Mickel ”Mike” Arias of Arias Sanguinetti Wang & Torrijos has a few thoughts on California’s recent designation as the nation’s premier ”Judicial Hellhole” by the American Tort Reform Association.

Arias, who this month took office as the president of the Consumer Attorneys of California, the nation’s largest state-level plaintiffs lawyer group, spoke with The Recorder about what he makes of the “Hellhole” designation, whether he thinks the plaintiffs bar should make its own defense-friendly jurisdiction list, and what the CAOC’s legislative priorities will be under the even-more-solidly Democratic legislature and Governor-Elect Gavin Newsom.