David Ratner

David Ratner has been trying civil cases since 1974. He has been involved in approximately 300 jury trials, most as first chair. David spent most of his career as a New York lawyer. From 1998 to 2015 David was the managing partner of Morelli Ratner, PLLC a firm representing plaintiffs in personal injury, medical malpractice, mass tort pharmaceutical and employment discrimination actions.

Several of David’s employment cases received notoriety and a great deal of press coverage. The firm litigated the first sexual harassment case against Bill O’Reilly, (Mackris v. O’Reilly), obtained the largest individual sexual assault verdict in a single plaintiff case (Alford v. Aaron’s –$95 million) and his most recent verdict was the seventh largest intentional tort verdict in New York in this century (Bouveng v. New York Global Group–$18 million).

David was appointed to leadership positions on Plaintiffs’ Steering Committees in several mass torts, including Chantix, Bextra/Celebrex in New York, Bausch & Lomb Contact Lens Solution where he was lead trial lawyer, and Testosterone Replacement Therapy.

David served on the Board of Directors of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and was Editor in Chief of the Association’s magazine for eight years.

In 2011 David purchased a house in Walnut Creek. He spent five years traveling to and from New York each month. Finally, when that got really old, David left his firm, took the California bar exam, passed and opened a practice here.

David represents employees in a wide variety of workplace disputes including sexual harassment, gender discrimination, wrongful termination, and age and disability matters. He also represents individuals who are denied access to places of public accommodation in violation of federal and California law. Not one to shy away from high profile cases, David recently filed a case on behalf of a transgender man against Rosario Dawson and her family alleging that his client was a victim of transgender discrimination and assault.

David also tries cases in the Bay Area with and for other law firms.

David was the 2020 president of the CCCBA Employment Section. He is part of the leadership team of the Senior Section and a member or CCCBA’s Membership Committee. He is a member of several other California bar associations as well as a Super Lawyer, member of ABOTA and was named as a LawDragon 500 top lawyer.

David is on the Executive Board of his synagogue, Congregation B’nai Tikvah of Walnut Creek. His wife, Claire Bernardo is a Contra Costa County Master Gardner. He has three sons, Gabriel, Lee and Dale. Lee and Dale are lawyers practicing in the Bay Area.

Awards & Recognition

• Outstanding Volunteer in Public Service Award - Justice & Diversity Center of the San Francisco Bar Association