If you want to know how to grow a plaintiff law firm, my answer after ten years is simple: stop running it like a law practice and start running it like a company. That means a clear mission, systems built before you need them, every case prepared for trial, people hired for character, a few honest measurements, offices where clients actually are, and a culture that functions as the firm's operating system.
I started Employees First Labor Law in 2016 in Pasadena at a kitchen table, with one lawyer. Today that work has grown into three firms and seven offices, and our firms have recovered more than $200 million for clients. None of that came from a single breakthrough. It came from a handful of operating principles applied every day. Here they are.
Principle 1: Choose a side and a mission
The first decision in building a plaintiff firm is not a marketing decision. It is a decision about whom you serve. We represent workers and injured people. That choice simplifies everything downstream: who we hire, what we say yes to, how we talk about our work, and what our clients can expect from us.
A mission is not a slogan on the wall. It is a filter. When a firm knows exactly whose side it is on, it stops spreading itself thin chasing every type of matter and starts getting very good at a few things. The name of the first firm said it plainly: employees first. Every firm we have built since — personal injury through WIN Injury & Accident Trial Lawyers, and wildfire and industrial-disaster litigation through LaCour Trial Lawyers — carries the same commitment to the people on the receiving end of harm.
Principle 2: Build systems before you need them
Most growing firms run reactively. A deadline surfaces, a client calls angry, a discovery response is late, and everyone scrambles. Reactive firms can grow for a while on talent and effort, but they hit a ceiling because every new case adds chaos instead of value.
My capstone at the Stanford Graduate School of Business executive program was titled “Shifting from Reactive to Proactive Case Management Culture,” and we implemented it at EFLL. The idea is straightforward:
- Anticipate the next step on every case instead of waiting for opposing counsel or the court to force it.
- Standardize the repeatable work — intake, case opening, discovery, deposition prep, mediation readiness — so lawyers spend their judgment on what is actually unique.
- Make status visible so a manager can see what is stalled before a client or a judge notices.
The point of building systems early is that the system is ready when growth arrives. If you wait until you are overwhelmed to build process, you are designing under pressure, and it shows.
Principle 3: Prepare every case for trial
This is the most important lesson in how to grow a plaintiff law firm, and it is the one most often ignored. Defendants and their insurers price cases based on what they believe you will do. If your firm is known to settle everything, your settlements will reflect that. If your firm is known to try cases, every file carries more weight.
Our firms tried nine cases in one twelve-month span. That is not about loving the courtroom for its own sake. Trial readiness drives settlement value. The work that prepares a case for a jury — locking down testimony, building the damages story, preparing witnesses, anticipating motions — is the same work that convinces the other side to pay fair value at mediation. You can read about some of the outcomes on our settlements and verdicts page.
Put simply, a case prepared for trial is a case prepared for settlement.
Principle 4: Hire for character, coach for skill
Legal skills can be taught. Integrity, work ethic, and genuine care for clients mostly cannot. When we hire, character comes first, and then we invest heavily in coaching the skills. That is also why we prefer to promote from within whenever we can. People who grew up inside the firm understand its standards, its clients, and its systems in a way no lateral hire can on day one.
Promoting from within also changes the message to everyone else in the building. It tells a law clerk, a case manager, or a junior associate that there is a real path forward here. I put it this way:
Leadership isn't about titles — it's about influence, accountability, and alignment.
Titles follow people who already lead. They do not create leaders on their own.
Principle 5: Measure what matters
A plaintiff firm that does not measure is running on stories. Everyone has a sense of how things are going, and those senses are often wrong. You do not need a hundred metrics. You need a few honest ones that tell you whether clients are being served and whether cases are moving.
In general terms, the measures worth watching fall into a handful of categories:
- Intake: how quickly a potential client hears back and how many qualified inquiries become clients.
- Case movement: whether matters are progressing on the timeline you planned, or stalling.
- Trial readiness: how many cases are genuinely prepared to be tried if the other side will not be reasonable.
- Client experience: whether clients feel informed and respected throughout the case.
