Page 10 - Los Angeles Vol 4 No 5

It’s not holding strong as an ad- vocate at the top of his career. In the bag. It’s not leading the legal community with purpose and vision. Handled. And it’s not championing causes that hold deep personal meaning. Done.
“I think the biggest challenge is guring out a way to sleep,” says Kabateck, founder and manag- ing partner of the downtown law rm Kabateck LLP. “ e number of hours required between my practice and the LACBA presidency is overwhelming.”
PRESIDENTIAL PLATFORM
Not surprising, as his goals for his year of LACBA presidency are nu- merous and lo y, with membership topping the list.
“ e county bar is a big organiza- tion that has faced a lot of challenges over the years, particularly in recent years with people not nding the need to join a bar organization,” he says “We need to nd a better way to draw people to the organization to make it attractive to all lawyers in all stages of their careers.”
Kabateck says his aim is to make the membership more relevant to the young lawyers getting started in their practices, as well as those with a few years behind them.
“People in the middle of their ca- reers are equally ful lled,” he adds of bar membership. “We need to nd people who recognize its value to their personal lives and their careers.”
Kabateck concedes the bar needs to do more with fewer resources and less money, particularly in sustaining its four non-pro t activities: a program in the courts for victims of domestic violence, a legal program to help vet- erans, access to justice for immigrants and legal services for people with HIV. But he has a solution he would like to enact.
“We need to make those organiza- tions independent fundraising oppor- tunities because it’s great to do good work,” he says. “We need money and contributions to operate those impor- tant programs.”
Finally, he says wants the organiza- tion to run in an austere fashion so it’s not hiring new people; it’s doing more with less. He wants the organization to be the bar for the entire county and not just downtown Los Angeles. And he wants members to nd what they want in an individual bar association.
“What might attract me might not attract you, so I want there to be something for everybody,” Kabateck says. “And mostly I want to restore the faith in the LACBA for all the lawyers in L.A.”
CONSUMER ADVOCACY
Kabateck’s goals extend far beyond his plans for the bar association. roughout his career he has been an outspoken force in Sacramento for strengthening consumer protections.
A former president of the Consum- er Attorneys of California, Kabateck ran an unsuccessful campaign in 2014 to change medical malpractice laws, which he explains are “plagued” with a cap of $250,000—a number put into place in 1974 that amounts to about $40,000 today.
“It makes it impossible to receive justice in many medical malpractice cases,” he laments.
But that hasn’t stopped him from ghting for the people. In the last de- cade or so, Kabateck has been actively involved in 25 pieces of legislation that range from changes to the insur- ance code to making litigation more a ordable for litigants.
He was also recently involved in the litigation that was in response to the Wells Fargo fraudulent bank account scandal, as well as the California Con- sumer Privacy Act in response to the internet data the from companies including Equifax. is act, which gives California the most aggressive privacy protection for consumers in the country, makes companies that don’t protect the data collected, liable.
“Someone might have their data stolen, but what are the damages?” Kabateck poses. “ is legislation is designed to make a company ac- countable with a minimal amount of damages of no less than $100.”
A WIDE RANGE OF CASES
A mainstay of Kabateck’s practice has been suing insurance companies for bad faith, particularly disaster cases throughout the United States. Most recently, he took on the cause of victims of the wild res in Northern California and Southern California who were having trouble with their insurance companies.
“It takes people eight to 12 months to realize their insurance companies are treating them unfairly,” he says. “When your insurance company has le you high and dry, you need to go to court.”
School-related sex abuse cases are also on his rm’s docket, from high schools around the state to the high- pro le University of Southern Cali- fornia case.
“ ere have been a number of cas- es this past year where teachers are caught abusing students,” he says. “We hold the school responsible.”
Holding responsibility doesn’t stop there. He has sued police departments over o cers that have raped and abused women while on the job. He has also enacted class action suits over the misclassi cation of employees as independent contractors to get out of paying bene ts—a common issue in the growing gig economy.
In addition, he has taken on a num- ber of personal injury cases for criti- cally injured people, business cases, and other cases where people have to hire a lawyer on contingency because they can’t a ord an hourly fee.
FAMILY PRIDE
While all of Kabateck’s cases are im- portant, one stands out as the closest to his heart.
“Without question it is the in- volvement I had with the Armenian Genocide case,” says Kabateck, whose mother is Armenian and whose grandparents were survivors. “Many of these insurance companies never paid claims on the lives that were slaughtered.”
Kabateck sued on their behalf and collected $40 million, most of which went to Armenian charities. He says
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