David Sanford is the Chairman and Co-Founder of Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight. David has served as lead counsel in more than 50 class actions and numerous whistleblower and qui tam cases, and has represented C-Suite executives, attorneys, tech workers, pharmaceutical, hospitality, service, health, manufacturing, educational employees, and others in contract disputes, employment matters, and severance negotiations.
David was lead counsel in a landmark race discrimination class action suit, joined by the NAACP, against Cracker Barrel restaurants. The case, with more than 40 plaintiffs across 16 states, alleged that Cracker Barrel systematically discriminated against Black employees and customers. The Department of Justice intervened in the case after five years of litigation and the suit settled for $8.7 million.
David has brought high-profile gender discrimination class actions against Big Law, which have heightened awareness about gender discrimination in Big Law. His innovative approach of filing employment claims under the Equal Pay Act, state and city Civil and Human Rights Acts, and/or the California Labor Code’s Private Attorneys General Act has been influential in discrimination and class litigation.
David has brought Title IX and Equal Pay Act cases against universities, including Ivy League institutions, and won the first “Me Too” case tried in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in a gender discrimination matter against Columbia University.
David was lead counsel for a class of female pharmaceutical sales representatives against pharma giant Novartis. After a six-week trial in federal court in New York, the jury returned a verdict of $253 million. Today it still stands as the largest gender employment discrimination class action verdict in the U.S. David was invited to speak at the United Nations in 2011, and the matter was recognized as one of the top ten in the world advancing women’s rights.
David also served as lead counsel in a lawsuit against actor Robert De Niro and Canal Productions, alleging that the defendants subjected their longtime employee to a hostile work environment, including unwelcome physical contact, sexually charged comments, verbal abuse, and sex-stereotyping.
After a nine-day trial in New York federal court, a jury found Canal Productions liable for gender discrimination and retaliation and awarded the plaintiff, Graham Chase Robinson, $1.2 million. David was inducted in The National Law Journal’s Elite Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame; was an American Lawyer 2018 Attorney of the Year finalist; was the 2018 and 2019 Benchmark Litigation Employment Attorney of the Year; and has been recognized by Law 360 as an Employment MVP and Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar, and by the National Law Journal as 2018 Plaintiffs’ Trailblazer. He has been recognized by Chambers USA as a Leader in the field for Labor & Employment for the past four years. David has also been AV- rated by Martindale-Hubbell for the past 17 years and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
The firm has been recognized as the National Law Journal Employment Rights Firm of the Year (2021) and Human Rights Firm of the Year (2021); Benchmark Litigation’s Labor and Employment Firm of the Year (2020 & 2021); nationally ranked by Chambers & Partners since 2016; nationally ranked by U.S. News since 2016; and for many years has been recognized by Law360 as Employment Practice Group of the Year. In 2024, David was named to the inaugural list of Forbes’ “America’s Top 200 Lawyers.
Updated Oct 2024
