Ara Astourian focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation. He has represented clients in the technology, retail, and cultural sectors and has litigated claims of defamation, breach of contract, copyright infringement, and negligence in federal and state courts. He has experience drafting dispositive motions, leading fact investigations, conducting client interviews, and second-chairing offensive and defensive depositions.
Prior to joining Jones Day in 2026, Ara helped win summary judgment for OpenAI in first-of-its-kind litigation alleging defamation by ChatGPT, OpenAI's generative AI tool, spearheading preparation for OpenAI's key offensive depositions and composing the initial draft of OpenAI's summary judgment brief. Ara also served on a trial team that helped obtain complete victory for a large public technology company, after the company was sued by its former CEO for $100 million in damages. Additionally, Ara helped secure favorable results for Google and Fashion Nova in high-stakes commercial disputes.
Ara served two judicial clerkships and holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Southern California, where he specialized in political philosophy and wrote a dissertation defending a Rawlsian view of public reason.
- Harvard University (J.D. 2021); University of Southern California (Ph.D. in Philosophy 2017); Cal Poly Pomona (B.A. in Philosophy 2009; Julian A. McPhee Honor Award for Student Excellence)
- California
- Law Clerk to: Judge Holly A. Thomas, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (2022-2023) and Judge André Birotte Jr., U.S. District Court, Central District of California (2021-2022)
- Western Armenian