Merger of 2 California law firms forms legal giant
By Kevin Smith
San Gabriel Valley Tribune, West Covina, California
September 1, 2004, Wednesday
A merger of strength.
That’s the way Rich Kellner describes the joining of his Pasadena law
firm, Brown & Kellner LLP, with the downtown Los Angeles law office
of Kabateck & Garris LLP.
The newly expanded firm, Kabateck Brown Kellner LLP, will occupy the
former Kabateck & Garris offices at 350 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.
The office will represent plaintiffs in insurance bad faith,
construction defect, consumer class-actions, legal malpractice,
law firm partnership dissolutions and complex business disputes.
“It’s a merger of strength that will position the combined firm as
one of the dominate players in large plaintiff cases in Los Angeles,”
said Richard L. Kellner, 43, of Los Angeles, who is heading the new
law office along with partners Brian S. Kabateck, 43, and Michael R.
Brown, 53, who both live in Pasadena.
There’s plenty of experience to draw from.
Kabateck’s former firm has already handled a number of high-profile
cases involving the likes of Michael Jackson, Ed McMahon and rock
guitar slinger Ted Nugent.
Kabateck’s firm was also recently involved in reaching a $ 20 million
settlement with New York Life over life insurance policies written
for Armenians prior to the mass slayings of Armenians in 1915 in the
Ottoman Empire.
“We want to handle large, high-profile cases,” Kabateck explained.
“Those are the most interesting and the most rewarding. There is
nothing more rewarding than achieving a result that affects thousands
of people. I believe that whatever we can do as lawyers to affect
social change is important.”
Kellner’s former law office has also tackled some weighty cases,
including partnership disputes at other law firms.
“We recently came into a case after an arbitrator had awarded $ 7.2
million to one faction of another law firm,” he said. “We went to a
court of appeals and got the award vacated … that’s highly unusual.”
Brown said the merger makes good sense. “Combining our two
firms is a natural,” he said. “Each partner has strong trial and
negotiating skills and brings with him a successful consumer and
business-litigation background.”