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Advice for Targeting Plaintiff Law Firms

FINDING PLAINTIFF FIRMS


List of A Few Plaintiff Law Firms1:

Altshuler, Berzon, Nussbaum, Rubin & Demain (San Francisco, CA)


o

Summer Associate Program

Permanent Positions

Post-Graduate Fellowship

Baron & Budd (Dallas, TX; Austin, TX; Encino, CA; Baton Rouge, LA)

Bartimus Frickleton Robertson & Gorny (Leawood, KS; Jefferson City, MO)

Beldock Levine & Hoffman (New York, NY)

Belluck & Fox (New York, NY)

Berger & Montague (Philadelphia, PA)

Summer Associate Program

New Associate

Bernabei & Wachtel (Washington DC)


o

Summer Associates

Civil Rights Litigation Fellowship

Associate Hiring

Bernstein Liebhard (New York, NY)

Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann (New York, NY; San Diego, CA; New Orleans, LA;
Chicago, IL)

Bredhoff & Kaiser (Washington DC)


o

Summer Associate Program

Associate Hiring

Brown, Goldstein & Levy (Baltimore, MD)


o

Disability Rights Fellowship

Cellino & Barnes (New York offices)

Clifford Law Offices (Chicago, IL)

The Cochran Firm (various)

Cohen Milstein (Washington DC; New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Palm Beach Gardens, Fl;
Chicago, IL

Summer Associates

International Human Rights Fellowship

Open Positions

Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy (San Francisco, CA; Washington DC; New York, NY; Sacramento, CA)

If hiring information is on the website, that is also listed.

Fellowship Information

Doffermyre Shields Canfield Knowles & Devine (Atlanta, GA)

Dyer & Berens (Denver, CO)

Finkelstein Thompson (Washington DC; San Francisco, CA)

Gebhardt & Associates (Washington DC)

Gibbs & Bruns (Houston, TX) *does some defense work*


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Summer Associate Positions

Girardi Keese (Los Angeles, CA; San Bernardino, CA)

Godosky & Gentile (New York, NY)

Grant & Eisenhofer (Wilmington, DE; New York, NY; Washington DC)
o

Entry-Level Positions

Open Positions

Gray Ritter & Graham (St. Louis, MO)

Hagens Berman (Seattle, WA; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Colorado Springs, CO; Los Angeles, CA;
Minneapolis, MN; New York, NY; Phoenix, AZ; San Francisco, CA; Washington DC)
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Career information

Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton (Birmingham, AL; Little Rock, AR)
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Summer Associate Information

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check (San Francisco, CA; Radnor, PA)

Korein Tillery (Chicago, IL; St. Louis, MO)


o

Career Information

Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton (Miami, FL)

Kreindler & Kreindler (New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA; Boston, MA)

Labaton Sucharow (New York, NY; Wilmington, DE)

Leonard Carder (San Francisco, CA; Oakland, CA)


o

Summer Associate and Entry-Level Information

Levy, Phillips & Konigsberg (New York, NY; Lawrence, NJ; Goshen, NY; Atlanta, GA; Los
Angeles, CA)

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein (San Francisco, CA; New York, NY; Nashville, TN)
o

Summer Associate Positions

Associate Attorneys

MacDonald Hoague and Bayless (Seattle, WA)

Milberg (New York, NY)


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Open Positions

Miner, Barnhill & Galland (Chicago, IL; Madison WI)

Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo (Boston, MA; Stamford, CT; London, UK; Los
Angeles, CA; New York, NY; San Francisco, CA; San Diego, CA; Washington DC)
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Entry Level Information

Neufeld Scheck & Brustin LLP (New York, NY)


o 1 year fellowship for candidates interested in civil rights

Phillips & Cohen (Washington DC; San Francisco, CA)

Pomerantz Haudek Grossman & Gross (New York, NY; Chicago, IL; Washington DC)
o

Career Information

Relman, Dane & Colfax (Washington DC)


o

Summer Associate

Post-graduate fellowship

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd (San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; Chicago, Il; New York, NY;
Boca Raton, FL; Washington DC; Philadelphia, PA; Atlanta, GA)
o

Summer Associate

Lateral Hires

Sacks & Sacks (New York, NY)

Sanford Heisler (New York, NY; Washington DC; San Francisco, CA)
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Hire summer associates and post-graduate fellows. Use careers@sanfordheisler.com to


inquire.

