LOS ANGELES, Feb. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Kantor & Kantor LLP announced today that Lisa Kantor was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Washington, D.C.-based Eating Disorder Coalition for Research, Policy and Action, a group advocating for recognition of eating disorders as a public health priority. Ms. Kantor will provide support and legal advice about health insurance issues, particularly for the coalition's campaign to end the insurance carrier practice of denying benefits for eating disorder treatment.

"On behalf of the EDC, I want to warmly welcome Lisa Kantor to our board," said Lisa Rachelle Lilenfeld, president of the EDC and associate professor at Argosy University's American School of Professional Psychology. "We have followed her impressive legal work on behalf of those suffering from eating disorders and are thrilled to have her on our team."

The EDC successfully lobbied Congress to pass federal mental health parity legislation and is currently petitioning Congress to pass the Federal Response to Eliminate Eating Disorders Act (the FREED Act, H.R. 1448), the first comprehensive bill to focus on research, treatment, education and prevention of eating disorders.

"Given Lisa's notable role filing lawsuits against insurance companies failing to comply with mental health parity laws, her addition to the board will be of great benefit to EDC's efforts to hold insurance companies accountable," said Jeanine Cogan, policy director at the EDC.

In August 2011, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handed Ms. Kantor a victory for her client Jeanene Harlick, ruling that under California's Mental Health Parity Statute, California insurers must cover all medically necessary treatment for the nine mental health conditions the parity statute enumerates, including bulimia and anorexia. In the past decade, Ms. Kantor has won a number of other notable appellate court decisions for people with eating disorders.

For her achievements, Ms. Kantor received a California Women Lawyers' Women of Distinction Award for 2010-11 and was recently named an Attorney of the Year by the San Francisco Recorder.

For more information about Lisa Kantor and legal assistance for eating disorders, follow this link: http://www.kantorlaw.net/Areas_of_Practice/Eating_Disorders.aspx, or follow Lisa Kantor at http://eatingdisorderlegalassistance.wordpress.com/.

About Kantor & Kantor, LLP

Kantor & Kantor is the largest law firm in the country exclusively representing plaintiffs who have been denied insurance benefits from life, health disability and long-term care policies. The firm has extensive experience with the complex appeals process and federal court litigation of ERISA matters. For more information, log on to www.kantorlaw.net, call (800) 446-7529, or follow Kantor & Kantor at www.californiainsurancelawyerblog.com.

SOURCE Kantor & Kantor LLP