Redefining Trial Advocacy

Morelli Law Firm is a national trial firm that prides itself on serving as the preeminent firm for all civil litigation. This is no misrepresentation: though a firm of ten lawyers, it displays remarkable versatility in its practice.

“We try to stay ahead of the curve in terms of handling new cases and helping people in different areas,” says Benedict Morelli, the firm’s founder. “The diversity in our practice is unique for a firm of our size, but it’s possible because we have a level of experience in the courtroom that many other law firms just don’t have – it’s a major advantage, and the reason we can litigate important cases against substantial opponents and win.”

Over its history, Morelli Law Firm has represented victims of negligence, discrimination and harassment against some of the largest law firms and corporations in the world. The firm has secured billions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for its clients in cases involving everything from catastrophic personal injury and truck accidents to workplace sexual harassment and employment discrimination, to defective drugs and medical devices.

“We’re not a run-of-the-mill firm doing the same medical malpractice and personal injury cases,” notes partner David Sirotkin. “Many of the matters that come to us are high-value, prominent cases, and that’s because we offer the expertise and experience of a larger law firm in a smaller, more client-focused environment. We also are relentless in preparing our cases and have a willingness to try cases to verdict in matters where others would not.”

Indeed, Morelli Law Firm possesses a level of trial experience that is rare in today’s legal environment, where many cases never reach the courtroom. Some of the firm’s notable verdicts include a $102 million judgment for a worker who sustained severe injuries after a fall at Live Nation’s Jones Beach Theater, a $95 million verdict in a high-profile sexual harassment trial (one of the largest single-plaintiff sexual harassment verdicts on record), a $62 million verdict in a construction accident involving a 20-year-old worker, a $41 million verdict against the City of New York in a wrongful death case and a $22.5 million verdict in a polio vaccine case (among the largest vaccine verdicts in U.S. history).

These successes have made Morelli Law Firm a go-to firm for its trial knowledge, and in recent years, the firm has presented a national trial education program, bringing together lawyers from across the country to learn from Benedict Morelli and his team about essential trial practices. Topics covered have included the firm’s strategies behind its record-setting awards, insights into effective trial advocacy and a detailed examination of the trial process.

“Trying cases is a lost art because the legal arena is now based more on mediation and arbitration than litigation,” says partner Alexander Morelli. “But our firm was established to handle cases from start to finish, and much of our success is due to the trust we’ve been able to build with juries. We continue to take cases to trial to ensure our clients – victims and their families – obtain the justice they need and deserve.”

Morelli Law Firm’s extensive trial experience also helps persuade opponents to pursue an equitable settlement rather than challenge the firm in the courtroom. For example, the firm secured one of the largest settlements ever for a truck accident case against Wal-Mart on behalf of comedian Tracy Morgan and five other plaintiffs who were injured in an accident involving one of the company’s trucks. The firm, which is a leader in this area of the law, further obtained significant settlements during trucking accident trials against FedEx in Southern Illinois and Frito-Lay in Baltimore, Maryland.

Notably, the firm played a vital role in securing a $265 million settlement for victims of the 2015 Amtrak derailment outside Philadelphia, one of the largest railroad accident settlements in U.S. history. It also successfully represented a Fox News staffer in a sexual harassment claim against a network host and achieved a favorable verdict and subsequent settlement in a high-profile slip-and-fall case against the United States Tennis Association on behalf of Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard.

Morelli Law Firm continues to handle a range of cases across the country, representing the family of a man who died in a 2023 building collapse at a parking garage, the estate of a well-known architect who was killed after being struck by a falling piece of a building facade, and a 24-year-old woman who suffered severe brain injuries after being struck by patio furniture that fell off a Manhattan penthouse. The firm also is representing hundreds of clients in mass tort litigations involving talcum powder, NEC baby formula cases and child sexual abuse cases.

“Many of the matters we handle involve intense media scrutiny and powerful adversaries, but we have a long history of succeeding in high-profile matters against formidable opponents, and we’ve never shied away from difficult cases,” says Benedict Morelli. “Our firm has been fighting for victims of corporate greed, incompetence and negligence for decades, and we have no plans on slowing down.”