Seeger Weiss (New York, NY; Newark, NJ; Philadelphia, PA; Los Angeles, CA)

Simon Law Firm (St. Louis, MO)

Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP (San Francisco, CA)


o

Fellowship Program

Snyder & Snyder (Baltimore, MD; Washington DC)

Sullivan, Papain, Block, McGrath & Cannovo (New York, NY; Garden City, NJ; Cutchogue, NY;
Hackensack, NJ)

Trolman, Glaser & Lichtman (New York, NY)

Vladeck Waldman (New York, NY)

Watts Guerra Craft LLP (San Antonio, TX; Houston, TX; Austin, TX)

Weitz & Luxenberg (New York, NY; Cherry Hill, NJ; Los Angeles, CA)

Whatley Drake & Kallas (Birmingham, AL; New York, NY; Boston, MA)

Wiggins, Childs, Quinn and Pantazis(Birmingham, AL; Mobile, AL; Washington DC; Deland, FL)

Wilkes & McHugh (Tampa, FL; Memphis, TN; Lexington, KY; Philadelphia, PA; Phoenix, AZ; Little
Rock, AR; Pittsburgh, PA; Tucson, AZ)

Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz (New York, NY; San Diego, CA; Chicago, IL)
o

Career Information

Zwerling Schachter & Zwerling (New York, NY; Garden City, NJ; Seattle, WA)

To find additional firms, there are some additional resources:

The Harvard Guide to Public Interest Law Firms includes a listing of Plaintiff firms in various
geographic locations

The National Law Journal Plaintiff hotlist.


Securities Class Action Services lists the Top Securities Law Firms based on the total cash amount of
final securities class action settlements.
Martindale.com: directory of law firms, which will include plaintiffs firms.

APPLYING TO PLAINTIFF LAW FIRMS


Just because employment information is not on the firms website, doesnt mean that opportunities are not
available. As a general rule, plaintiff firms tend to not have a formal process for hiring. If you want a job at
these firms you need to tailor yourself specifically to them. The Harvard Guide to Public Interest Law Firms
includes a section on appealing to these particular firms.
Take courses of value
Try to take civil litigation practicum courses and courses that will expose you to multi-district litigation,
complex litigation/class actions, motion practice and discovery.
Some of the following W&L courses might be helpful to take:

Law 239 Federal Civil Litigation Seminar


Law 300 Federal Jurisdiction and Procedure
Law 334 Injunctions
Law 345 Labor Law
Law 405 Remedies
Law 408 Remedies Seminar
Law 410 Securities Regulation
Law 229P Civil Litigation Practicum
Law 252P Corporate Governance and Shareholder Derivative Litigation Practicum
Law 339P Jury Advocacy Practicum
Law 345P Labor and Employment Law Practicum
Law 391P Poverty Law and Litigation Practicum
Law 218 Close Business Arrangements
Law 215 Antitrust law
Law275 Environmental Law

Demonstrate a desire to do plaintiff work


Demonstrating an interest in plaintiff-side work is important. Plaintiff firms want people that genuinely want
to do that type of work and like to fight for the little guy. Internships and work experience that show a
preference for equity can help.
Network
Connections are everything. These firms exist in a very small and insular world; it is likely that the firms all
know each other. Reach out to alumni, or other contacts in this field to ask about the firms in that market.
You can then inquire about the individual hiring practices of those firms.

Many plaintiff firms do not hire summer associates. Instead, you need to build relationships with the partners.
Ask to meet with them; if they say yes read up on a couple of their current cases or filed briefs and then talk
with them for an hour over lunch. Maintain contact, perhaps attempt to work part-time during the school
year. If nothing else, you'll have a good law school mentor and reference.
Send the named partners or a named hiring attorney (super rare to have a named hiring attorney) your
resume, letter, transcript, and current courses.
Hiring Timeline
These firms hire later than bigger firms. They're small, and don't know their needs a year in advance. If you
apply early, absolutely make sure to be persistent and follow up (although not too frequently)

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