Benedict Morelli Net Worth 2026

Benedict Morelli is a New York personal injury trial lawyer and the founding partner of Morelli Law Firm, which he started in 1998. His firm has won verdicts including $102 million for an injured stagehand and $95 million in a sexual harassment case, and he represented comedian Tracy Morgan after a 2014 crash involving a Walmart truck. No reputable publisher, including Forbes, Bloomberg or Celebrity Net Worth, has estimated his net worth, so this page gives no figure.

What is Benedict Morelli's net worth?

An earlier version of this page said $23 million, with income of about $1 million a year. We found no reputable source for either number, and both have been removed. One court fight gives a sense of what a single big case can pay, though it is not a measure of his wealth. In the Live Nation case, his client said in court papers that he had already paid Morelli $18,333,333.30 in legal fees, while Morelli sued for $5.5 million more, the New York Post reported in 2022.

That is a firm-level fee on one case; costs, staff and other lawyers' pay come out of it. Morelli Law's overall revenue and his personal share are not public.

Where the money comes from

• Contingency fees. Like most injury lawyers, the firm is usually paid a percentage of what clients recover. In the Live Nation case the agreed fee was one-third of the award.
• Firm ownership. He is the founding partner of Morelli Law Firm, based in Manhattan, which handles personal injury, trucking, construction and sexual harassment cases.

Notable verdicts and cases

The verdict list comes from profiles published by Best Lawyers, which the magazine labels as written in partnership with the firm. Jury verdicts are often reduced or settled later, as happened in the Live Nation case.

Tracy Morgan

Morelli represented Tracy Morgan after the comedian was badly hurt in a 2014 crash involving a Walmart truck. In October 2014 Morelli told the press that doctors could not yet say whether Morgan's career was over, ABC7 New York reported. The station reported that the Walmart driver had been going 65 mph in a 45 mph zone. Best Lawyers said trucking cases became a major area for the firm after the Morgan case.

The Live Nation fee dispute

Mark Perez fractured his skull in 2013 when a forklift hit a booth he was working on at the Jones Beach venue. A jury awarded him $102 million in 2019, and the case later settled for $55 million with Live Nation's insurers. Morelli then sued Perez for an extra 10% fee for post-trial and appellate work. Perez countersued, arguing he never signed an agreement to pay more, according to the New York Post. Morelli defended the fee in an interview with the New York Law Journal, saying he had done his job and was proud of it. We did not find a reported final ruling on the $5.5 million held in escrow.

Career

Morelli began as a law clerk at a personal injury firm in the 1970s. After being admitted to the New York bar, he rose to senior partner there before leaving to start his own firm in 1998, according to Best Lawyers. He is a former president of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association. The firm also trains other lawyers through a program with Trial Lawyers University.

Education and philanthropy

The old page said he earned his law degree at New York Law School. We did not find an independent source to confirm it, so we note it only as a claim. In 2016 Arlene and Benedict Morelli gave $1 million to Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University. The gift created the Benedict Morelli Trial Team, student scholarships and a "Learning from the Masters" lecture series, according to Cardozo.

Family

Cardozo names Arlene Morelli alongside him on the gift. The earlier page gave her maiden name and described their marriage in generic terms; we could not confirm those details and have kept only what the school published. His age has not been reliably published.

Recent changes (2025–2026)

We found no major reported cases or firm changes involving Morelli in 2025 or 2026. The firm continues to take trucking and catastrophic injury cases.

Net worth compared

Other lawyers and professionals profiled here include King Aminpour and Ben Uretsky. Top trial lawyers can earn very large fees from a handful of cases, but their income is lumpy and private, which is why reliable net worth estimates are rare.

Why no figure is given

An estimate would need the firm's fee income over many years, his share of profits, and his property and investments. None of this has been reported. The $18.3 million in fees from one case shows the scale a single verdict can reach, not his total wealth. We will add a figure if a reputable outlet publishes one.