DENYSE CLANCY, Partner

Denyse F. Clancy is a nationally recognized appellate and trial lawyer with prominent experience in asbestos and talc litigation and other toxic torts. She is a partner in the Oakland, CA law firm of Kazan, McClain, Satterley & Greenwood.

Prior to joining Kazan Law as a partner in 2016, Ms. Clancy was a shareholder and lead appellate and trial counsel at Baron & Budd, P.C.

Ms. Clancy is one of only a handful of lawyers in the entire nation who has both (i) been lead trial lawyer in cases resulting in National Law Journal Top 100 verdicts in the nation, and (ii) protected the law as an appellate attorney in numerous state Supreme and Appellate Courts. She was selected by San Francisco Magazine as one of the top women attorneys in Northern California.

In 2025, the National Civil Justice Institute (NCJI) presented Denyse Clancy with the prestigious Appellate Advocacy Award. Ms. Clancy was selected for her pro bono representation of Cory Michael Hoehn, which culminated in a unanimous, landmark victory in the California Supreme Court in California Capital Insurance v. Hoehn. The litigation centered on the fundamental right to due process and the ability of citizens to challenge “void” judgments.

Ms. Clancy is also recipient of the Pound Civil Justice Institute Award for her work on Air & Liquid Systems Corp. et al v. DeVries (2019), a United States Supreme Court opinion holding that manufacturers of equipment incorporating asbestos component parts are liable for the foreseeable harm caused by these asbestos parts.

In January 2026, Ms. Clancy secured a significant legal victory when the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari in the case of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft (VWAG) v. Blanca Hernandez, et al. (Case No. 25-436). This victory ended a long-standing jurisdictional challenge by the German automaker and allowed a California asbestos-related wrongful death lawsuit to proceed. The denial of certiorari is a major win for plaintiffs in toxic tort and products liability cases that ensures that global corporations cannot easily evade the jurisdiction of U.S. courts by using subsidiary distributors to sell their products.

In Schmitz v. Johnson & Johnson (Bader v. Johnson & Johnson) (2022), Ms. Clancy successfully defended a $12 million trial verdict against Colgate Palmolive and Johnson & Johnson in the California Court of Appeal. Patricia Schmitz, a retired schoolteacher, was diagnosed with terminal mesothelioma after decades of using cosmetic talc products, including Johnson’s Baby Powder and Colgate’s Cashmere Bouquet. In 2019, an Alameda County jury found the companies negligent and liable for fraudulent concealment, awarding her $12 million. Ms. Clancy was also co-lead trial counsel in this case.

Ms. Clancy also won at the Court of Appeal in Leavitt v. Johnson & Johnson (2021), defending a $29.5 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson for Terry Leavitt. In 2019, Terry Leavitt alleged that her mesothelioma was caused by asbestos in Johnson’s Baby Powder. The jury found that Johnson & Johnson had intentionally withheld information about the risks of asbestos in its products.

Ms. Clancy’s appellate work in Schmitz and Leavitt helped establish the legal standard for asbestos-in-talc claims. By successfully defending these verdicts, she helped prove that internal company documents showed awareness of asbestos contamination as far back as the 1960s and 1970s.

Her recent additional victories as lead appellate attorney also include  Hart v. Keenan (2020), a California Supreme Court case holding that names and logos are non-hearsay identification evidence; Bader v. Avon (2020), a California Court of Appeal case holding that Plaintiffs do not have to prove that talc products contain asbestos at the jurisdictional phase of the case; and Booker v. Imerys Talc America, Inc. (2020), a California Court of Appeal case holding that Plaintiffs were not required to provide testimony from an expert geologist in order to prove that there is asbestos in talc. She was also lead appellate attorney in Izell v. Union Carbide and Mahoney v. Georgia-Pacific, which affirmed large punitive and compensatory damages verdicts, respectively.

In addition to her appellate work, Ms. Clancy also has extensive trial experience. She was co-first chair in Ochoa v. Kaiser Gypsum (2024), in which the jury awarded $17 million to a painter who was exposed to asbestos-containing talc from Kaiser Gypsum joint compound. She was co-first chair in Valadez v. Johnson & Johnson (2023), in which the jury awarded $17 million to a young man who had developed mesothelioma from his childhood use of Johnson’s Baby Powder. Ms. Clancy served as co-lead trial counsel in Vanklive v. Whittaker, Clark & Daniels (2022), securing a verdict for the plaintiff in this cosmetic talc mesothelioma case. The plaintiff alleged that exposure to asbestos-contaminated talc supplied by Whittaker, Clark & Daniels—one of the largest cosmetic talc suppliers in the United States—caused the plaintiff’s mesothelioma. The jury awarded $75 million to the Plaintiff.  Ms. Clancy  was part of the trial team in Lanzo v. Johnson & Johnson (2018), in which the jury awarded $117 million to a forty-four old man whose mesothelioma was caused by lifelong use of Johnson’s Baby Powder. She was co-first chair in Tyler v. American Optical (2016), in which the jury awarded $32.8 million to a machinist whose respirator was defective.

Ms. Clancy graduated magna cum laude from Yale University, and was valedictorian, summa cum laude of her law school, Southern Methodist University.

Publications

• “Fraud Claims Under Sections 11 and 12(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933: Should Pleading with Particularity be Required?,” 27 REG. L.J. 411 (2000).
• “The Deductibility of the Costs of Aircraft Maintenance,” 64 AIR. L. & Com. 539 (1999).

Education

• Southern Methodist University School of Law, Dallas, Texas (J.D., Valedictorian, 1999)
• Columbia University (M.A. 1992)
• Yale University (B.A., magna cum laude, 1989)

Bar and Court Admissions 

• State Bar of Texas (1999)
• State Bar of California (2008)
• State Bar of Louisiana (2010)
• State Bar Pennsylvania (2010)
• District Court Eastern District of Texas
• District Court Southern District of Texas
• District Court Middle District of Louisiana
• District Court Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• District Court Central District of California
• Court of Appeals 3rd Circuit
• Court of Appeals 9th Circuit