The New Wave of Law Schools Supporting Plaintiff-Side Careers

Historically there has been little awareness of plaintiff-side careers on law school campuses. At many schools, plaintiff-side careers are rarely discussed as a career path. For law students who manage to learn about plaintiff-side careers, institutional resources are scarce and recruiting pipelines essentially nonexistent at most law schools.

Just a few years ago, something began to change. Groups of students interested in plaintiff-side litigation and tired of being steered towards a career in Big Law started creating these resources for themselves. In the last five years, Plaintiffs Law Associations (PLAs) have been popping up across the country, advocating for access to plaintiff-side careers and providing resources to fellow students on the plaintiff-side career path. Currently, NPLA is aware of at least 32 school-based PLAs.

These student groups are a reaction to a lack of access to job resources for plaintiff-side careers, and for the last several years, many have been filling the gap in resources and opportunities which would otherwise be provided by law school career centers. PLAs have been cultivating connections between plaintiff-side films and their campuses, organizing their own practitioner panels and networking events, and creating plaintiff-side firm and alumni and firm databases, newsletters, and even recruiting processes.

While these student groups have been successful at getting students interested in plaintiff-side work, it takes significant work from students to maintain. Says an NPLA Board Member and school PLA leader, “While I’ve been lucky that our PLA is more established and therefore has infrastructure set up, being the primary entry point for students to find out about this entire side of the legal industry can be significant work. When the institutions themselves are not knowledgeable about plaintiffs’ firms, students in PLA leadership become de facto career advisors on top of all other responsibilities. While my law school has started to develop official resources through career services, many of the resources rely on the knowledge and time investment of student leaders.”

And now, another change is happening. Some law schools, taking note of the growing interest from students in plaintiff-side careers and simultaneous interest from plaintiff-side firms in hiring law students for summer and entry level positions, have begun to respond with institutional support for the development of plaintiff-side career resources and recruiting pipelines. 

At University of Texas Austin School of Law, administration has been receptive and in many cases actively supportive of the newly-formed Plaintiffs’ Advocacy & Litigation Society (PALS). The administration supported PALS’ efforts to organize a large, 200+ student kickoff lunch event at the beginning of the academic year which helped promote visibility of plaintiff-side career paths on campus. On several occasions Dean Chesney personally helped PALS navigate University bureaucratic measures, and Dean Chesney has now given public addresses at two PALS events, including a large plaintiff-side cocktail reception at the University of Texas Football Stadium to kickoff the AAJ Winter Conference held this year in Austin. Numerous other departments have eagerly collaborated with PALS leadership, including the Career Services Office in their efforts to incorporate plaintiff-side career paths into their programming, the Mentorship Program in their efforts to develop a mentor base of plaintiff-side practitioners to meet exploding student demand, and the Development Office in their efforts to fundraise from plaintiff-side practitioners to support PALS’ efforts to promote plaintiff-side career paths.

At University of California Berkeley School of Law, administration has responded to student interest in plaintiff-side careers with several changes and additions to career programming this academic year. First, the Career Development Office and Berkeley Law's PLA collaborated to put on the school’s first ever plaintiff-side career fair, which they plan to be an annual affair. Over 60 students and 18 firms attended, with several flying in from different areas of the country for the event. Second, the Career Development Office is helping to streamline the job search process for plaintiff-side careers. The CDO sent out a special customized invitation to a large universe of plaintiff-side firms with a customized pitch for why they should participate in Berkeley Law's Organized Campus Interview (OCI) programs – an important step towards institutionalizing relationships with firms and plaintiff-side recruiting processes for students.

At UC Law San Francisco (formerly Hastings), the Career Development Office has helped the school’s PLA increase the visibility and access to plaintiff-side jobs by not only meeting with students to discuss possible events, but also by organizing ‘Small-to-Midsize-Firm-Week’ on campus. Having an official, school sponsored, and heavily promoted week-long event of panels and speakers primarily focused on the plaintiff-side is transformative for informing students on what plaintiff-side practice is. UC Law SF is among a select few law school campuses where plaintiff-side law firms have an institutional presence, and the CDO is ensuring that that presence translates to professional opportunities for students.  

While there is still much work to be done, these are incredibly exciting and long-awaited developments – and NPLA is hopeful that more law schools will follow suit. “Institutional change is always slow, and we don’t expect all of these schools, that tend to be quite set in their ways, to transform overnight. But it’s incredibly exciting to see these particular law schools become leaders in this space, by embracing the growing call to center plaintiffs' side work,” NPLA president Laura Shannon wrote in a statement.  

In upcoming blog posts, we will be highlighting in more detail the efforts that these schools are making in response to student and firm interest.