Attorney Andrew M. Kantor
Partner
akantor@kantorlaw.net
As you can imagine, as the son of Glenn & Lisa Kantor, partner Andrew Kantor grew up on a steady diet of client advocacy and passionate representation. While many children would set out to become anything but an attorney in response to such an upbringing, Andrew knew there was no other path for him.
Upon graduating from college, Andrew worked at Kantor & Kantor as an intake director. When in law school, he worked as a legal extern for Consumer Watchdog, a public consumer organization specializing in consumer-side insurance issues in the class-action context.
Andrew's practice is focused primarily on helping individuals obtain wrongfully denied disability and life insurance benefits in both the ERISA and non-ERISA (bad faith) policies. Since beginning his career at Kantor & Kantor, Andrew has helped hundreds of clients secure wrongfully denied disability benefits, including his most recent victory in Renault v. UNUM wherein he convinced the Court that UNUM’s interpretation of its own disability policy to exclude all bonuses and commissions from Ms. Renault’s benefit calculation, despite having a commission-based sales position, was improper as a matter of law. Andrew has recently been named as a member of the Community Advisory Council at the Solve ME/CFS Initiative. Andrew also serves on the Board of The Elder Law and Disability Rights Center. In addition, his efforts have been recognized by Super Lawyers, being named a Rising Star in Southern California from 2019, 2020, and 2021.
Experiences like these have helped position Andrew as one of the country’s leading experts on fighting disability denials for individuals with chronic-fatigue related illnesses, including ME/CFS and Lyme disease.
Education
- Masters in Human Resource Management (MsHRM) Claremont Graduate University 2024
- Masters in Leadership (Ml) Claremont Graduate University 2023
- Juris Doctor from University of California at Irvine School of Law, 2014
- Masters in Business Administration from Union Graduate College / Clarkson University, 2010 (magna cum laude)
- Bachelor of Arts, Union College, 2009 (cum laude, departmental honors)
Notable Decsisions
- Renault v. Unum Life Ins. Co. Of Am., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17622 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 1, 2019) (Convinced the Court that UNUM’s interpretation of its own disability policy was improper as a matter of law)
- Fleming v. Unum Life Ins. Co. of Am., No. 17-0157-6, __F.3d__, 2018 WL 6133859 (C.D. Cal. Nov. 20, 2018) (Finding Plaintiff was entitled to long term disability benefits after said benefits were terminated by the insurer)
- Young v. Sun Life & Health Ins. Co., 285 F. Supp. 3d 1109 (E.D. Cal. 2018) (Finding Sun Life’s termination of Plaintiff’s LTD benefits was an abuse of discretion, awarding full reinstatement of benefits to Plaintiff)
- State Bar of California, 2015
- District of Columbia, 2016
- Long Term Disability Insurance Challenges for Individuals Living with ME/CFS | The IACFS/ME Annual Conference | August 19, 2021
- COVID-19 and Disability Insurance for Individuals Living with ME/CFS - Zoom | August 3, 2021
- The Spoonie Struggle Podcast: Disability Law With Guest Andrew Kantor | May 12, 2021
- Webinar: Covid-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project BenefitsChat - Disability Insurance April 18, 2021
- EDS and the Disability Claims & Appeals Process | The Ehlers-Danlos Society | June 10, 2020
- The Solve ME/CFS Initiative Webinar Series: Fighting the Good Fight: Navigating the ERISA Disability Process for those with ME/CFS
- Parkinson’s & the Long Term Disability Claims Process | The Parkinson’s Institute & Clinical Center | January 28, 2020
- A Lawyer’s Guide to Long COVID and Long Term Disability Insurance Claims — Body Politic (wearebodypolitic.com) | May 10, 2021
- iPain Living, Fall 2019 issue: ERISA Is Evil; The current state of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and How It Effects Long-term Disability Claims
- Co-author: "Circuit Round-Up of Key Appellate ERISA Decisions from February-September 2019" ABA Labor & Employment Law Section, Employee Benefits Committee Newsletter, Fall 2019 Issue