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ZDostart@SDLaw.com
Zach Dostart is one of the few attorneys in the nation who has tried multiple certified class actions to judgment. As lead trial counsel, he has secured verdicts and settlements well in excess of $100 million. His practice focuses on representing consumers under California’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law, Automatic Renewal Law, and California’s rent-to-own and lending laws — often in cases involving loans carrying interest rates above 100% APR.
His work has earned recognition from the bench. In 2020, U.S. District Judge William Alsup wrote that “the Court particularly commends … Attorney Zach Dostart for the excellent work … done on this case.” Blair v. Rent-A-Center, Inc., No. 17-cv-02335-WHA (N.D. Cal.) (Dkt. 219). In 2015, Zach was asked to testify before the California Legislature regarding California consumers’ privacy rights.
Zach brings nearly two decades of class action litigation experience, along with a background that spans both sides of the financial world he now litigates against. He began his career at Lehman Brothers in New York City, and his earlier experience includes work in the Global Real Estate Group of Morgan Stanley in New York City, the SEC’s Division of Enforcement in Washington, D.C., a judicial externship with U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian (C.D. Cal.), and practice at Woolf Simmonds in London. Before entering private practice, he served in the San Diego District Attorney’s Office, where he prosecuted cases involving homicide, sexual assault, narcotics, and other serious crimes, first-chairing both bench and jury trials.
Zach earned his J.D./M.B.A. from Pepperdine University, where he served as Managing Editor of the Pepperdine Law Review, competed on the Appellate Advocacy team, and published a Comment in the Law Review. He holds a B.S. in Economics with a concentration in Finance from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and completed coursework at Harvard Law School. Zach has also passed the Certified Public Accountant exam.
An All-American lacrosse player, Zach played collegiate lacrosse at Cal Poly and remains active in the lacrosse community. He also supports U.S. military veterans and civil rights organizations. Zach is admitted to practice before all California state and federal courts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
