Andrea Huston has worked in asbestos litigation since 1995, yet never ceases to be amazed at the terrible injustice visited upon asbestos victims and their families. She feels her purpose is to help these people in any way that she can. Ms. Huston was taught as a child that inequity was not only wrong, but that she should actively fight against it. Taking that lesson to heart, she worked as an extern for Judge John Munter of the San Francisco Superior Court while in law school, and saw first-hand how many people needed help dealing with their injuries.

Ms. Huston has prepared over 70 arbitrations against a class action asbestos defendant, and helped obtain over $4,000,000 in arbitration awards for her clients. She has researched, located and organized product identification against numerous defendants, making it possible to attain settlements from them. She also pursued clients’ personal-injury asbestos claims against bankrupt defendants. The more Ms. Huston learns about the asbestos industry, the more intent she becomes on securing justice for her clients.

Education

• University of San Francisco School of Law (J.D., 1995)
• California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (B.S., cum laude, 1988).

Bar Admissions

• California (1999)

Organizations

• American Trial Lawyers Association
• Queen’s Bench

After graduating from law school, Petra DeJesus focused most of her legal career in public interest law. She represented low income individuals at California Rural Legal Assistance, Mission Community Legal Defense, and the San Francisco Public Defender’s office. As a senior Public Defender trial attorney, she has experience in all aspects of criminal litigation and has completed numerous jury trials including serious felonies and homicides.

In 1995, Ms. DeJesus accepted an opportunity to practice business law with a privately held company in Costa Mesa. As General Counsel for ETM Entertainment Network, she supervised all legal matters during its growth from a start-up company of 25 employees to a national live event and movie ticketing company with approximately 400 employees with offices located in the United States and internationally.

Ms. DeJesus joined Kazan Law in February 2000, excited to return to litigation. She represents workers, bystanders, and their families who are ill or have died from exposure to asbestos. Ms. DeJesus sees the firm’s clients as the backbone of our country, and without their contribution, the United States would not be the industrial giant it is today. She feels it is an honor to represent her clients against the industries that refuse to acknowledge their culpability or to compensate the workers for their workplace injuries. During her tenure, she has undergone extensive litigation and trial experience, including product identification research, and depositions of clients, co-workers, company representatives, experts and others.

As a Commissioner for the San Francisco Police Commission, Ms. DeJesus has worked on a variety of issues, the highlights of which include the election of the first transgender president of the Commission; review of the Police Department’s policy on use of Tasers; approval of Language Access Service for Limited English Proficient Persons, the most comprehensive General Order to guarantee access of police services for all community members; approval of strict Policies and Procedures for Juvenile Detention, Arrest and Custody to protect the rights of juveniles; modification of the Vehicle Towing Procedures for unlicensed drivers; and voted to develop and implement the first mental health crisis team in the Police Department.

Education

• Hastings College of the Law, University of California (J.D., 1982) Public Interest Law Graduate, Third Year Class president, Commencement Speaker, Extern California Supreme Court, Central Staff
• San Francisco State University (B.A., 1979) Deans List

Bar Admissions

• California (1982)

Organizations

• Alameda-Contra Costa Trial Lawyers (former Director)
• San Francisco La Raza Bar Association (former President)
• Consumer Attorneys of California
• National Lawyers Guild
• American Association for Justice
• San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association
• San Francisco Bar Association
• American Bar Association
• Public Justice Foundation
• California State Bar Association (Ethnic Minority Relations Committee 1985-1988)

Ever since he was an undergraduate, Ian Rivamonte has devoted his legal volunteer, clerkship and externship work in public service. From non-profit organizations to local and federal government agencies, his experiences in each of these positions assured him that his calling in life is to help others in need. He views his work at Kazan Law as an achievement of that calling. His work every day focuses on helping clients receive the relief they deserve. In achieving this often difficult task, Mr. Rivamonte feels fortunate to work with and learn from some of the brightest and most experienced asbestos lawyers in the country.

Mr. Rivamonte started with Kazan Law as a law clerk in August 2004 and was hired as an associate in March 2005. He works in the Law and Motion Department.

