Joan M. Haratani is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Litigation Practice. With 30 years of experience, Ms. Haratani focuses her practice on mass tort and product liability litigation with a particular emphasis in the medical device and pharmaceutical industries. She represents and defends her clients in class actions, complex licensing agreements, and trade secret indemnity issues. She has in-depth knowledge of a wide range of law, such as the Alien Tort Statute, California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL), pharmaceutical and medical device liability doctrines, and national mortgage foreclosure issues.
Having served as co-lead counsel on some of the largest mass tort litigations in the nation, Ms. Haratani is experienced in crisis and management litigation. For example, she was one of the lead national counsels in litigations involving the possible contamination of a blood product with Hepatitis C (and ensuing worldwide recall), severe allergic reactions to natural rubber latex, and variety of issues concerning medical devices such as surgical equipment and implantable intraocular lenses. In addition, Ms. Haratani served as co-lead counsel on behalf of a Fortune 50 retail company in a worldwide class action concerning breach of contract allegations of which she obtained a dismissal at the federal court level (affirmed by the ninth circuit). The decision was paramount to the client’s day-to-day business operations and saved the retailer years of litigation. Currently, she serves as one of the firm’s national counsel for a financial institution.
Ms. Haratani also represented a major food manufacturer in a high-exposure product liability case, allegedly resulting in apoplexia to an infant, with allegations of more than $50M in compensatory damages alone. As first chair trial lawyer, she reached a favorable settlement on the eve of trial. After the trial, Ms. Haratani represented this same food manufacturer in breach of insurance contract allegations for the successful recovery of all of the attorneys' fees and settlement costs in the underlying action.
Ms. Haratani has been recognized as one of the 'Top 100 Lawyers in California' and as a 'Top 75 Women Litigator' by the Daily Journal. She was selected by the corporate members of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association as a 'Female Litigator on the Rise' in Diversity and the Bar.
Ms. Haratani has served as a member of the American Bar Association, House of Delegates, and is the Recent Past President of the Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF), the first female of color president of BASF in its then 134-year history. She is also a past President of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area as well as the past Regional Governor of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. Ms. Haratani has been recognized as one of the 500 most influential Asian Americans in America by Avenue Asia Magazine.
Ms. Haratani is a past board member of several philanthropic organizations, including the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Northern California (Team In Training). She is also currently a member of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (by nomination only), a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation (by invitation only), the Defense Research Institute, and California Women Lawyers. She currently serves as a board member for St. John’s College (campuses in Annapolis, MD and Santa Fe, NM, the “Great Books” Program).
Ms. Haratani is admitted to practice in California and before the state and federal courts of California.
