Mike Mandell

Michael Laurence Mandell, known online as Law By Mike, is an American attorney and internet personality based in Los Angeles, California. He produces legal education videos on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram and operates a law firm, Mandell Law APC. In 2025, Law by Mike was listed as one of the top YouTube creators of the year. He publishes videos originally in English, of which a Spanish dubbed version is offered on independent channels.

Early life and education Mandell studied communications at the University of Southern California, graduating from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in 2009. He has described coming from a family of personal injury lawyers.

He then earned a Juris Doctor from Duke University School of Law in 2012.

Legal career After graduating from Duke Law, Mandell worked as an associate attorney at Reed Smith, an international law firm, at its Los Angeles office for approximately eight years, focusing on product liability litigation. He has stated that the firm's policies restricted attorneys from engaging in personal marketing or social media activity during this period. Prior to founding Mandell Law, Mandell was recognized on the Daily Journals list of "Top Verdicts in California" for a 2014 case, Gisvold v. Merck.

Online career Mandell started his YouTube channel, and also posted his first TikTok video on November 17, 2020. He has said he began posting as a low cost way to attract clients to his newly founded firm. His first public YouTube video, which discusses what to do if pulled over for speeding, appeared on February 26, 2021.

Early videos attracted limited attention, but a clip about what to say during a police traffic stop went viral, accumulating tens of millions of views.

Book In 2026, Mandell published Oops... That's Illegal!: A Handbook for the Wildly Curious (and the Accidental Outlaw) through Balance, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.