Founder and Partner of Morelli Ratner PC (formerly Benedict P. Morelli & Associates, P.C.) & President of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association.

Mr. Morelli has a degree from City College, NY 1971 and studied law at New York Law School. In 1973 he began his career as a law clerk / file clerk in a personal injury law firm, becoming eligible for the bar exam in 1977. After being admitted to the New York State Bar he became a partner and then senior partner of that firm. He is admitted to the United States Supreme Court, the U.S. District Courts, Southern, Eastern Western and Northern districts of New York.

In June, 1998, after a partnership of over 21 years, Mr. Morelli dissolved his firm and started a new firm – Benedict P. Morelli & Associates, P.C. In June 2005, the name of that firm was changed
to Morelli Ratner PC.

Starting in 1981, through the present, Mr. Morelli has received numerous multi-million dollar verdicts including several verdicts in eight figures. In 1995, his $40 million dollar verdict was featured in the National Law Journal as one of the “Top Ten Verdicts” in the United States.

He has handled every kind of personal injury case – from a person who tripped and fell over a raised door saddle and broke his hip
($2.6 million – the largest verdict in the country for that injury) to complex medical malpractice cases (the largest verdict in the country for blindness in one eye) with verdicts above $40 million.

In addition to these types of cases, Mr. Morelli has represented and does represent clients in Employment Discrimination cases (including racial discrimination, age discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual discrimination, and gender bias), false arrests, false imprisonment, civil rights, complex product liability (including drug product liability – DES, Vioxx and Bextra), auto accidents, premises, labor law, and many other types of cases. In each of these areas, Mr. Morelli has gotten multi-million dollar results. The larges verdict for a loss of three fingers and the largest verdict for a crush injury to the arm. He represents individual plaintiffs against many major corporations including large investment banks.

One half of the cases the firm handles are for other lawyers or law firms who choose him and his staff as their trial counsel because they think he is the best. Over the years he has always been considered a lawyer’s lawyer. He not only has numerous law firms referring clients to him, but also has judges recommending clients to him. From the time he was admitted to the Bar through the present, Mr. Morelli has been first and foremost a trial lawyer. He is currently involved in trying the first Vioxx case in the country.

In addition to trying cases, Mr. Morelli is a past President of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and sustaining member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, emeritus on the Board of Directors of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, advocate rank in the American Board of Trial Advocates, member of the New York State Bar Association, American Bar Association, New York County Lawyer’s Association, National Employment Lawyers Association, and past president of the Brooklyn-Manhattan Trial Lawyers Association.

Mr. Morelli has been listed in Best Lawyers in America continuously from 1997 through the present edition. He has also been selected by the New York State Trial Lawyers Association as one of New York’s “Superstars.”

For two years, Mr. Morelli was a regular on the nationally syndicated television show “Power of Attorney”. He has also appeared as a guest on “The Today Show,” “Good Morning America,” “Aaron Brown,” “Anderson Cooper 360,” “Dateline NBC,” “The View,” “The Ananda Lewis Show,” and “Court TV.”

He has taught and lectured for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, Association of Trial Lawyers of the City of New York, New York State Bar Association (“Proving Damages in a Civil Trial”), and the New York State Trial Lawyers Association (“New York Superstars,” “Trial Advocacy Workshop,” “Summations,” and “Cross-Examination”). Mr. Morelli has recently been called upon to represent the plaintiff’s bar to counsel insurance executives on how to resolve cases.

E-Mail: BPMorelli@morellilaw.com

Mr. Ratner has degrees from Cornell University, B.S. 1968 and Fordham Law School, JD, 1974. He was admitted to practice in New York in 1974 and is also admitted to practice in the US District Courts, Eastern, Northern & Western Districts of New York, and the Federal Court of Claims. He has been appointed a special master in the Supreme Court, New York County and an arbitrator in the US District Court, Eastern District of New York.

Mr. Ratner has been litigating and trying a wide variety of cases for over thirty years. He has successfully handled products liability, medical malpractice, employment discrimination and civil rights lawsuits not only in New York, but in courts throughout the United States. He has been called a lawyer of “exceptional skill” by a United States District Court judge as a result of a successful verdict in a recent California false arrest case.

Mr. Ratner has also successfully tried arbitrations involving claims against brokers and brokerage houses in forums established by the NASD and NYSE.

He has taught trial practice at Fordham Law School. He is a member of the American Trial Lawyers Association, the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, The New York State and American Bar Associations and has been elected to the rank of Advocate in the American Board of Trial Advocates.

E-Mail: DRatner@morellilaw.com