LAUREL HALBANY, Partner

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, Consumer Attorneys of California Presidential Award, 2023
• Recipient, Consumer Attorneys of California Marvin E. Lewis Award, 2021
• 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
• Your Plaintiff Died. Now What?, Plaintiff Magazine, April 2023