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Benjamin Rosenthal

Civil rights Attorney at Portland, OR

3.9   7 reviews
  • State Years
    Washington - WA 21 years
    Oregon - OR 40 years
    Michigan - MI 49 years
  • Licensed for 21 years
    State WA
    Acquired 2002
    Status
    Active No misconduct found
  • Licensed for 40 years
    State OR
    Acquired 1983
    Status
    Active No misconduct found
  • Licensed for 49 years
    State MI
    Acquired 1973
    Status
    Active in Good Standing No misconduct found

We have not found any instances of professional misconduct for this lawyer.

About Benjamin

Learn Benjamin’s areas of practice.

I have practiced law for more than three decades, and my hard work and commitment in aggressively helping employees and individuals is well recognized in and around the Portland Metro Area.  I started my career representing numerous Federal Agencies including the Bonneville Power Adminsitration and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.  Upon leaving Federal employment in 1987, I embarked on my career as a plaintiff's employment lawyer.  In 1990 I opened my own practice where I assisted clients on a range of matters including employment and personal injury.  My goal is to provide employees and other cleints the superior legal representation that counters a defendant's "big firm."

 

Over the years I have refined my practice to focus solely on defending employees from suffering unlawful employment actions.  Among others, I have successfully assisted clients in recovering for civil rights violations, unwanted sexual harassment, disability discrimination, medical leave, race/sex/gender discrimination and harassment, wage and hour disputes and a number of other employment related legal issues including the negotiation of severance agreements.

 

I represent injured employees and plaintiffs in both Oregon and Washington.  I am licensed to practice before the the Federal and State Courts in Oregon and Washington.  I also am admitted to practice before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  I also assist employees at administrative hearings before agencies in the States of Washington and Oregon including the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, Unemployment Insurance, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

 

I am a member of the Oregon Trial Lawyers' Association, Multnomah Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association.

 

I am an avid Bicyclist, Hiker, Sailor and Kayaker.

 

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Benjamin Rosenthal
1023 Sw Yamhill St Ste 200
Portland, OR, 97205-2536
Benjamin Rosenthal
Ste 200
1023 SW Yamhill St
Portland, OR, 97205
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Reviews

