Highest-paying plaintiff firms for associates? Forum

[basketofbread]

What about hours? I’m a 4th year in a Delaware corporate / securities focused lit group annualizing 2700 hours. I would make the jump to one of our plaintiff counterparts if I could expect to work about 1000 fewer hours.

Are you based in NYC?

Yep.

[Anonymous User]

What about hours? I’m a 4th year in a Delaware corporate / securities focused lit group annualizing 2700 hours. I would make the jump to one of our plaintiff counterparts if I could expect to work about 1000 fewer hours.

Are you based in NYC?

Yep.

I had a friend who worked at a plaintiff side firm on the east coast. Mid-levels with your experience are valuable to those shops who do securities. I seriously doubt you'll be able to swing 1700 hours anywhere. But possibly sub/around 2000.

[pointplace]

I'll add Selendy, Kaplan, and McKool to this list for NYC (all three pay market or above and have considerable plaintiff litigation opportunities, although they all do both P and D-side lit)

[Anonymous User]

I'll add Selendy, Kaplan, and McKool to this list for NYC (all three pay market or above and have considerable plaintiff litigation opportunities, although they all do both P and D-side lit)

Would probably add MoloLamken and Hueston Hennigan too.

[Anonymous User]

MoloLamken definitely belongs on this list, and it pays above market.

But one thing that gets lost in these conversations is that there are (at least) two types of plaintiffs' firms. First, there are firms like Susman, MoloLamken, and Selendy that do both plaintiff and defense side work, and generally do complex commercial litigation, sometimes on an hourly basis and sometimes on a contingency basis.

Then there are the pure plaintiffs' class-action firms, like Seeger Weiss, Lief Cabraser, and Rosen that basically only do plaintiffs'-side class action work. These places typically pay below market to associates, typically attract less prestigious lawyers, but the partners can get paid quite well.

These are two very different kinds of firms. I think folks on this forum are talking mainly about the first category of firms, and in NYC, the top shops are Susman, MoloLamken, Selendy, and possibly also Kaplan Hecker. All of those firms do complex commercial work on the plaintiff and defense side, and they all pay above market. Hueston Hennigan does not typically do plaintiff-side work.

[Anonymous User]

MoloLamken definitely belongs on this list, and it pays above market.

But one thing that gets lost in these conversations is that there are (at least) two types of plaintiffs' firms. First, there are firms like Susman, MoloLamken, and Selendy that do both plaintiff and defense side work, and generally do complex commercial litigation, sometimes on an hourly basis and sometimes on a contingency basis.

Then there are the pure plaintiffs' class-action firms, like Seeger Weiss, Lief Cabraser, and Rosen that basically only do plaintiffs'-side class action work. These places typically pay below market to associates, typically attract less prestigious lawyers, but the partners can get paid quite well.

These are two very different kinds of firms. I think folks on this forum are talking mainly about the first category of firms, and in NYC, the top shops are Susman, MoloLamken, Selendy, and possibly also Kaplan Hecker. All of those firms do complex commercial work on the plaintiff and defense side, and they all pay above market. Hueston Hennigan does not typically do plaintiff-side work.

I'm interested in the second category (class action shops). Any insights on those?

[Anonymous User]

MoloLamken definitely belongs on this list, and it pays above market.

But one thing that gets lost in these conversations is that there are (at least) two types of plaintiffs' firms. First, there are firms like Susman, MoloLamken, and Selendy that do both plaintiff and defense side work, and generally do complex commercial litigation, sometimes on an hourly basis and sometimes on a contingency basis.

Then there are the pure plaintiffs' class-action firms, like Seeger Weiss, Lief Cabraser, and Rosen that basically only do plaintiffs'-side class action work. These places typically pay below market to associates, typically attract less prestigious lawyers, but the partners can get paid quite well.

These are two very different kinds of firms. I think folks on this forum are talking mainly about the first category of firms, and in NYC, the top shops are Susman, MoloLamken, Selendy, and possibly also Kaplan Hecker. All of those firms do complex commercial work on the plaintiff and defense side, and they all pay above market. Hueston Hennigan does not typically do plaintiff-side work.

I'm interested in the second category (class action shops). Any insights on those?

I'm at a shop in the second category. We have under 40 lawyers. About 2/3rds of the associates and 1/3rd of the partners went to T-14s, but essentially all of the recent associate hires have been T-14s and many fed clerks. Base comp for 4th-6th year is in the high 100s; I think 6th years are right at 200 now. Bonus comp varies from 5% of base in a bad year to 150% of base in a truly excellent year (with a median probably around 20-25% of base).

