5 Things with Barry Pearlman

Barry Pearlman is the founder and managing partner of Encino-based employment law firm Pearlman, Brown & Wax. The firm, which has six additional offices, has
been around for 40 years.

1. Pearlman owns a candy shop. Outside of his law practice, Pearlman co-owns AusSam Candy in Granada Hills. The shop is run by Austin Pearlman, Barry Pearlman’s son, and Samantha McDougall. The two are family friends who have known each other for decades. “Austin loves children and, after working in the film business for a while with kids with special needs (like himself) he wanted to open up a business. Samantha and Austin became partners and I assist as manager/member,” Pearlman says.

2. Pearlman started his firm with some parental aid. He decided to start his own firm after seeing some of the difficulties his father and brothers faced running a family business. Pearlman started his firm in 1984 with a $10,000 loan from his parents. The firm got its start in Tarzana and opened its headquarters in Encino in 1993.

3. He is active in the San Fernando Valley. Pearlman is a Valley native and he and his wife are very active in the community. Pearlman is a founding member of S.O.L.I.D., Supporters of Law Enforcement in Devonshire. The group helps the Devonshire division of the LAPD purchase equipment that there is not enough funding for.

4. He likes to mentor others. Pearlman says he likes to work with “the next generation of attorneys,” many of whom are Valley natives as well. His former partner’s son and his daughter are even members of the firm.

5. Many judges have come out of Pearlman, Brown & Wax. To date, 10 of the law firm’s attorneys have become workers’ compensation judges. Pearlman says some “see abuses in the system and believe they can assist by becoming judges.”