- Outcomes: what you recover, and how that compares to what the case was worth.
The discipline is not in choosing metrics. It is in reviewing them consistently and acting on what they tell you.
Principle 6: Open offices where clients are
It is tempting to put offices where they are convenient for the lawyers. We have tried to do the opposite: go where the clients are. Our seven offices — Pasadena, Irvine, Long Beach, Pomona, Riverside, Bakersfield, and Fresno — reflect where working people across Southern and Central California live and work, not where it is easiest to commute.
Access is part of the service. A worker who can meet a lawyer close to home, in their own language, is more likely to come forward in the first place. That is also why we built Empleados Primero, our Spanish-language brand, so Spanish-speaking clients can find us on their own terms.
Principle 7: Separate the CEO job from the lawyer job
Many founders of plaintiff firms never separate these roles, and the firm stalls at the size one person can personally manage. Running a firm — strategy, hiring, finance, systems, culture — is a full job. Trying cases is a full job. Treating them as one job means doing both badly.
My title reflects the split: CEO and Senior Trial Counsel. As CEO, my job is to build the company and the people in it. As trial counsel, I stay in the courtroom, because a firm whose leader no longer tries cases slowly forgets what trial readiness actually requires. Staying in trial keeps me honest about whether our systems serve the work. You can read more about that path on my founder page and bio, and about how I think about building companies outside the law on my angel investing page.
Principle 8: Treat culture as the operating system
Culture is not a perk or a party. It is the operating system every other process runs on. When a system breaks, culture decides whether people work around the problem quietly or raise it and fix it. When a client is frightened and angry, culture decides whether the person on the phone responds with patience or with a script.
Our firm's culture is summed up in one line:
Excellence is expected, but empathy is required.
Both halves matter. Excellence without empathy produces technically good lawyers who lose clients' trust. Empathy without excellence produces kind people who lose cases. Our clients deserve both, every time.
How to grow a plaintiff law firm for the long run
There is no shortcut. Pick a side, build systems early, prepare every case for trial, hire for character, measure honestly, go where clients are, separate leadership from lawyering, and make culture the foundation. Those principles took one lawyer at a kitchen table to three firms and seven offices.
If you are a lawyer, paralegal, case manager, or operator who wants to build something like this — and who believes excellence is expected but empathy is required — Jonathan LaCour would like to hear from you. Get in touch here to start a conversation about joining the team.
Frequently asked questions.
How do you grow a plaintiff law firm?
Run it like a company. Choose a clear mission and client base, build case management systems before growth demands them, prepare every case for trial, hire for character and coach for skill, track a few meaningful measures, open offices where clients live, and invest in culture. Growth that rests on systems and people lasts longer than growth that rests on one lawyer's effort.
Why does trial readiness increase settlement value?
Defendants and insurers price cases based on what they expect a plaintiff's firm to do. A firm known for trying cases forces the other side to account for jury risk. The work that prepares a case for trial, from locked-down testimony to a clear damages story, is the same work that persuades the other side to pay fair value at mediation.
What is proactive case management in a law firm?
Proactive case management means anticipating the next step on every matter rather than reacting to deadlines, client complaints, or opposing counsel. It relies on standardized workflows for repeatable tasks and visible case status so managers can spot stalled matters early. Jonathan LaCour's Stanford GSB executive program capstone focused on this shift, and it was implemented at Employees First Labor Law.
Should a law firm founder keep practicing law?
Founders should separate the CEO role from the lawyer role, but that does not have to mean leaving practice. Running the business is a full job, and so is trying cases. Staying in the courtroom keeps a firm's leader connected to what trial readiness really requires, while dedicated leadership time keeps the company growing beyond what one person can manage.
Should plaintiff law firms promote from within?
Promoting from within rewards people who already know the firm's standards, clients, and systems, and it shows everyone else that a real career path exists. It works best when hiring screens for character first and the firm invests in coaching skills. Leadership is about influence, accountability, and alignment, so titles should follow people who already lead.