By Michael Pfau, Partner and Mallory Allen, Partner
Jason Amala has never been one to shy away from a challenge or take the easy way out.
Just three years out of law school, Jason was presented with a significant opportunity, but one that posed a substantial risk. Jason was asked to leave his comfortable and relatively risk-free position as an associate at a large, successful firm to be the sole associate for three partners who were going to create their own firm. There were no guarantees, but Jason took the leap and did not look back.
A few years later Jason had proven himself indispensable and was made partner — and a name partner at that — at Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala (PCVA).
Jason now has nearly twenty years of experience litigating an array of cases. But he is most accomplished in — and most proud of — the work he has done representing survivors of sexual abuse against a variety of institutional and governmental entities.
When the clergy sexual abuse scandals began breaking in the early 2000s, Washington was one of the only states in the country that had meaningfully reformed its statute of limitations so that adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse could bring civil claims for the abuse they suffered as children. PCVA was one of the first firms to do this new and challenging work, and there was no playbook. They faced off against the Seattle Archdiocese in dozens of cases, and eventually uncovered dozens of the Archdiocese’s “secret files” that had never before been disclosed. It took years of hard-fought litigation, including multiple appeals, with Jason taking the laboring oar and navigating his way through unchartered territory.
Following this unique and formative experience, as other states reformed their statutes of limitations on sexual abuse claims, Jason and PCVA were regularly asked to assist firms in other states as they sought to obtain justice for survivors in new legal landscapes with little-to-no precedent to follow. He has co-counseled and helped represent survivors around the country, including in California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, North Carolina, and Oregon.
In 2018, after years of litigation, Jason’s work led to the seizure and shutdown of Backpage.com, the largest online source of child sex trafficking in the country. He was featured in the documentary “I Am Jane Doe,” which chronicles his clients’ legal battle against Backpage.com that ultimately led to its demise.
In 2019, when the state of New York changed its statute of limitations on child sexual abuse — opening a “filing window” for survivors of sexual abuse to file previously lapsed claims, Jason led the firm’s foray into representing survivors in New York. PCVA now represents over 1,000 survivors of child sexual abuse in New York and grew from zero to six attorneys licensed and practicing in New York, including Jason.
In 2020, when the state of California passed legislation which likewise permitted filing of previously lapsed claims, Jason spearheaded the firm’s partnership with a renowned California plaintiff’s firm. PCVA is now litigating hundreds of cases involving various religious organizations, schools, the State of California, and other institutional defendants. Not one to stand on the sidelines, in March 2024, while balancing the demands of a national practice, Jason studied for and passed the California bar.
When he sees injustice, Jason does not keep quiet. He has been an outspoken critic of the proposed bankruptcy settlement by the Boy Scouts of America. Appalled by the undervaluation of the nearly 100,000 claims of boys who were sexually assaulted by their Scout leaders, Jason has publicly called out the plan as “the worst settlement of child sex abuse cases in the history of child sex abuse litigation.” Bravely speaking out when others did not, Jason emerged as a national leader in the fight against a bankruptcy plan which would have allowed the Boy Scouts and their insurers to emerge from bankruptcy with diminutive consequences for decades of profound failures to prevent the sexual abuse of the children entrusted to their care. Without expecting anything in return, Jason held town halls, consulted with other attorneys, and rallied support to ensure not just his clients, but all survivors, were treated fairly and the Boy Scouts faced real consequences for their actions and inactions. In a profession that is too often driven by ego and self-aggrandizement, Jason fought an uphill battle for justice.
A firm believer in the ‘work hard and play hard’ mantra, Jason is a regular skier, camper, and concert goer. Anyone who has been in his office has seen the concert posters that cover the walls floor to ceiling. A true loyalist, Jason has seen his favorite band — the Dave Matthews Band — over 130 times. Jason and his wife live on a horse farm where he spends time (and maybe even a few long conference calls) working on the property, and as a dad of two young kids, Jason also proudly wears the title of “horse show” and “baseball” dad.
Jason’s mentor and law partner Michael Pfau describes Jason as courageous, thoughtful, insightful, and a lawyer who thinks outside the box — someone who is willing to push other lawyers and the court to do the right thing. Since the start of his career, Jason has not stopped taking risks and pushing the envelope. Always looking around the next corner, Jason is a lawyer you want on your team.
