Kazan Law Celebrates 50 Years of Legal Advocacy on Behalf of Mesothelioma Victims and Their Families

This year Kazan, McClain, Satterley & Greenwood, an award winning law firm, celebrates its Golden Jubilee – 50 years of providing outstanding legal services to individuals and families affected by mesothelioma. Since 1974, the firm has proudly pioneered plaintiffs’ asbestos litigation on behalf of thousands of clients. The firm is grateful and inspired by its half-century of hard work, confidence and unwavering enthusiasm in representing mesothelioma clients and their families.  

The firm’s commitment to our clients extends beyond simply providing legal services. We serve as a source of online information, attend and present at legal and medical conferences, financially support cutting-edge medical research, and support legislative and regulatory efforts to ban asbestos.

It all started in 1974, when founder Steven Kazan was retained by workers at the Johns Manville plant in Pittsburg, California, who were diagnosed with asbestosis.  His representation expanded to Southern California when he received a letter from the Union Safety representative asking that he help his workers at the Johns Manville Lompoc plant. This launched a five-decade career representing thousands of people suffering from asbestos-related diseases, especially its unique cancer, mesothelioma.

Highlights from the Firm’s First 50 Years

• Over $4 billion recovered for thousands of clients affected by asbestos related diseases, such as mesothelioma
• Donated over $38 million to more than 600 diverse organizations, including $10 million for Liesemer research at medical schools and hospitals around the world
• Credited in over 40 published peer review medical articles

The Kazan McClain Partners’ Foundation, a non-profit founded in 1994 by the Kazan partners, has provided more than $38 million to many diverse organizations, hospitals and institutions, including $10 million for mesothelioma research.  The Foundation provides major financial support to the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS), which works to ban the scourge of asbestos worldwide.  The Foundation is a major supporter of Worksafe, a California nonprofit committed to systemic change to protect the health and safety of workers, as well as other Bay Area charities, including the Alameda County Community Food Bank, Bay Area Legal Aid, and Berkeley Law Foundation’s Broussard Phoenix Fellowship, helping to build diversity in the legal profession, and hundreds of other local non-profit charitable groups.  We have also successfully provided pro bono representation to immigrants seeking asylum in the United States. 

Our 20-member firm has the most experienced mesothelioma lawyers in the United States.  Our attorneys have won precedent-setting rulings from the California Appellate and Supreme Courts.  In addition, Kazan, McClain Satterley & Greenwood has unparalleled expertise in asbestos bankruptcy reorganizations and with asbestos bankruptcy trust fund and capitalized funds.

Lastly, the firm is exceptionally proud to have been a catalyst for Johnson & Johnson’s decision to discontinue asbestos-containing talc-based baby powder worldwide. 

Paul Brodeur in Outrageous Misconduct – the Asbestos Industry on Trial, (1985) acknowledged our groundbreaking Speake case as a threshold verdict that allowed juries across the nation to award punitive damages in asbestos cases.  From there on, the Kazan attorneys have been litigating and winning cases for victims of asbestos exposure.

After decades of trying cases, Steven Kazan turned his focus to working on reorganizing bankrupt asbestos companies, helping put $60 billion of their assets into Trust Funds for their victims, and then advising those Funds as they compensated the injured. Further, over the years, Mr. Kazan has presented at dozens of legal and medical conferences; published over 20 abstracts in the medical literature, and through our Foundation, has funded over 40 cutting-edge published mesothelioma medical research articles. 

At our October 26, 2024 celebration, award winning film director Abby Ginzberg debuted her documentary about us that can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/1025201717?share=copy#t=0 

With gratitude, determination and fervor, the Kazan firm is looking forward to another 50 years of helping asbestos victims and our community. 

If you or a family member have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, contact us now to speak with one of our partners. Kazan, McClain, Satterley & Greenwood will bring their decades of expertise and success to your claim for mesothelioma caused by asbestos exposure.  Kazan, McClain, Satterley & Greenwood is located at 55 Harrison St., Suite 400, Oakland, CA 94607 and can be contacted by calling 888-887-1238 or online at: https://www.kazanlaw.com/