The Team
Brian S. Kabateck : Managing Partner ( bsk@kbklawyers.com )
As lead counsel for the NAACP's class action against Wells Fargo, HSBC, Citi, GMAC, Washington Mutual and other leading financial institutions for discriminatory lending practices, Mr. Kabateck recently secured a settlement in which Wells Fargo & Co. changed its banking practices to abide by the NAACP's fair lending practices. The bank will also open its books for regular audits of its lending practices and will help to fund Financial Freedom Centers throughout the country, which will facilitate financial literacy and other programs to underserved communities.
Mr. Kabateck brought the only cases for victims of the Armenian Genocide against banks and insurance companies, and is currently litigating on behalf of the families of other ethnic minorities, such as Greeks, who were victimized during the Genocide. He is also working on behalf of consumers to recover millions in unlawfully denied insurance claims resulting from recent fires, earthquakes and hurricanes.
A nationally-recognized expert on consumer protection, Mr. Kabateck has worked with the California Legislature and California Department of Insurance to draft several laws including the Policyholder's Bill of Rights and a groundbreaking law to help earthquake victims recover claims from their insurance companies.
In addition to litigating in numerous state and federal courts, Kabateck has argued appeals before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, Washington, D.C.; U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; California Supreme Court; and California Court of Appeal.
Education:
- Order of the Coif
- Member, Loyola Law School, Law Review
- Published 22 Loyola Law Review 621 (1988)
- American Bar Association, School Representative
- Student Teacher, Evidence (Professor Stanley Goldman)
- Vice President (2007 - present)
Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles - Trustee (2000 - 2003, 2006-2007)
Loyola Law School - Board of Overseers (2008 - present)
Century City Bar Association
- President (2005 - 2006)
- President-elect, Vice President, Treasurer (2001 - 2005)
- Board member (1998 - present)
Los Angeles County Bar Association
- Trustee (2000 - 2003, 2006 - 2007)
Inner City Law Center - Board of Directors (2009 - present)
Executive committee of the national trial lawyers association
State Bar of California
American Association for Justice
American Bar Association
- Vice Chair, Torts Insurance Practices Section (2007 – present)
Argued cases before the California State Supreme Court, California Court of Appeal, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeal, Washington D.C.
- NAACP’s ‘Champions of Justice in Civil Rights’ (2010)
- Los Angeles Daily Journal Top 100 Lawyer (2009, 2010)
- Loyola Law School 2008 Board of Governors Recognition Service Award
- California Attorney of the Year/Litigation 2006
- Finalist, Trial Lawyer of the Year, Consumer Attorneys of California 2005
- Finalist, Law Dragon 500
"Public-Private Partnerships: Why It's a Win-Win Situation," Daily Journal (January 30, 2012)
"Lawyers, Labor and Business Leaders Take to Streets," Daily Journal (January 19, 2012)
"Looking Ahead to 2012: Making Court Funding A Priority," Daily Journal (January 17, 2012)
"Online Privacy: Can the Law Deal with History Sniffing?" San Francisco Daily Journal (January 26, 2011)
"Another Chapter in the Battle of Federal v. State Supremacy," Los Angeles Daily Journal (January 4, 2011)
"Future of Class Action Litigation: An Exploration of Three Critical Cases," The Advocate (January 2011)
"Notice 2.0: How Technology is Changing Class-Action Notice Procedures," Westlaw Journal (January 2011)
"The Future of Class," Los Angeles Daily Journal (December 28, 2010)
"What's Next in Dukes?" San Francisco Daily Journal (December 15, 2010)
"Californians Say Good Bye to a Portion of Proposition 103," Los Angeles Daily Journal (December 8, 2010)
"Expanding the Waistline of Executive Branch: Federal Exemption of the Foreign Affairs Powers,"
Los Angeles Daily Journal (October 22, 2010)
"Recovering Stolen Art Years After the Fact," Los Angeles Daily Journal (October 5, 2010)
"Equal Tax Treatment - The IRS Should Treat the Litigation Costs of Contingent-Fee Lawyers as Business Expense
Deduction Rather than Loans," National Law Journal (October 4, 2010)
"The Importance of Complex Courts," Los Angeles Daily Journal (August 26, 2010)
"Recovering Economic Damages and the Collateral Source Rule," Los Angeles Daily Journal (August 6, 2010)
"Is the Supreme Court Ready To Validate Class Action Waivers?" Los Angeles Daily Journal (July 20, 2010)
"A Closer Look at the Benefits of Multidistrict Litigation," Los Angeles Daily Journal (July 2, 2010)
"The Rise of 'Professional Objectors' in the Class Action Settlements," Los Angeles Daily Journal (July 8, 2010)
"Federal Law Trumps State Class Action Rules," Los Angeles Daily Journal (April 7, 2010)
"Creating Confusion Where None Existed," Los Angeles Daily Journal (April 2, 2010)
“Click Here: The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act may become the best tool for fighting Internet advertising click fraud,"
Los Angeles Lawyer magazine (April 2010)
"First Comes Fire, Then Comes Rain," Los Angeles Daily Journal (March 19, 2010)
"Nine Things You Must Know About Mass Torts - From Classification and Evaluation through Filing - and Keeping - Your Case in the Right Court," Advocate (February 2010)
"Central District Class Actions, A Catch 22," Los Angeles Times (October 28, 2009)