Plaintiff-Side Litigation: Scholars and Practitioners in Dialogue
March 7, 2025 • The Ivy Hotel / 233 E. Ontario St., Chicago, IL 60611
Plaintiff-Side Litigation: Scholars and Practitioners in Dialogue is a joint symposium cosponsored by the American Bar Foundation (ABF) and the UC Berkeley School of Law Civil Justice Research Initiative (CJRI) with additional support from the American Association for Justice (AAJ) Robert L. Habush Endowment.
The program brings together scholarly and practitioner perspectives on plaintiff-side practice to explore topics such as the history of the plaintiffs’ bar, the impacts of tort reform, the role of plaintiff-side litigation in public interest law, the implications of the changing role of the civil jury, and how complex litigation may be changing plaintiff-side litigation. The broader goal of the symposium is to facilitate a sustained academic conversation on the history and contributions of plaintiff-side practice.
While the program is open to the public, space is limited. Please register in advance to attend.
Symposium Agenda
For comprehensive bios, please refer to the Participant Bios beneath the agenda.
8:00 AM CST—Registration, Coffee, and Continental Breakfast
8:30 AM CST—Welcome
Mark C. Suchman, American Bar Foundation
8:35–9:15 AM CST—Scholars and Practitioners in Dialogue
Moderator: Anne Bloom, Civil Justice Research Initiative, Berkeley Law
Erwin Chemerinsky, Berkeley Law
Robert A. Clifford, Clifford Law
9:15–10:30 AM CST—The History of the Plaintiffs Bar
Moderator: Stephan Landsman, DePaul College of Law
Stephen Daniels, American Bar Foundation and Joanne Martin, American Bar Endowment (Emeritus)
Bryant Garth, American Bar Foundation, UC Irvine School of Law
Herbert M. Kritzer, University of Minnesota Law School
Navan Ward, Beasley Allen
10:30–10:45 AM CST—Break
10:45 AM–12:00 PM CST—Tort Reform and the Politics of Legal Retrenchment
Moderator: Brooke Coleman, Seattle University Law
Michael W. McCann, University of Washington
Sarah Staszak, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
Sean Farhang, Berkeley Law
Lori E. Andrus, American Association for Justice
12:00–1:00 PM CST—Lunch
1:00–2:30 PM CST—Plaintiff-Side Practice as Social Justice Litigation: Research and Opportunities
Moderator: Mario Barnes, UC Irvine School of Law
Sharon McGowan, Public Justice
Robert L. Nelson, American Bar Foundation, Northwestern University and Laura Beth Nielsen, American Bar Foundation, Northwestern University
Timothy D. Lytton, Georgia State University Law School
Rosemary Rivas, Gibbs Mura
2:30–2:45 PM CST—Break
2:45–4:00 PM CST—Small Group Discussions/Simultaneous Panels
Group A: The Changing Role of the Civil Jury and its Implications for Practice
Moderator: Nancy S. Marder, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Valerie P. Hans, Cornell Law
Shari Seidman Diamond, American Bar Foundation, Northwestern Law
Richard Lorren Jolly, Southwestern Law
Bhavani K. Raveendran, Romanucci Blandin
Group B: Aggregate Litigation and the Plaintiffs Bar
Moderator: Jocelyn D. Larkin, The Impact Fund
Andrew Bradt, Civil Justice Research Initiative, Berkeley Law
Myriam Gilles, Cardozo Law
Amy Keller, DiCello Levitt
4:00–4:15 PM CST—Break
4:15–4:55 PM CST—Plaintiff-Side Litigation and Future Research
Laura Beth Nielsen, American Bar Foundation, Northwestern University
Deepak Gupta, Gupta Wessler
4:55–5:00 PM CST—Concluding Remarks
Mark C. Suchman, American Bar Foundation
Anne Bloom, Civil Justice Research Initiative, Berkeley Law
5:00–6:00 PM CST—Reception
The reception is sponsored by Gibbs Mura, an award-winning national firm committed to protecting the rights of clients harmed by corporate misconduct.
Participant Bios
Cosponsored by the ABF and the Civil Justice Research Initiative, UC Berkeley School of Law with Support from the AAJ Robert L. Habush Endowment
About the American Bar Foundation
The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is the world’s leading research institute for the empirical and interdisciplinary study of law. The ABF seeks to expand knowledge and advance justice through innovative, interdisciplinary, and rigorous empirical research on law, legal processes, and legal institutions. To further this mission the ABF will produce timely, cutting-edge research of the highest quality to inform and guide the legal profession, the academy, and society in the United States and internationally. The ABF’s primary funding is provided by the American Bar Endowment and the Fellows of The American Bar Foundation.
About the Civil Justice Research Initiative
The Civil Justice Research Initiative at UC Berkeley School of Law explores, through interdisciplinary, academically based and independent research, how the civil justice system can be made more available to everyone seeking relief.
About the AAJ Robert L. Habush Endowment
The AAJ Robert L. Habush Endowment supports judicial and academic education programs, innovative scholarship and research, and public education to enhance understanding and dialogue on civil justice and the right to trial by jury.