Education

• University of San Francisco School of Law (J.D., 2004)
• UC, San Diego, (B.A., Political Science, 1999)

Bar Admissions

• California (2004)

Education

• Golden Gate University School of Law (J.D., 2005)
• UC, Berkeley, (B.A., History, 1990)

Bar Admissions

• California (2005)

Michael Stewart joined the firm in 2006. He mainly works on large writing projects in the trial and appellate courts. In recognition of Michael’s skill and professionalism, he was selected to Super Lawyers – Rising Stars Edition in 2013, 2014 and 2015. A recent victory to which Michael contributed is Scott v. Ford Motor Company (2014) 224 Cal.App.4th 1492. That appellate decision upheld the plaintiff’s right to seek punitive damages for his mesothelioma.

Michael always wanted to represent injured people. His favorite legal book is A Civil Action, about a lawyer who pursues the companies that polluted a town’s drinking water.

Michael is from Mammoth Lakes, California. He would rather be running.

Education

• University of California, Hastings College of the Law (J.D., 2007)
• University of California, Berkeley (B.A., Rhetoric and Anthropology, 2004)

Bar Admissions

• California (2007)

Henry Steinberg is an associate at Kazan Law where he dedicates his practice to seeking justice for individuals diagnosed with mesothelioma and for their family members facing the devastating effects of this disease in their loved ones.  Henry is honored to work with the committed team at Kazan on behalf of those victims who are irreparably and needlessly harmed by exposure to asbestos.

Throughout pre-trial and trial practice, Henry has represented mechanics, insulators, truckers, instrument technicians, drywallers, veterans and the family members of those exposed to asbestos.  Previous to his work in asbestos litigation, Henry served as a law clerk at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, externed with a Federal District Court Judge in California and worked in private and public sectors in the United States and abroad representing victims of international human rights violations.  In 2012, Henry graduated magna cum laude from U.C. Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, California, where he served as an editor of the Hastings Law Journal and earned honors including the CALI Award for Academic Excellence in Negotiation and Mediation and  in Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, membership in the Thurston Society, and Outstanding Achievement in Pro Bono.  Henry is also fluent in Spanish and has represented Spanish-speaking clients and their families.

Publications

• Henry A. Steinberg, Note, Civil Conspiracy Up in Smoke: How Similar are Cigarettes and Smokestacks, 18 Hastings W.-Nw. J. Envt’l L. & Pol’y 157 (2012)

Education

• University of California, Hastings College of the Law (J.D., magna cum laude, 2012)
• College of the Atlantic, (B.A. in Human Ecology, 2006)

Bar and Court Admissions

•  California (2012)
•  U.S. District Court Northern District of California (2015)
•  U.S. District Court Central District of California (2015)

Organizations

• Alameda Contra Costa Trial Lawyers Association
• American Association for Justice
• National Lawyers Guild
• Consumer Attorneys of California
• Alameda County Bar Association
• State Bar of California

Simarjit Kaur began her legal career as a Certified Law Clerk for the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, where she represented indigent adult and juvenile clients in Superior Court in felony cases. Thereafter, Ms. Kaur moved on to a law firm where she focused primarily on breach of contract law, and represented clients in both civil litigation and criminal defense cases in Superior Court.

Ms. Kaur (“Simar” as she prefers to be called) is fluent in both Punjabi and Hindi.

• University of San Franciisco (USF) School of the Law
• University of California, Berkeley, (B.A., English)

Bar Admissions

• California

Arcelia Hurtado has a deep and rich history of work experience as well as philanthropic endeavor. Ms. Hurtado began her career in 1998 as a Deputy Public Defender for the City and County of San Francisco. Since that first position, Arcelia has represented indigent death row inmates as a Deputy State Public Defender, been the Executive Director for Equal Rights Advocates a national non-profit, worked as the Deputy Director and Policy Advisor for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and served as Assistant General Counsel for the Agricultural Labor Relations Board helping to enforce the Agricultural Labor Relations Act.

