Biography

The Hon. Steven J. Kleifield is a judge for the Los Angeles County Superior Court in California. He was appointed to the bench in 2002 by former governor Gray Davis.

Judge Kleifield received his B.A. from Washington University in 1975. He went on to earn his J.D. from George Washington University Law School, Washington, D.C. in 1979.

Kleifield became a partner for the law firm of Gordon, Edelstein, Krepack, Grant, Felton, and Goldstein in 1989. Kleifield remained with the firm until his appointment to the Superior Court in 2002. His areas of practice included personal injury, insurance bad faith, medical malpractice, and discrimination cases. He also served as the managing partner for the law firms Personal Injury Employment Department.

His memberships have included the Los Angeles Bar Associaton as well as the Consumer Attorney's Association of Los Angeles.

During his time on the bench, Judge Kleifiled was appointed to serve as the Southern California Asbestos Coordination Trial Judge in 2016, where he would preside over all asbestos-related matters for Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties.

Since 2011, all asbestos litigation for Los Angeles County, Orange County, and San Diego County has been designated complex and sent to LASC Dept 324 under JCCP 4674. Judge Kleifield was appointed to the department in March 2016 upon the retirement of the Honorable Emilie Elias.