Brian Danitz

Brian Danitz is a partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP. Brian has substantial experience representing clients in state and federal litigation, arbitration, internal investigations, and government investigations, involving commercial disputes, corporate and securities fraud, shareholder litigation, consumer class actions, antitrust actions, and employee whistleblower complaints. His practice includes all aspects of civil litigation in state and federal courts, in matters involving complex issues including allegations of securities law violations, shareholder disputes including involving breach of fiduciary duty and corporate governance, trade secret violations, and commercial disputes.

Brian is actively involved in the California and Bay Area legal communities. He currently serves on the Audit Committee of the San Mateo County Bar Association, is a member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Historical Society and has served on the State Bar of California’s Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation. Brian is selected annually as a Northern California Super Lawyer.

Prior to joining CPM, Brian worked at a large law firm in Silicon Valley, representing clients in commercial litigation, securities litigation, and government enforcement matters.

Prior to becoming a lawyer, Brian was a documentary filmmaker and producer of new media. Brian was the cinematographer for the Oscar-winning documentary Bowling for Columbine, Oscar-nominated film Sound and Fury, and Emmy Award winner TV Nation, and directed Ecological Design: Inventing the Future, Objects and Memory, and N is for Nuclear, among other films.

Brian received his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, cum laude, where he was the Symposium Editor of the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal. Brian received B.F.A. and M.P.S. degrees from New York University.

Publications

09 Jun 2025

The Supreme Court's dismissal of Labcorp v. Davis

31 Dec 2024

Attorney Fees for Total Victory: Is Musk’s Tesla pay case a blue print?

15 Dec 2020

Derivative actions help shareholders in small companies, too

02 Aug 2018

California Law is an Increasingly Important Source of Relief

2010

Bar Orders in Partial Settlements of Securities Class Action Lawsuits

2009

Severing the Link: A Defendant’s Guide to Loss Causation in the Ninth Circuit

2005

Revitalizing the Lawyer-Poet: What Lawyers Can Learn from Rock and Roll

2005

Martignon and Kiss Catalog: Can Live Performances Be Protected?