Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Key Legal Issues to Consider for Yourself, Your Staff and Your Practice & PPP Loan Guidelines

Ara Babaian is a business attorney who strives to enhance and protect his clients’ interests in order to create more rigorous economies that will benefit the clients’ owners, employees and business partners. With that goal in mind, he founded Encore Law Group in 2011, which now has offices in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. In this endeavor, Ara represents large corporations as well as startups, emerging growth companies and professionals in various industries, including Health Care, Technology, Entertainment and Media, Real Estate, Manufacturing and Distribution, Restaurant, Retail and Professional Services. His practice focuses on business transactions, including buying and selling companies (M&A), partnership formations, and investor raises, and also business advisory services such as forming entities, negotiating contracts, developing executive compensation plans, and managing employee and contractor matters. Ara also acts as outside General Counsel to many of his clients. Ara was elected as a Southern California Super Lawyer from 2015 through 2020, as well as a Rising Star previous to that, both honors given only to a few eligible lawyers in California. He earned his JD in 2001 from Loyola Law School with honors and his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California at Berkeley where he double-majored in English Literature and Molecular Cell Biology and minored in Creative Writing.

Disclosure: Ara Babaian, Esq. has no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests

Sev Araradian is a Vice President, Relationship Manager of 1st Century Bank's Century City Office. Mr. Araradian has over 25 years of experience in private banking, servicing firms and locally held business in Los Angeles. Prior to joining the Bank, Mr. Araradian spent almost 10 years with First Republic Bank, in Los Angeles and New York, where he was the Managing Director and managed the LA and New York regions. Mr. Araradian’s focuses his efforts on offering private and commercial banking to professional service firms, property management companies, local businesses and Non-For-Profit Organizations. Mr. Araradian, was also on the Executive Board of SOAR’s (Society of Armenian Orphan Relief) Ventura Chapter.

Disclosure: Sev Araradian has no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests

Gerard V. Kassabian, J.D., LL.M., is a California Bar licensed attorney since 2002 with his law office located in Sherman Oaks, California. Gerard performs legal services in the following areas: Estate and Tax Planning, Trust Administration and Litigation, Probate Administration, Family Law, Real Estate Transactions and Litigation, Business Entity Formation and Litigation, and Trademark Applications. After graduating Southwestern Law School where he was an associate editor of the Southwestern Law School Law Review, Gerard earned a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Estate Planning from the University of Miami School of Law, which is the premier graduate law school program in the country offering a master’s degree in estate and tax planning and is closely associated with the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning. These law degrees coupled with dual-degrees from the University of Southern California in Business Finance with emphasis in Real Estate and Political Science allow him to offer well-rounded business and legal advice. Gerard currently serves on the board of directors of the following entities: Golden State Bank, Armenian Bar Association, Southwestern Law School Alumni Association, West Hollywood Sheriff’s Booster Club, House of Lebanon, and Artsakh Development Group.

Disclosure: Gerard V. Kassabian, J.D., has no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests