Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro (HBSS), a Seattle-based class-action and complex litigation firm, today announced the opening of a San Francisco office that will be led by class-action attorney Reed R. Kathrein, formally of Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP.

HBSS's managing partner, Steve Berman, sees it as another large step in the firm's continued growth and strong national presence.

"San Francisco is a hub of activity and a growing area in our legal landscape," Berman said. "Our new office allows us to work more effectively with our clients and helps position us as a leader in class-action and litigation cases."

HBSS currently has an office in Los Angeles and looks to the new San Francisco office to continue growth in one of the most vibrant parts of the country.

"California is at the forefront of using the law to hasten important social and governmental change, and we want to be part of it," said Berman. "By having Reed join us in San Francisco it gives us the power and resources to make that happen."

Reed R. Kathrein has made a very strong name for himself both in California and nationally with several significant settlements and court victories over the past few years. Notably is a recent consumer fraud case involving Tenet Healthcare, which he worked along side of HBSS and resulted in a $1 billion settlement for uninsured patients. Kathrein was also responsible for the successful litigation and mediation in a case involving 3Com Securities, which settled with $259 million price tag, the second-largest settlement in a securities litigation case to date.

The San Francisco office, located at 425 Second Street, will also include attorneys Jeffrey Friedman, Shana Scarlett and Sylvia Keller, also formerly of Lerach Coughlin. All three attorneys specialize in large class action cases and have been integral participants in large settlements over the years.

One of Friedman's most recent wins included a multi-million dollar settlement with Dell Inc. on behalf of nearly one million customers. In addition to the settlement Friedman also negotiated to have Dell change its sales and compensation policies to better protect consumers.

Scarlett worked along side Kathrein and HBSS in the Tenet Healthcare case which settled for $1 billion. She was also a member of the litigation team in the Sony BMG Audio Compact Disc Litigation, where she helped plaintiffs to secure a multi-million dollar settlement for consumers and an agreement from Sony BMG to stop using harmful rootkit software that created a number of serious security, privacy and consumer protection issues on music CDs.

Keller specializes in corporate governance and securities class action litigation. Some of her most noteworthy settlements involved a $75 million payout by Krispy Kreme, a $13 million settlement with CV Therapeutics and a $7 million settlement with Cornell Companies, Inc.

About Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro
The law firm of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro is based in Seattle with offices in Chicago, Cambridge, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco. Since the firm's founding in 1993, it has developed a nationally recognized practice in class-action and complex litigation. Among recent successes, HBSS has negotiated a pending $300 million settlement as lead counsel in the DRAM memory antitrust litigation; a $340 million recovery on behalf of Enron employees which is awaiting distribution; a $150 million settlement involving charges of illegally inflated charges for the drug Lupron, and served as co-counsel on the Visa/Mastercard litigation which resulted in a $3 billion settlement, the largest anti-trust settlement to date. HBSS also served as counsel in a $850 million settlement in the Washington Public Power Supply litigation and represented Washington and 12 other states in lawsuits against the tobacco industry that resulted in the largest settlement in the history of litigation. For a complete listing of HBSS cases, visit www.hbsslaw.com.