Kantor & Kantor, LLP

Focus and practice areas

Insurance disputes drive the work here, and the client is the policyholder. Kantor & Kantor, LLP represents people whose benefit claims have been denied, delayed, or underpaid. The cases involve disability, life, long-term care, health, homeowners, and pension benefits. A large share of the disability and pension work falls under ERISA, the federal law that governs employee benefit plans.

The firm takes most of its cases on a contingency-fee basis, so a client with a denied claim can pursue it without paying by the hour. In my opinion, that fee structure suits a practice built around individuals who have already lost a benefit they were counting on. The firm has kept to this policyholder-side work since it opened.

The claims share a pattern. A policy or plan was meant to pay a benefit, and the insurer or plan administrator declined to. The firm's job is to get that decision reversed through appeal or litigation.

How claims move through the process

A denied insurance claim rarely goes straight to a courtroom, and the firm's work follows the stages a claim actually passes through. Attorneys handle administrative appeals first, the internal review that an insurer or plan administrator runs before any lawsuit. When those appeals do not restore the benefit, the lawyers file in federal court under ERISA or take the matter through state court, based on the type of coverage.

The firm also works at the appellate level in state and federal courts. For ERISA insurance claims, it represents clients nationwide, since those cases turn on one federal statute that applies across state lines. Pension matters can proceed as class actions, which the firm handles across the country.

Where the offices are

The firm runs six offices along the West Coast, which lets its attorneys meet clients in more than one metropolitan area. The main office is in Northridge, in the Los Angeles area. The other five are in San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Wilsonville in Oregon, and Gig Harbor in Washington.

Client reach extends past the cities where those offices sit. The firm serves clients in California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. For ERISA insurance claims and pension class actions, it represents clients nationwide, so a claimant in another state can still work with the firm on a federal benefits case.

How the team is built

The firm counts 21 attorneys and 26 professional staff, according to its site, and it opened in 2004. Glenn and Lisa Kantor founded it, and each has practiced law for 35 years. The two founders set the firm toward insurance and benefit claims, and the attorneys on the current roster work in those same areas.

Glenn R. Kantor is a founding partner. He earned his J.D. at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law and his B.A. at California State University, Los Angeles. His work centers on employees and their families whose disability, health, long-term care, and life insurance claims have been denied.

Lisa S. Kantor is the other founding partner. She earned her J.D. at the University of Virginia School of Law in 1983, and earlier in her career she worked as an associate at two Los Angeles firms. Her practice covers insurance claims and long-term disability litigation, including health insurance disputes.

The attorneys the site names

The attorney roster mixes long-time plaintiff lawyers with people who once worked the other side of these cases. Jaclyn D. Conover, a senior partner, spent the first decade of her career representing insurance companies in bad faith, fraud, and coverage litigation, in both state and federal cases across California and Pennsylvania. She now represents insureds whose property and casualty claims have been denied, with attention to fire and flood losses.

Partners and senior partners

Andrew M. Kantor, a senior partner, started at the firm as an intake director after college, then served as a legal extern for Consumer Watchdog, a consumer-side insurance group, during law school. He works on wrongfully denied disability and life insurance benefits. Cari M. Schwartz, a senior partner, submits appeals and litigates across the country to recover health benefits, in matters that have involved breast cancer, prostate cancer, eating disorders, mental health conditions, and substance use disorders.

Susan L. Meter, a senior partner, practices employee benefits law, with work in ERISA, pension and retirement plans, disability, and life and health insurance, including long-term care. Tim Rozelle, a senior partner, handles insurance and employee benefits matters, and has represented clients in disputes over denial of coverage. Kirsten Scott, a partner, earned her law degree at the University of California Berkeley School of Law in 2007, works in employee benefits and employment and labor matters, and speaks English and Spanish. Peter S. Sessions is also a partner at the firm.

Senior counsel and of counsel

Martina Sherman, senior counsel, graduated from Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2011 and works with clients on employee benefits matters. Beth A. Davis, senior counsel, has practiced plaintiff-side ERISA law since 2005 and represents claimants seeking short-term, long-term, and life-waiver-of-premium disability benefits, including the appeals of denied claims. Rhonda Harris Buckner, of counsel, runs the Law Office of Rhonda Harris Buckner and practices insurance law in California.

What ties the work together

One subject runs through the whole roster: benefits denied by insurers or plan administrators. Most of the lawyers work on disability and ERISA claims. Cari Schwartz handles health benefits, and Jaclyn Conover handles property losses such as fire and flood. The common ground is a client who has been told no by an insurance company.

As a reviewer, I read the contingency-fee model and the single subject area as signs of a settled, focused practice. The firm's public profile stays simple, with links to Facebook, X, and YouTube. On the evidence its own site provides, the firm's day-to-day business is insurance and ERISA benefit disputes, handled by 21 attorneys and 26 staff across six West Coast offices.