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

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, Board of Governors
  • Member, Asbestos Litigation Group
  • Past Chair, LGBT Caucus
  • Member, Minority Caucus
  • Member, Women Trial Lawyers’ Caucus
• Member, Consumer Attorneys of California
  • Member, Board of Governors,
  • Member, Diversity Committee
• Board 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
• Expediting Trial Through Motions for Preference, Plaintiff Magazine, Dec 2017
• Two Can Play at That Game, Plaintiff Magazine, Dec 2018
• To Be Continued, Plaintiff Magazine, Dec 2019
• Catching Rabbits, Plaintiff Magazine, Dec 2020
• Major Changes to Survival Damages in the Wake of COVID-19, The Trial Lawyer, Spring 2022

Toven Lim is the newest attorney to join the Kazan Law Team. During law school, he interned with the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of California, where he helped defend individuals charged with federal crimes; and the Homeless Advocacy Project in San Francisco helping at-risk individuals in low income neighborhoods avoid eviction and homelessness.

With a keen interest in social justice and the law, Toven worked as a legal assistant in the firm’s law and motion department for three years before attending law school. Prior to that, he worked in the firm’s investigation department during his undergraduate program.

While in law school, Toven was a teaching assistant in the Legal Research and Writing Department and competed on the UC Hastings Trial Team at the national level. After graduation, Toven continued his work with the program, coaching the team to victory at the 2016 San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association Tournament.

Professional Affiliations

• Member, American Association for Justice
• Member, Alameda County Bar Association

Education

• J.D., University of California, Hastings College of the Law, 2016
• B.A., University of California, Berkeley, 2010

Languages

• Mandarin

Martin Neira is an Associate at Kazan Law, where he proudly represents and seeks justice for individuals who have been wrongfully exposed to and irreparably harmed by asbestos.

Martin is a recent post J.D. graduate (LL.M.) from Berkeley Law where he focused on pre-trial and trial practices. Prior to UC Berkeley, he graduated magna cum laude from the University of Zurich and the KU Leuven and studied both law and political science at Saint Louis University in Brussels. During law school, Martin participated in several advocacy competitions including the Oxford Moot court and the National Model United Nations in New York. Before joining Kazan Law, Martin worked in Switzerland and in Belgium with a focus on complex international litigation and arbitration. He speaks English, Spanish and French.
 

Education:

• University of California, Berkeley – School of Law (LL.M., 2020)
• University of Zurich/KU Leuven (J.D. equivalent, Magna cum laude, 2019)
• Saint-Louis University, Brussels (LL.B., 2017)
• Saint-Louis University, Brussels (B.A. in Political Science, Cum laude, 2017)

Bar Admissions:

• California (2021)

Professional Affiliations:

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

Michael T. Reid is an associate attorney who has worked with Kazan Law since June 2022.

Michael has made it his life’s mission to remember the forgotten and be a voice for the voiceless. This pursuit for justice begins and ends with the client. Michael approaches each case focused on telling the client’s story. A zealous advocate and trial attorney, Michael passionately represents clients who have been harmed by the negligence and recklessness of others. A testament to his dedication, Michael tried his first case within weeks of getting his law license and first-chaired a trial within the year.

Prior to joining Kazan, Michael negotiated multi-million-dollar settlements and tried cases successfully to verdict on behalf of his clients. His practice primarily focuses on litigating personal injury matters, with an emphasis on cases involving asbestos and talcum powder products. Additionally, he has experience litigating cases involving catastrophic personal injuries, wrongful death, and defective products.

Outside of the courtroom, Michael continues his commitment to the community as a mentor, coach, and volunteer. As a first-generation college student, Michael knows the value of providing students the resources and tools needed to succeed. As a result, he leads a mentorship program for struggling students. He also coaches Pepperdine University’s undergraduate mock trial team, which competes nationally each year.

Michael graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Sociology from Pepperdine University. He received his Juris Doctor from Pepperdine School of Law, where he received numerous awards for his trial advocacy skills and was a faculty scholar. Michael is licensed to practice in California and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Southern, and Central Districts of California.