (2013)
      • It's Not A Game Anymore, Or Is It? Virtual Worlds, Virtual Lives, and the Modern (Mis)Statement of the Virtual Law Imperative, 10 U. St. Thomas L.J. 533, 577 (2012)
      • On Privacy: Liberty in the Digital Revolution, 11 J. High Tech. L. 229 (2011)
      • The Individual's Right of Privacy in a Marriage, 23 J. Am. Acad. Matrim. Law. 111 (2010)
      • Reviewing the Law Reviews, 76 Def. Couns. J. 264, 269 (2009)
      • Fortieth Selected Bibliography on Computers, Technology and the Law, 35 Rutgers Computer & Tech. L.J. 296, 357 (2009)
  • Privacy Expectation in Electronic Devices, LACBA Family Law Section eNews, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Dec. 2014)
  • Chapter on Privacy Tort, in L. Padmavathi, ed., Tort Law in Cyber Worlds: Emerging Issues (2009)