We co-counsel with a bunch of different firms. Many of them are much less sophisticated in terms of pedigree. So we often take on the "law and briefing" role and disproportionately write MTD oppositions while our co-counsel will do the marketing for plaintiffs, run discovery, etc.

I think it's a fun job. You still have clients, but you are entirely in charge of the show, and it's common to come up with the case idea first and find the client second. If you enjoy litigating but your biggest annoyance is the client coming in with unreasonable demands or weird edits, plaintiff-side class action work could be a good fit. I think of myself as a private-sector regulatory attorney. I don't pretend that the thousands of class members who will receive checks for $6.50 will have their lives changed, but I think my work holds bad actors to account in ways that the government has decided to largely stay out of and leave to lawyers like me.

In my experience, a handful of firms that I think do good work in this space (not at all an exhaustive list) include: Seeger Weiss, Lieff Cabraser, GIbbs Law Group, Berger Montague, Tycko & Zavareei, DiCello Levitt, Robbins Geller, Hausfeld, Hagens Berman.

[Anonymous User]

MoloLamken definitely belongs on this list, and it pays above market.

But one thing that gets lost in these conversations is that there are (at least) two types of plaintiffs' firms. First, there are firms like Susman, MoloLamken, and Selendy that do both plaintiff and defense side work, and generally do complex commercial litigation, sometimes on an hourly basis and sometimes on a contingency basis.

Then there are the pure plaintiffs' class-action firms, like Seeger Weiss, Lief Cabraser, and Rosen that basically only do plaintiffs'-side class action work. These places typically pay below market to associates, typically attract less prestigious lawyers, but the partners can get paid quite well.

These are two very different kinds of firms. I think folks on this forum are talking mainly about the first category of firms, and in NYC, the top shops are Susman, MoloLamken, Selendy, and possibly also Kaplan Hecker. All of those firms do complex commercial work on the plaintiff and defense side, and they all pay above market. Hueston Hennigan does not typically do plaintiff-side work.

I'm interested in the second category (class action shops). Any insights on those?

I'm at a shop in the second category. We have under 40 lawyers. About 2/3rds of the associates and 1/3rd of the partners went to T-14s, but essentially all of the recent associate hires have been T-14s and many fed clerks. Base comp for 4th-6th year is in the high 100s; I think 6th years are right at 200 now. Bonus comp varies from 5% of base in a bad year to 150% of base in a truly excellent year (with a median probably around 20-25% of base).

We co-counsel with a bunch of different firms. Many of them are much less sophisticated in terms of pedigree. So we often take on the "law and briefing" role and disproportionately write MTD oppositions while our co-counsel will do the marketing for plaintiffs, run discovery, etc.

I think it's a fun job. You still have clients, but you are entirely in charge of the show, and it's common to come up with the case idea first and find the client second. If you enjoy litigating but your biggest annoyance is the client coming in with unreasonable demands or weird edits, plaintiff-side class action work could be a good fit. I think of myself as a private-sector regulatory attorney. I don't pretend that the thousands of class members who will receive checks for $6.50 will have their lives changed, but I think my work holds bad actors to account in ways that the government has decided to largely stay out of and leave to lawyers like me.

In my experience, a handful of firms that I think do good work in this space (not at all an exhaustive list) include: Seeger Weiss, Lieff Cabraser, GIbbs Law Group, Berger Montague, Tycko & Zavareei, DiCello Levitt, Robbins Geller, Hausfeld, Hagens Berman.

Very helpful. Do you have a sense of whether the base comp you list and median 20-25% bonus percentages are relatively comparable across the firms you've singled out?

[Anonymous User]

I think the base comp is about right for the firms I know of on that list who don’t have biglaw hours expectations (i.e. the median associate is billing in the 17 or 1800s). There are some firms that try to bill hours more like biglaw and have higher comp accordingly.

I think bonus comp is probably higher on average, maybe 25-30% is a better range, but after a ramp up period of getting involved on cases that eventually pay out, because many (most? All?) of these firms will share the spoils disproportionately with the lawyers who worked on the case.

[Anonymous User]

I think the base comp is about right for the firms I know of on that list who don’t have biglaw hours expectations (i.e. the median associate is billing in the 17 or 1800s). There are some firms that try to bill hours more like biglaw and have higher comp accordingly.

