Brandt, Kathryn W.

Thomas J. Brandi is a San Francisco native who graduated from Saint Ignatius, San Jose State, and the University of San Francisco Law School. He is a well-recognized trial attorney with numerous significant verdicts including seventeen trial verdicts ranging from one million to over one billion dollars and over 150 settlements in excess of one million dollars. Tom is licensed to practice in State and Federal Court in California, the United States Court of Claims, and the United States Supreme Court.

He has been elected to membership in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers (membership limited to 500 attorneys), the American College of Trial Lawyers, and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).

A lawyer for over thirty years, Tom began his career with the State of California before practicing with the firms of Abramson & Bianco and Bianco, Brandi & Jones. He has represented clients in cases throughout California and in other states, appearing in over thirty California counties and trying cases to verdict in 15 separate jurisdictions.

Tom has long been active in a leadership role in many different types of litigation including injuries from drugs and devices to consumer fraud and worker’s rights. He was court appointed to serve on behalf of plaintiffs in Dalkon Shield class action matters in Virginia, the plaintiffs' Management Committee in the California Diet Drug Litigation where thousands of individuals were victimized by the diet pill combination Fen-Phen, the Plaintiffs' Management Committee in the Alaska Airlines crash litigation, and the asbestos creditors claimants committees in the bankruptcy proceedings involving USG and W.R. Grace Co. two of the leading asbestos companies.

In 2003 Tom was lead counsel in a class action trial that obtained a verdict in excess of one billion dollars and an injunction against the Bank of America on behalf of Social Security recipients. In 2010 Tom Brandi was appointed lead counsel on behalf of California Zicam users and negotiated a successful settlement. In 2010 Federal Magistrate Judge Bernard Zimmerman appointed Tom lead counsel for retail sales representatives of Hershey in an action that successfully resolved issues pertaining to their overtime compensation in 2011.

In 2011 Tom was appointed to the executive committee in the California Fosamax litigation (JCCP 4644) representing people who sustained atypical femur (thigh) fractures. On May 2, 2012 he was appointed to the four attorney executive committee in the California ACTOS litigation (JCCP 4696) representing type II diabetics who sustained bladder cancer associated with ACTOS. Tom serves as co-liaison counsel in this ongoing litigation.

Tom has received numerous awards and recognition for his work, including resolutions from the California State Senate and Assembly. He frequently lectures and writes about trial matters and consumer rights. In 2004, he was named California Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Consumer Attorneys of California. Since 2004 he has been voted as one of the top 100 Super Lawyers in Northern California in all specialties of law, and was named to the Top 10 in 2006. Selected by his peers in the 2012 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, Tom is one of a distinguished group of attorneys who have been listed in Best Lawyers for eighteen years or longer. He was selected for the specialties of: Mass Tort Litigation and Personal Injury Litigation. Thomas Brandi was named by Best Lawyers' 2013 San Francisco Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs "Lawyer of the Year

Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. Because Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more than 36,000 leading attorneys cast almost 4.4 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas, and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor.

He has once again been named one of Top 100 of the Northern California Super Lawyers for 2012. Super Lawyers names Northern California 's top lawyers as chosen by approximately 47,000 of their peers and through independent research. Only the top 5% of Northern California attorneys in more than 80 practice areas are selected. Tom was selected in the area of personal injury, products liability, and class action/mass torts.

Tom is a three time nominee for Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Consumer Attorneys of California (2002, 2004, 2012) and four time nominee for Trial Lawyer of the Year by the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association (2000, 2002, 2004,2012). He was also nominated as National Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (2004). He is the 2004 recipient of the prestigious Robert E. Cartwright Award for excellence in trial advocacy given by the Consumer Attorneys of California. On April 20, 2005 Tom received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association. He was named by Lawdragon to the Top 500 Plaintiff's lawyers in America. In 2008 He was named one of the Top 500 lawyers in America in all specialties by Lawdragon, who stated, "From the Dalkon Shield IUD in the1970s, through asbestos, fen-phen and now Vioxx, Brandi has handled the hot plaintiffs' issues of the times."

Tom is an adjunct professor at University of San Francisco Law School where he teaches trial practice and was selected as the Hon. Ira A. Brown Adjunct Professor of the year for 2010- 2011. He was elected President of the Consumer Attorneys of California (2000) and President of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association (1998). He was a Director of the Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF 2002-2003) where he also served on BASF's Judicial Evaluation Committee, and was a member of the Commission for Access to Justice. He was appointed by Chief Justice Ronald George to the Judicial Council Civil and Small Claims Advisory Committee, on which he still serves. He also serves as the Honorary Counsel of Slovenia.

He is a member of the Italian American Bar Association, American Association for Justice (AAJ), Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC), San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association (SFTLA), and Public Justice. On December 9, 2011, Mr. Brandi was honored as the Italian American Bar Association’s Person of the Year at their annual Judge’s Luncheon and was awarded the coveted “Golden Salami”. He is married and lives in San Francisco with his family.