Cornelia Dai, a partner at Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai LLP, specializes in employment, wage and hour, and civil rights law, with a focus on class actions and complex litigation. She represents individuals and groups at all stages of litigation, from pre-lawsuit negotiations through trial and the appellate process. She practices in both state and federal court.
Ms. Dai has fought to protect and vindicate the rights of individuals her entire career. She has successfully litigated a wide range of matters, including wage and hour violations, workplace harassment and discrimination, whistleblowing, and wrongful termination. She has obtained favorable settlements for her clients ranging in the hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of dollars. Notable cases include Grace v. The Walt Disney Company, a class action involving violation of a local living wage ordinance on behalf of more than 50,000 employees, which resulted in a published decision and a $233 million settlement; and Wang v. Chinese Daily News, a class action involving violations of overtime and meal and rest break laws, which resulted in a $5.1 million judgment in one of the first wage and hour class actions to go to trial by a jury in California. Ms. Dai was also one of the plaintiffs' counsel in South Central Farmers Feeding Families v. City of Los Angeles, a case brought on behalf of over 300 low-income families in a struggle to preserve land for a much-needed urban community garden in South Los Angeles. In addition, she was one of the Doe plaintiffs' counsel in the state litigation of Doe v. Unocal, an international human rights case brought against a large oil company on behalf of Burmese villagers.
Ms. Dai was named to the Southern California Super Lawyers Top 100 list in 2024 and 2025, and the Southern California Super Lawyers Top 50 Women list in 2023, 2024, and 2025. For the years 2017, 2019, 2022, and 2023, Ms. Dai was selected as Lawyer of the Year in Southern California by Best Lawyers for Litigation - Labor and Employment (Pasadena). In 2018, she was selected as Lawyer of the Year in Southern California by Best Lawyers for Employment Law – Individuals (Pasadena). In 2025, she was again selected as one of the Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Employment Lawyers and one of The National Trial Lawyer’s Top 100 Trial Lawyers. Ms. Dai has been named to the Southern California Super Lawyers® list as a Rising Star or Super Lawyer each year since 2005, and she has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America every year since 2012.
In addition to her litigation practice, Ms. Dai oversees the Employment Rights Clinic at Loyola Law School, a joint retaliation complaint investigation program with the State of California Labor Commissioner’s Office.
Ms. Dai serves on the Board of the California Employment Lawyers Association and as Immediate Past Chair of the Executive Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section. She also serves on the Board of the Foundation for Advocacy, Inclusion, and Resources (FAIR).
Ms. Dai is frequently asked by legal organizations and law schools to speak on employment and wage and hour topics. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley, and she received her law degree from USC Gould School of Law.
Education
- J.D., USC Gould School of Law
- B.A., U.C. Berkeley
Admissions
- California
- U.S. District Court Central District of California
- U.S. District Court Northern District of California
- U.S. Bankruptcy Court Southern District of California
- U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
Memberships
- California Employment Lawyers Association, Board
- Foundation for Advocacy, Inclusion and Resources, Board
- Los Angeles County Bar Association - Labor & Employment Law Section, Executive Committee, Immediate Past Chair
Classes & Seminars
- National Employment Lawyers Association
- California Employment Lawyers Association
- California Lawyers Association, Labor and Employment Law Section
- Los Angeles County Bar Association, Labor and Employment Law Section
- American Bar Association, Section of Labor and Employment Law
- National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
- Asian Americans Advancing Justice- Los Angeles
- Loyola Law School
- University of Southern California Law School
Publications
- "For Abusive Employers, The Dai Has Been Cast", Los Angeles Magazine and Law & Politics Magazine, Southern California Super Lawyers Rising Stars, 2007
- "Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court: Employee’s Perspective", California Labor & Employment Law Review, September 2018
Awards & Accolades
- Southern California Super Lawyers Top 100 list, 2024-2025
- Southern California Super Lawyers Top 50 Women list, 2023-2025
- Lawyer of the Year in Southern California by Best Lawyers for Litigation – Labor and Employment (Pasadena), 2017, 2019, 2022, and 2023.
- Lawyer of the Year in Southern California by Best Lawyers for Employment Law – Individuals (Pasadena), 2018
- Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Employment Lawyers
- The Wage and Hour Trial Lawyers Association – Top 10 (California)
- The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers
- Southern California Super Lawyers® and Rising Stars, 2005-Present
- The Best Lawyers in America, 2012-Present
- The Top 75 Labor & Employment Lawyers in California, Daily Journal, 2011
- Los Angeles Regional Social Justice Award, 2006