I think bonus comp is probably higher on average, maybe 25-30% is a better range, but after a ramp up period of getting involved on cases that eventually pay out, because many (most? All?) of these firms will share the spoils disproportionately with the lawyers who worked on the case.

Which firms on this side of the V try to bill biglaw hours and have higher comp?

[Anonymous User]

I think the base comp is about right for the firms I know of on that list who don’t have biglaw hours expectations (i.e. the median associate is billing in the 17 or 1800s). There are some firms that try to bill hours more like biglaw and have higher comp accordingly.

I think bonus comp is probably higher on average, maybe 25-30% is a better range, but after a ramp up period of getting involved on cases that eventually pay out, because many (most? All?) of these firms will share the spoils disproportionately with the lawyers who worked on the case.

Which firms on this side of the V try to bill biglaw hours and have higher comp?

And on the flipside, which of these firms generally bill less?

[Anonymous User]

My impression is that most firms here are more on the lifestyle side than biglaw, but there will be lawyers at them who truly grind because either that's just who they are or their compensation is so bonus heavy and dependent on their case performance that they intentionally take on a wider case load. I am not at any of these firms, but my impression is that Lieff Cabraser, Edelson, and Dovel & Luner are on the higher hours and higher pay side of the ledger.

It will take a lot more work to just learn about this world if you're coming from biglaw, where firms are much more fungible in my view; there are real differences that are hard to learn about with P-side class action firms in terms of hours expectations, compensation, partnership chances, the way cases are identified and brought, the subject matter you'll litigate, the nuts and bolts of each case that you'll handle, etc. And these firm are (generally speaking) much more receptive to remote work than biglaw, such that geography is not as limiting as it is with biglaw firms, which means you have even more opportunities available if you are open to fully WFH.

[Anonymous User]

My impression is that most firms here are more on the lifestyle side than biglaw, but there will be lawyers at them who truly grind because either that's just who they are or their compensation is so bonus heavy and dependent on their case performance that they intentionally take on a wider case load. I am not at any of these firms, but my impression is that Lieff Cabraser, Edelson, and Dovel & Luner are on the higher hours and higher pay side of the ledger.

It will take a lot more work to just learn about this world if you're coming from biglaw, where firms are much more fungible in my view; there are real differences that are hard to learn about with P-side class action firms in terms of hours expectations, compensation, partnership chances, the way cases are identified and brought, the subject matter you'll litigate, the nuts and bolts of each case that you'll handle, etc. And these firm are (generally speaking) much more receptive to remote work than biglaw, such that geography is not as limiting as it is with biglaw firms, which means you have even more opportunities available if you are open to fully WFH.

Interesting. Do you know which of the better class action firms are open to fully WFH? And thanks for the helpful insights generally. As you say, it's tough to get at P-side firm info.

[Anonymous User]

I'm at a shop in the second category. We have under 40 lawyers. About 2/3rds of the associates and 1/3rd of the partners went to T-14s, but essentially all of the recent associate hires have been T-14s and many fed clerks. Base comp for 4th-6th year is in the high 100s; I think 6th years are right at 200 now. Bonus comp varies from 5% of base in a bad year to 150% of base in a truly excellent year (with a median probably around 20-25% of base).

We co-counsel with a bunch of different firms. Many of them are much less sophisticated in terms of pedigree. So we often take on the "law and briefing" role and disproportionately write MTD oppositions while our co-counsel will do the marketing for plaintiffs, run discovery, etc.

I think it's a fun job. You still have clients, but you are entirely in charge of the show, and it's common to come up with the case idea first and find the client second. If you enjoy litigating but your biggest annoyance is the client coming in with unreasonable demands or weird edits, plaintiff-side class action work could be a good fit. I think of myself as a private-sector regulatory attorney. I don't pretend that the thousands of class members who will receive checks for $6.50 will have their lives changed, but I think my work holds bad actors to account in ways that the government has decided to largely stay out of and leave to lawyers like me.

In my experience, a handful of firms that I think do good work in this space (not at all an exhaustive list) include: Seeger Weiss, Lieff Cabraser, GIbbs Law Group, Berger Montague, Tycko & Zavareei, DiCello Levitt, Robbins Geller, Hausfeld, Hagens Berman.

This is really helpful, thanks. Is it common for class action shops (like those you mentioned) to do more of this "law and briefing" work? The legal side sounds like a lot of fun but the recruiting/management/discovery sounds like a headache.