3.9 / 5.0
  7 customer reviews
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29%
Posted by James | March 21, 2022
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Above and beyond
I've worked with Benjamin Rosenthal for over 25 years as our business attorney. He's proved our cases successfully over the years based on facts. It's good to have someone on our side you can speak with honestly to get results.
Posted by anonymous | July 9, 2014
Best Discrimination Attorney EVER!!!
I had excepted a sales job position with a company and within 4 months of employment I was dealing with work discrimination and was being discriminated against by my former bosses and was really mistreated because of my disabilities (which they denied of course) After a few months I just couldn't take it anymore and was calling other attorny's on this issue I found that every attorney I called didn't really understand my pain nor did they care about my case until I talk to Ben who immediately step up to the plate right away and defended me, ultimately getting my 2 former bosses FIRED because of what was going on at work. I didn't have any money at the time so Ben told me he would take my case on contingency. Ben not only protected my rights but he also went above and beyond seeking damages for what had happen to me @ work by my former bosses @ which my former company had to pay. I also forgot to mention before hiring Ben I was working with a former attorney who had mess up my case and just went MIA (missing in action) I could never get hold of the guy so then I had to go back looking for an attorney which I then discovered Ben. If you have been made fun of or pick on because of your handicap in life you owe it to yourself to call Ben. Don't give up on the fight most importantly don't let this go on. You have the right as a human being to live in harmony and not to suffer. I can recall many night of not being able to sleep because of what was going on. Despite the fact that I was a hard workeer there are still curuel people in this world looking to make life more difficult and I found Ben to be my guardian angel. Thanks
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Posted by anonymous | January 8, 2013
"The truth will set you free!"
Not only is Ben Rosenthal a brilliant attorney but I was surprised at his level of integrity. From the beginning, Ben was upfront about the pros and cons of my case and urged me to be open and honest at all times. He helped me with my unemployment hearing and was masterful in depositions. At one point he made an opposing party cry and later communicated that he felt bad for the person. This illustrates how Ben is a wonderful human being despite his mandatory efforts to help you win your case. We won and I was happy with the outcome. At all times Ben's professionalism and conduct were above the bar. There were times when I didn't have the financial means to pay for third party court reporters or even copies. I never felt that Ben gave up on me and he never pressured me despite my outstanding balance. Lawyers this great are usually only on TV but Ben is a real person who will fight hard for you.
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Posted by Lisa | January 8, 2013
Entitled to Opinion but Unfair
I am Mr. Rosenthal's assistant and have read the above review. I was intimately involved in all matters that the above person appears to be complaining about. Without getting into details since that would disclose client confidences, which I am ethically bound not to do even when that person slings unfounded allegations, I can say that Mr. Rosenthal handled both matters competently and professionally and that they both ended in settlements acceptable to the client. This client is merely disgruntled for having to pay an attorney ANY money for services provided. In both cases over 40 hours of time was committed by Mr. Rosenthal's office. In both cases standard fee agreements were agreed to in advance. The law allows an attorney to lien the resolution of a case in order to allow an attorney to be compensated for his or her time. It is a business and as all businesses it is not a voluntary recrational pursuit. Mr. Rosenthal actually took less than the standard fee agreements called for as a further gesture of good will. This former client unfortunately continues to gripe that Mr. Rosenthal "acted unprofessionally." That is so despite that the Oregon State Bar found "no professional misconduct." It is unfortunate that this former client remains disgruntled. It is just as unfortunate that simply because this client remains disgruntled that this person can be allowed to misstate facts in a public forum such as this.
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Posted by anonymous | October 12, 2012
He's a class act!
Benjamin is a class act. He handled my case very professionally and got me 6 figures! I recommend him for any case.
Posted by anonymous | November 8, 2021
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Rough go
We had a horrible situation with Benjamin Rosenthal. Upon our original consult, he told us we had a very strong case based off a complicated termination that involved being fired after threatening legal counsel. He said that was illegal and if there was a slam dunk, this would be it (although he did say there was no such thing as a slam dunk). Based on this legal advice, we opted to pay hourly and not go contingent which was offered. For the demand letter, we suggested he include some other angles as this was an egregious employment situation and there were other angles that could have helped gain momentum but he insisted this was the best angle and proceeded to send us a draft of the demand letter on only this angle. The demand letter felt more like a copy and paste letter and he had very basic mistakes, such as addressing the parties involved incorrectly. He had to look it up which blew us away that he didn't know how to formally address men in the plural given his profession. He did include our minor revisions and the demand letter was now ready to be sent. JUST BEFORE SENDING IT (AFTER ALREADY RACKING UP CLOSE TO 2K IN LAWYER FEES)... he called in the very late afternoon to say that, oh btw, the statute he had originally referred to was worded quite differently from how he remembered and it pretty much completely invalidated our case. Basically, firing someone for THREATENING counsel IS NOT illegal, firing someone for actually OBTAINING counsel IS illegal. He even admitted it was now an entirely different potential for a favorable outcome as it was now a much weaker case. Instead of the tough slam we thought (and were told) we would be sending, we sent a slow lob that we got absolutely burned with. It was embarrassing. We felt stupid and looked petty in front of our former employers. It felt like a total bait and switch. When you pay someone $350/hr, you expect them to know there stuff. After that bombshell in which we were truly shell shocked, he then says, "I want to get this out today". We had stomach aches knowing how badly things had all the sudden turned and how our former employers would manhandle the situation. It felt like he cared more about getting it done than doing it right or what was in our best interest. He gets paid either way, and that was obvious by how he handled it. The response from our employer's paralegal (yes, they are so cheap, they used a paralegal) absolutely nailed the problem with the wording. This paralegal's response seemed top notch compared to what we sent (although dishonest which was par for the course with this employer). He was detailed, specific, and the tone was effective. I honestly couldn't help but think, so this is what it should have looked like instead of the copy and paste lets-gather-for-tea tone that we sent. There were other things having to do with unemployment that he admitted he didn't know much about so quite honestly, I am not sure what his expertise is but we certainly didn't experience it. I would stay far away and wish we would have. It made an already bad experience, so, so much worse. And, btw, we did free consultations with another lawyer and a 30 year HR professional turned paralegal afterwards and they said that angle was terrible. After receiving the response, Ben kept trying to come up with cases that justified him sending the demand letter, but no one else, including a couple of lawyers, and a 30 year HR professional turned paralegal, believed we had a case on this angle. Lessons learned.... the hard way. Now we get to pay $2k for being humiliated and we have to let all the other valid points go.
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Posted by anonymous | January 7, 2013
I do not recommend Ben Rosenthal
Ben Rosenthal was obtained as my legal counsel. It became clear to me he was capable of handling my case, which was a very simple matter. He was non-responsive and acted in an unprofessional manner on more than one occasion. I was forced to fire him and he was paid thousands of dollars even though his lack of efforts and interest cost me my case.
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Response from Benjamin Rosenthal January 9, 2013
I am Mr. Rosenthal's assistant and have read the above review. I was intimately involved in all matters that the above person appears to be complaining about. Without getting into details since that would disclose client confidences, which I am ethically bound not to do even when that person slings unfounded allegations, I can say that Mr. Rosenthal handled both matters competently and professionally and that they both ended in settlements acceptable to the client. This client is merely disgruntled for having to pay an attorney ANY money for services provided. In both cases over 40 hours of time was committed by Mr. Rosenthal's office. In both cases standard fee agreements were agreed to in advance. The law allows an attorney to lien the resolution of a case in order to allow an attorney to be compensated for his or her time. It is a business and as all businesses it is not a voluntary recrational pursuit. Mr. Rosenthal actually took less than the standard fee agreements called for as a further gesture of good will. This former client unfortunately continues to gripe that Mr. Rosenthal "acted unprofessionally." That is so despite that the Oregon State Bar found "no professional misconduct." It is unfortunate that this former client remains disgruntled. It is just as unfortunate that simply because this client remains disgruntled that this person can be allowed to misstate facts in a public forum such as this.
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Cost

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Contact for Details

Resume

AVVO RATING 6.9 (Good)

Work Experience

  • Attorney
  • The Law Office Of Benjamin Rosenthal
  • 1990 - Present

Education

  • Lewis & Clark Law School
  • JD - Juris Doctor
  • 1982

Legal Cases

  • Orme v. Burlington Coat Factory, US District Court Case No. 3:07-CV-00859-MO
  • $408,500 Jury Verdict

Associations

  • Member of Federal District Courts in Washington and Oregon and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • 1991 - Present
  • Multnomah Bar Association
  • 1990 - Present
  • Oregon Trial Lawyers Association, Employee/Individual Rights Section
  • N/A

Languages Spoken

  • Spanish

Attorney endorsements

Received (1)
Given (0)
Endorse Benjamin
Employment and labor Attorney | Mar 24
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"I have known Ben for many years. He is an outstanding attorney. He works hard to obtain the best results for his clients. He goes to trial often and obtains excellent results."
This attorney hasn't created any attorney endorsements recently on Avvo.
Portland Civil rights Lawyer Benjamin Rosenthal
Benjamin Rosenthal
Civil rights Attorney
Portland, OR
Licensed for 49 years