Denise Abrams spent 18 years as a principal at Kazan Law until deciding to devote a majority of her time to pro bono practice from 2009-2012. Ms. Abrams remained involved in asbestos litigation on the firm’s behalf, and in January 2013, fully resumed her asbestos practice. She has been a mentor to Kazan Law attorneys throughout the years.

Prior to going to law school Ms. Abrams taught sociology and women’s studies at the University of Maryland and Antioch College in Ohio. She was led to practice law following a desire for her work to benefit people more directly than she felt was possible as an academic. Ms. Abrams joined Kazan Law as a law clerk in 1984 and subsequently became an associate and then principal.

Education

• Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California (J.D., 1986)
• University of Rhode Island (B.A., 1972)
• University of Maryland (M.A., 1975, Ph.D., 1983.)

Bar Admissions

• California (1986)

Organizations

• Worksafe Officer and Board Member
• East Bay Community Law Center Board Vice-Chair
• Gender and Refugee Studies Board Member
• Trial Lawyers for Public Justice
• National Lawyers Guild
• American Association for Justice
• Consumers Attorneys of California
• California State Bar Association
• American Bar Association

Fighting for mesothelioma patients who were exposed to asbestos at work is what we do at Kazan Law. Seeing first-hand every day the senseless tragedy of honest hard-working people facing death because of neglect and carelessness by those who manufactured, designed, sold and installed asbestos- containing products inflames our sense of justice. Our outrage inspires us to work not only to seek justice for our clients coping with asbestos-caused mesothelioma but also to strive to prevent other people from dying or ever becoming afflicted with work-related injuries or illnesses.

Fran Schreiberg is passionate about workers’ rights, specifically their right to a safe and healthy workplace.  She has an impressive track record in working with both the legislative and executive branches of California state government to protect workers from safety and health workplace hazards of all kinds. Fran provides free advice to unions and other worker organizations that might not be able to afford an attorney of her experience and caliber. We pay Fran so they don’t have to. We let Fran work for them for free also known as pro bono. We developed the website www.oshaction.org to help workers learn more about their rights and to encourage everyone to take action when anti-worker occupational safety and health measures are underway.

Fran also is the Executive Director of our charitable Foundation. The Kazan McClain Partners’ Foundation, Inc, was formed in 1994, and over the years has disbursed over $20 million in grants to a wide array of community and civic organizations, including $6 million for mesothelioma research. Our mission is to benefit the public through grants to organizations and individuals in order to:

• support research into causes of, treatment for, and prevention of occupational and environmental diseases;
• increase and improve public awareness about workplace health and safety, and public health;
• enhance access to, participation in, and education about the legal system and governmental processes;
• advance programs that provide services which lessen the burdens of government and/or provide relief to the poor, distressed or under-privileged;
• combat community deterioration and lessen neighborhood tensions.

Fran became a lawyer in order to help defend many forms of resistance during the height of the Vietnam anti-war movement. After practicing as a criminal defense attorney with a number of public defender offices, she taught juvenile law and supervised a criminal law clinic at the University of San Francisco School of Law.

Having been an active union member throughout her work life, she switched her emphasis in the mid-70’s to defending the rights of workers. She consulted with and later worked for the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, training administrative law judges, attorneys and investigators.

Between 1980 and 1984, she worked for the State of California, Department of Industrial Relations, and among other tasks, managed the criminal Bureau of Investigations at Cal/OSHA. This unit prosecuted companies when workers were killed or maimed as a result of unsafe or unhealthful conditions on the job. She also worked from 1984 to 1991 for the State Building & Construction Trades Council of California, developed an occupational safety and health program for them, and was involved with a variety of construction trade union issues.

Since 1984 she has been an active member of numerous Cal/OSHA regulatory advisory committees, including ones for asbestos, lead, diacetyl and several other toxic substances, ergonomics, fall protection, injury and illness prevention programs, rebar caps, hand washing facilities for women in the trades and multi-employer worksite responsibilities. She also has participated in various Federal OSHA committees.

Education

• New York University School of Law (J.D., 1972)
• Northwestern University (B.A., 1968)

Activities

• Working America Education Fund, Board Member. Working America is the community arm of the AFL-CIO and has over 3 million members.
• Worksafe, Co-Founder
• International Commission for Labor Rights, Board Member
• KidsCareEverywhere, Board Member, an organization dedicated to transforming pediatric care in under-resourced communities by donating state-of-the-art medical software to public hospitals and training physicians and medical providers in software utilization.
• National Lawyers Guild Labor & Employment Committee, Steering Committee and Membership Chair

Organizations

• AFL-CIO Lawyers’ Coordinating Committee
• Labor and Employment Law Section of the State Bar of California
• National Lawyers Guild
• American Association for Justice
• Consumer Attorneys of California
• Alameda-Contra Costa Trial Lawyers Association