Zachary N. Zaharoff

Zack Zaharoff is a senior associate at CPM and a Bay Area native. Zack represents individuals, small businesses, and public entities in fighting to protect their rights. He is an experienced civil litigator who cut his teeth handling commercial disputes for six years at Latham & Watkins in San Francisco and New York. At CPM, Zack handles a wide variety of cases including personal injury, elder abuse, business fraud, public corruption, and other complex litigation.

Zack has a proven record of success in litigation for both plaintiffs and defendants. He has obtained millions of dollars in compensation for injured plaintiffs and helped small and midsized businesses fight frivolous lawsuits and protect their interests. Notable cases and experience include:

• Representing families of decedents in wrongful death/elder abuse lawsuits against Atria Management Company, one of the largest nursing home operators in the country;
• Representing family in a name, image, and likeness dispute against a technology company (eight-figure settlement reached);
• Representing stroke victim in neglect claim against a skilled nursing facility (seven-figure settlement reached);
• Representing the San Mateo County Community College District in an ongoing fraud and corruption lawsuit against multiple construction vendors;
• Winning summary judgment on behalf of a group of California dairy farmers in long-running dispute over California dairy regulations (led briefing and oral argument);

While at Latham & Watkins, Zack practiced copyright, antitrust, and complex commercial litigation. He led case teams across the country and was part of multiple trial teams, including a team that achieved a complete defense verdict on behalf of a music-industry trade group after a $100 million breach of contract arbitration. He also had an active pro bono practice that included obtaining multiple favorable settlements in federal civil rights suits on behalf of New York City tenants that faced housing discrimination.

Zack is also a frequent speaker and author on issues relevant to his practice. Zack recently moderated a panel at a Consumer Attorneys of California conference regarding elder abuse litigation and spoke on a panel at USF law school regarding his practice. He has published multiple articles in academic journals and the Daily Journal about cutting-edge legal issues.

Before becoming an associate, Zack served as a law clerk to the Honorable Philip R. Martinez, a former US District Court Judge for the Western District of Texas. Zack attended UC Berkeley for law school, where he served as a senior editor on the California Law Review and graduated at the top of his class as a member of the Order of the Coif. Zack also served as a judicial extern in the San Francisco chambers of the Honorable Michelle T. Friedland, a US Circuit Court Judge on the Ninth Circuit. He also holds a BA from the University of Washington, where he was a starting forward for the rugby team and worked as a bouncer at a local music venue.

Zack spends most of his free time playing with his daughter and relaxing with his wife, a pediatrics and psychiatry resident at Stanford. He also enjoys golf, running, Bay Area sports, politics, and exploring new restaurants.