Stanford, CA | September 18, 2025 – Legal educators now have a transformative resource with the release of Legal Ethics: The Plaintiffs’ Lawyer, authored by Stanford Law School Professor Nora Freeman Engstrom and published by Foundation Press. The authoritative text uses a study of plaintiffs’ lawyers as a vehicle through which to explore many controversial and consequential issues at the intersection of tort law, civil procedure, and legal ethics. Says Engstrom, “this casebook emerged from a popular class I’ve taught for many years at Stanford Law School, through which I’ve discovered that students are hungry for real-world applications of often abstract theories of legal ethics.” She notes: “This class easily meets the ABA ethics requirement and prepares students for the MPRE. But it also captures students’ attention and enriches—and challenges—their understanding of contemporary law practice.”
The casebook kicks off by examining who personal injury lawyers are, how they find clients, how they fund litigation, how they identify and mitigate conflicts, and how they usher complex cases (including aggregate actions, MDLs, and class actions) to conclusion. Along the way, students gain exposure to critical components of plaintiff-side practice: attorney advertising, referrals, protective orders, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), and aggregate settlements. The casebook also addresses a slew of hot topics, including: the role and regulation of lawyers, the rise and impact of third-party litigation financing, and the use and abuse of the contingency fee.
In framing the interdisciplinary discussion, the text relies on cases, pleadings, ethics opinions, journalistic investigations, and scholarly analysis. Through several detailed case studies, Engstrom also examines how ethical issues and dilemmas have arisen in recent high-profile cases, including GM’s ignition switch defect, Vioxx, Chevron, and the opioid epidemic. According to Engstrom: “The case studies are crucial because students need to see that ethical issues in law practice aren’t abstract or hypothetical. They are urgent and real. Any lawyer who litigates a tough, high-profile case is going to confront vexing ethical dilemmas.”
While presented through the lens of the plaintiffs’ lawyer, the casebook is designed to prepare students to litigate cases of all stripes and on both sides of the “v.” “Plaintiffs’ lawyers,” Engstrom says, “are the vehicle—but they are just the point of entrée to broader debates. Year-in, year-out, my Stanford students tell me that, after taking the class, they feel better equipped to be a lawyer, period.” The text is available in both print and digital formats through West Academic.
About the Author: Nora Freeman Engstrom is the Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Deborah L. Rhode Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford Law School. Instructors interested in learning more about the casebook are invited to contact Engstrom directly at nora.engstrom@law.stanford.edu.