MIKAEL ROJAS is Counsel in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. He represents clients across the country in matters challenging discrimination and wage and hour violations. He is a member of the firm’s Discrimination & Harassment, Class & Collective, and Government Representation Practices.
At the firm, Mikael has handled a broad variety of discrimination cases, including those based on race, national origin, immigration status, disability, age, religious affiliation, pregnancy, and sex and gender. These cases have included individual and class action matters dealing with employment, lending, and other issues. He has also focused his practice on wage and hour violations, particularly where companies have misclassified their employees, depriving them of minimum wage and overtime pay and other important benefits like paid leave. Mikael has represented clients from all walks of life, from valet drivers and school janitors to congressional staffers and senior corporate executives.
Mikael rejoined the firm after serving as Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division in the U.S. Department of Justice from 2022 to 2024. In this role, he advised the Assistant Attorney General and other Justice Department leadership officials on a wide range of civil rights investigations, enforcement actions, and policy matters. Mikael’s portfolio focused on economic justice issues, including discrimination in employment, housing, lending, and the defense of federal contracting programs for disadvantaged businesses.
Prior to joining the firm in 2018, Mikael litigated employment and housing discrimination cases as a fellow at Relman, Dane & Colfax PLLC, and immigrants’ rights cases as a fellow at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF). He also served as a law clerk to the Hon. Fernando M. Olguin, U.S. District Court Judge for the Central District of California.
Mikael earned his J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he was awarded the John Hart Ely Prize for outstanding writing and the Judge Thelton E. Henderson Prize for outstanding performance in the law school’s legal services clinic. He earned his Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Washington State University.
