About David Stephen
David Stephen Kestenbaum built a career that begins in classrooms and city offices and stretches into courtrooms around Los Angeles. He earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and business management from Boston University in 1975 and went on to receive his J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law in 1978, where he worked as a teaching assistant while completing his studies.
His early years in law were shaped by public service. While still in law school he served as a law clerk and then a certified law clerk in the Santa Monica City Lawyer’s Office. After passing the bar, he opened a solo practice in 1979 and then joined a small firm as a managing partner in 1981. He returned to municipal practice in 1985 as a deputy city lawyer for Los Angeles before again practicing on his own beginning in 1992.
In 2000 he co-founded Kestenbaum Eisner & Gorin, LLP and later served as president of Kestenbaum Law Group, A Professional Corportation in 2014. Across those years he has combined private practice with roles inside municipal law offices. The mix of public and private work provided repeated courtroom exposure and a steady stream of trial and appellate matters.
Kestenbaum is admitted to practice in California and before the Ninth Circuit. Since 1992 he has been a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and California Lawyers for Criminal Justice. He joined Provisors in 2010 and has held several leadership roles in the San Fernando Valley Bar Association, including trustee, treasurer and chair of the Criminal Law Section. He also served on the Board of Governors for California Lawyers for Criminal Justice from 2011 to 2017.
His practice centers on criminal law, informed by years working on municipal matters and handling courtroom proceedings. He has taken cases at trial and on appeal and regularly appears in county courtrooms near his office. That municipal background gives him familiarity with prosecutors’ offices and local court procedures.
Kestenbaum maintains a Van Nuys office across from the Van Nuys Courthouse where he meets clients, prepares cases and appears for hearings. He continues to handle criminal defense matters and related court work out of that office.
