Meet Ted Pelletier, Kazan Law’s Lead Appellate and Motions Attorney
Kazan Law is proud to introduce you to Ted Pelletier, the new head of our firm’s appellate and motions department. We are very pleased to bring Ted in-house to exclusively work for you, our clients, after 17 years of observing his excellent appeals work on behalf of injured consumers, especially asbestos victims.
Ted has handled dozens of appeals in the California Courts of Appeal and the California Supreme Court. One of his proudest accomplishments is successfully representing the first Californians to sue cigarette manufacturers, including two smokers who contracted asbestos disease from smoking 1950s Kent cigarettes that contained an asbestos filter. You can read his full bio here.
Right now, we’ll just informally talk to Ted about his work.
Why did you choose to go into law practice?
My mother was an assistant district attorney in Los Angeles. She brought home stories of people whose lives had been devastated by circumstances they had not brought on themselves. The fact that my mom helped them made me feel good about what she was doing. I saw the legal profession as a way to help people who might otherwise be helpless.
How did you become interested in working with asbestos and mesothelioma cases?
I worked in a big law firm for a year in between graduating from UC Santa Barbara and going to law school at Hastings. This firm fought against the rights of injured consumers, and I realized that I couldn’t do that. I wanted to be on the side of the consumer.
After law school, I was fortunate to work for an excellent appellate lawyer practicing on the plaintiffs’ side. The first cases I worked on involved asbestos appeals. I learned through that process about the disease and what it did to people. It felt great to help them.
Why did you decide to work for Kazan Law?
I knew from 17 years in this field that Kazan Law is the best. I always admired their high quality work. I had received overtures before from firms and it had never felt like a good fit — but this one did.
How does your work at Kazan Law help mesothelioma victims?
Money doesn’t replace a person, but it can help a family pay medical bills and compensate for the breadwinner being gone.
We also help give people a sense of justice. Yes, this was done to you but we are making it so that the people who did this are held accountable.
At Kazan, we are also helping to shape the law in this area of fighting for rights of victims, so that the laws provide justice for asbestos victims and applies to everyone, no matter who is representing them.
What do you like about your work?
I know I am fighting battles for people suddenly thrust into the worst battle of their lives.
Imagine that you or someone in your family worked for years installing insulation. Now suddenly you can’t breathe. What do you do?
At Kazan Law, we pool our talents and resources and provide these people with help that they otherwise could not get. We battle for them with people who aren’t willing to stand up and be accountable for what they did but are willing to throw money around to defend themselves even if they sometimes have to manipulate science, facts, or truth to do it. It feels great to fight for these people to get them a sense of justice.