While gaining professional experience, Arcelia has also been a staunch supporter of her community including work as the Commissioner and V.P. for Board of Appeals for the City and County of San Francisco, Founder and Chair of Women Defenders Fellowship Fund, Board Member of San Francisco La Raza Association, and member of Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom.

Education

• University of California, Berkeley (JD, 1997)
• University of California, Berkeley, (B.A., Political Science and Chicano Studies, 1993)

Bar Admissions

• California

Denise Smith joined the firm in May 2013 as a summer law clerk.  She accepted an associate position in 2016.  Denise is proud to dedicate her practice to fighting for clients who have been harmed by exposure to asbestos.

Denise earned her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. While there, she served as the Executive Acquisitions and Submissions Editor of the Hastings Women’s Law Journal and was inducted into the Pro Bono Honor Society.  She mediated several small claims cases in San Francisco Superior Court as a member of the Civil Justice Mediation Clinic.

Denise was also a legal extern with Consumers Union where she researched and analyzed various privacy and financial policy issues.

Education

• University of California, Hastings College of Law
• California State University, East Bay (B.A., Organizational Communication, summa cum laude)

Bar Admissions

• California

Laurel Halbany litigates for people suffering from mesothelioma resulting from asbestos exposure in the workplace or home. She has extensive trial experience successfully trying cases to verdict in California courts as well as obtaining favorable settlements on behalf of her clients. She has served as lead trial counsel for plaintiffs in asbestos personal injury and wrongful death trials throughout California.

Laurel interviews clients, witnesses, and experts such as doctors and toxicologists and collaborates with the firm’s staff of skilled investigators to research the brands, manufacturers and suppliers of asbestos products to ascertain how clients were exposed to asbestos and who is responsible.

Laurel has experience in formulating and executing discovery strategy. She drafts discovery requests and responses, evaluates the opposing party’s requests and responses, reviews documents and oversees document productions, and conducts discovery-related legal research and briefing.

Outside her law practice, Laurel is active in her community and is an avid supporter of women, minority and LGBTQ rights. Volunteering with the Justice & Diversity Center (JDC) at the Bar Association of San Francisco has been a part of her practice since the beginning of her legal career a dozen years ago. For her work representing indigent tenants in eviction defense cases, she has received the JDC’s Outstanding Volunteer Award multiple times.

Laurel is a graduate of the American Association for Justice’s ( AAJ) Leadership Academy. An initiative of AAJ’s Diversity Committee, the Leadership Academy trains participants to become effective leaders in professional settings, in AAJ, and in their communities. She volunteered with the AAJ’s Voter Protection Action Committee as election monitor in the 2012 and 2016 elections in Ohio.

Prior to joining Kazan Law, Laurel represented workers and their families who were injured by asbestos or electronics industry toxins at several other law firms. During law school, she participated in the Student Trial Advocacy Program and moot court and was a quarter finalist in the Jerome Prince Evidence Competition in Brooklyn. She also served as the treasurer of the Free Legal Aid Clinic.

Professional Affiliations

• Member, American Association for Justice
  • Member, Asbestos Litigation Group
  • Vice-Chair, LGBT Caucus
  • Member, Minority Caucus
  • Member, Women Trial Lawyers’ Caucus
• Member, Consumer Attorneys of California
  • Member, Board of Governors,
  • Member, Diversity Committee
• Member, Alameda-Contra Costa County Trial Lawyers’ Association
• Member, BALIF
• Member, Alameda County Bar Association

Honors & Awards

• Recipient, Outstanding Volunteer Award, Justice & Diversity Center, Bar Association of San Francisco, 2016, 2015, 2012, 2011, 2006, 2005, 2004
• Named, Rising Star, SuperLawyers, 2011
• Named, Top Women Attorneys in Northern California, SuperLawyers, 2011

Education

J.D., Wayne State University Law School, 1995

B.A., University of Michigan, 1989

 Courts

• US Supreme Court
• US Court of Appeals, 9^th Circuit
• US District Court, Northern District of California
• US District Court, Central District of California
• US Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of California

Article

• Motion for Summary Adjudication: A Tool for Plaintiffs, Advocate, Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles, Dec 2011