Lisa Qian, JD ’26, knew before starting law school that she wanted to be a plaintiffs’ lawyer. What she wasn’t sure about was how many of her Stanford Law classmates would share her career goals. Historically, plaintiff-side career paths often have been overshadowed by the pursuit of “Big Law” defense-side work or public interest roles with nonprofits and government.

Happily for Qian, she has found plenty of company among her Stanford Law classmates. Interest in plaintiffs’ law is rapidly gaining recognition and momentum, she says, not just at Stanford Law, but nationwide.  

“More law students are starting to see that plaintiffs’ law aligns well with their interests and values,” she says. “They want to represent individuals and help people. They want to practice in areas like mass torts, consumer protection, bankruptcy, and employment law, but they might not feel called to work for the government or nonprofits.”

“Over the last five to six years, we have seen a notable uptick in interest in plaintiff-side career paths,” says Associate Dean for Career Services, Susan Robinson. “Prior to 2019, maybe a dozen students would spend part of their 2L summer at a plaintiffs’ or private public interest law firm. That number has almost doubled in recent years.”

Qian, co-president of the Stanford Plaintiffs Law Association (SPLA), says there are a host of  reasons for choosing to practice on the “left side of the v”: “At plaintiffs’ firms, you’re typically in court, writing substantive motions, doing depositions, and getting real responsibility in your first year—not five years into being an associate,” she says. Qian plans to spend the coming summer working at three different plaintiffs’ firms—all of which have Stanford Law alums among their attorney ranks.

The Stanford alumni network has been instrumental in expanding opportunities for students interested in plaintiff-side work, she says.

One standout is Julia Gohkberg, JD ’24. When she was on the board of the SPLA during her 2L year, students from law schools across the country started reaching out to her, wondering how they could establish their own PLA chapters. In 2023, Gokhberg and others founded the National Plaintiffs Law Association (NPLA), which now serves as an umbrella organization to a rapidly growing number of chapters. 

“There were about 10 schools with PLAs when we launched the NPLA and now, just over a year later, we are easily at 50,” says Gokhberg, an associate in the Austin, Texas office of plaintiffs’ firm Reid Collins & Tsai. “There has been massive growth and interest from the students’ side. At the same time, NPLA also serves as a resource to law school career services offices and plaintiffs’ firms, which now have great opportunities in front of them. Some of that requires thinking differently about recruiting and training students out of law school, and we are helping to facilitate that with online career fairs and other initiatives.”

A Hub for Plaintiff-Side Training

Like the national counterpart it inspired, the Stanford PLA hosts career panels, networking events, and skills-based workshops. “We often have 50 to 70 students show up for our events,” Qian says, “which is remarkable for a student body of approximately 180.” 

In February, the SPLA hosted its inaugural PLA Workshop, a two-day seminar at the law school that also welcomed students from UC Berkeley Law, UC Law San Francisco, and Santa Clara Law School. Led by six Stanford Law alumni who now do plaintiff-side work, along with Stanford Law lecturer and renowned trial lawyer, Shanin Specter, the workshop offered hands-on training, including a live questioning exercise where students practiced witness examinations under the guidance of experienced trial attorneys. The workshop also provided insight into the nuts and bolts of succeeding at plaintiffs’ firms: how to get clients, manage finances, and work on contingency.

One of the alumni workshop leaders and a panelist, along with Specter, was Nathan Werksman, JD ’18, who co-founded the SPLA in 2017.

“If you’d told me then that I’d be back at Stanford Law in 2025, speaking to a packed house of students about the rewards of plaintiff-side personal injury law, I’d have been very surprised,” says Werksman, now a partner at Merson Law in New York City. “But it’s an easy sell—who doesn’t want to help people in need, make money, and live a good life?”

Specter, an advisor to the SPLA and a founding partner of prominent plaintiffs’ firm, Kline & Specter, agrees. 

“Plaintiffs’ work is increasingly attractive to law students for many reasons including that you represent real people in need of help, there’s usually no time billing, it’s entrepreneurial, each case is different, and the firm decides whether to accept representation versus defense work where the insurance company or corporate defendant expects the firm to accept all assignments,” he says. “Additionally, there’s often the ability to effectuate safety improvements as a condition of settlement, which is professionally satisfying.”

And prospective plaintiffs’ lawyers shouldn’t assume they’ll be scraping by financially, Gokhberg stresses. “Students often assume the worst about the salaries because there isn’t the same level of pay transparency as there is in Big Law, though that’s something we at the NPLA are working on,” she says. Gokhberg and Qian, among others, are collaborating on an anonymous pay survey, now on the NPLA website, that aims to provide more pay transparency in the plaintiffs’ bar.  “There are so many different pay structures with plaintiffs firms, so it is challenging to do side-by-side comparisons, but suffice to say, lawyers can absolutely earn a comfortable living while doing mission-driven work they love.”

‘Stanford is an Excellent Place to Be’ 

“If you want to be a plaintiffs’ attorney, Stanford is an excellent place to be,” Qian says, noting the contributions of faculty members like Deborah Hensler, widely recognized as one of the world’s leading scholars on class actions and mass torts, and Nora Freeman Engstrom, who teaches a course that uses a study of plaintiffs’ lawyers as a vehicle to explore issues at the intersection of tort law, civil procedure, and legal ethics. 

“Also, the Bay Area is a hotspot for litigation against large companies,” Qian says, “including technology companies, and the area provides a lot of opportunities for students and eventual lawyers interested in holding powerful institutions accountable.”