Dovel & Luner

What Dovel & Luner does

Dovel & Luner is a Santa Monica-based contingency-fee litigation boutique founded in 1998 by Greg Dovel and Sean Luner, representing plaintiffs — primarily individuals and small companies — against large corporations in high-stakes disputes. The firm's practice spans mass torts (cancer victims, wildfire survivors, defective drugs, environmental contamination), consumer and privacy class actions (notably the $925 million ViSalus TCPA verdict), business and intellectual property litigation (patent enforcement against Apple, Google, Cisco, TiVo/EchoStar), and emergency trial takeover through its Trial 911 service.

The firm's core technical assets are codified proprietary methodologies rather than software: the Argument Tracker (a logical-unit distillation system for case analysis), Human Witness Theory (a framework for cross-examination line-generation based on human intermediary error analysis), Visual Victory's visual persuasion principles (Mona Lisa, Blackboard, Anchor), and a Trial Lab deliberate-practice regime in which attorneys drill trial skills at least twice per week. These methodologies are also taught at USC Law Center. Visual Victory is commercialized separately as a B2B trial-consulting service to BigLaw firms including Paul Hastings, Winston & Strawn, Katten Muchin, Greenberg Traurig, and Irell & Manella.

The firm operates exclusively on contingency, requiring $25M+ at stake for litigation or $15M+ for arbitration, fronting all case expenses and recovering only upon successful resolution. The team of approximately 30 includes 7 partners drawn from Harvard, Stanford, and Berkeley Law with federal clerkships and BigLaw/AUSA backgrounds, alongside associates, counsel, and legal analysts. Marketing is referral-driven (attorney inbound/outbound, BigLaw co-counsel, Visual Victory) with no paid advertising; the firm has no external investors, parent company, or public listing.

Name

Dovel & Luner

Legal name

Dovel & Luner

Website

https://dovel.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Dovel & Luner is a Santa Monica-based contingency-fee litigation boutique representing plaintiffs against large corporations in mass torts, consumer class actions, IP enforcement, and high-stakes business disputes, with a $1B+ cumulative recovery record and an in-house Visual Victory trial consulting arm sold to BigLaw firms.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Plaintiff Litigation Services

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (54111), Other Legal Services (54119)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

Litigation & Dispute Resolution (BPAHAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Litigation Support & Expert Witness Services (BPAHALAG)

Keywords

• Contingency fee litigation
• Mass torts litigation
• Class action lawsuits
• Patent infringement litigation
• Trial consulting services

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Monica

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Contingency Fee Litigation: Dovel & Luner operates exclusively on a contingency fee basis. The firm structures all fee agreements so that lawyers are compensated for obtaining excellent results for clients, not for billing time. The firm often takes cases on a full contingency fee basis, including covering all case expenses. The firm does not represent any client on an hourly fee basis. For class actions, fees are only awarded if the firm obtains meaningful relief for the class.
2. Visual Victory Trial Consulting: The firm's in-house trial consulting division, Visual Victory, is selectively marketed to other law firms. Clients of Visual Victory include Paul Hastings, Winston & Strawn, Katten Muchin, Howard Rice, Greenberg Traurig, and Irell & Manella. This provides a secondary revenue stream from legal technology/services sold to other law firms.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Dovel & Luner is a law firm that represents plaintiffs in high-stakes litigation exclusively on a contingency fee basis. The firm handles mass torts (defective drugs, environmental contamination, wildfires, toxic exposure), consumer and securities class actions, business and intellectual property disputes (including patent infringement), and offers a Trial 911 service that takes over cases approaching trial in exchange for success-based compensation. It also operates Visual Victory, an in-house trial consulting division that develops case strategy and persuasive visual presentations for trials and is selectively sold to other law firms.

Product overview

Dovel & Luner is a law firm offering legal services, not a technology product. The firm provides high-stakes contingency fee litigation services including Mass Torts, Class Actions, Business Litigation, Trial 911 (emergency trial takeover), and Patent Infringement cases. The firm also operates Visual Victory, an in-house trial consulting division that develops visual strategies and presentations for trials and is marketed to other law firms. All services are offered on a contingency fee basis where the firm is only paid upon successful resolution of cases.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Visual Victory: Dovel & Lurer's in-house trial consulting division that develops case strategies and supporting visuals for trials. Also selectively marketed to other law firms including Paul Hastings, Winston & Strawn, Katten Muchin, Howard Rice, Greenberg Traurig, and Irell & Manella.

Products and services

• Mass Torts Litigation

Quantifiable outcome

• Over $1 billion in verdicts and settlements recovered for clients in 25-year history
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Visual Victory (in-house to Dovel & Luner)coreOthersVisual Victory is Dovel & Luner's in-house trial consulting division that develops case strategies and supporting visuals for trials. It is selectively marketed to other law firms as a separate service offering. The division applies proprietary visual persuasion principles (Mona Lisa Principle, Blackboard Principle, Anchor Principle) to create persuasive presentations for opening statements, witness examinations, and closing arguments.
• Paul HastingsminorOthersPaul Hastings has hired Visual Victory, Dovel & Luner's in-house trial consulting division, to develop case strategies and supporting visuals for its matters.
• Winston & StrawnminorOthersWinston & Strawn has hired Visual Victory, Dovel & Luner's in-house trial consulting division, to develop case strategies and supporting visuals for its matters.
• Katten MuchinminorOthersKatten Muchin has hired Visual Victory, Dovel & Luner's in-house trial consulting division, to develop case strategies and supporting visuals for its matters.
• Howard Rice (now Arnold & Porter)minorOthersHoward Rice (now merged with Arnold & Porter) has hired Visual Victory, Dovel & Luner's in-house trial consulting division, to develop case strategies and supporting visuals for its matters.
• Greenberg TraurigminorOthersGreenberg Traurig has hired Visual Victory, Dovel & Luner's in-house trial consulting division, to develop case strategies and supporting visuals for its matters.
• Irell & ManellaminorOthersIrell & Manella has hired Visual Victory, Dovel & Luner's in-house trial consulting division, to develop case strategies and supporting visuals for its matters.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Motley Rice: Mount Pleasant, SC-based contingency firm with a leading mass-tort and class-action practice (opioids, asbestos, securities). Closely comparable in contingency-fee business model and high-stakes plaintiffs' work targeting large corporate defendants.
• Susman Godfrey: Houston-based elite trial firm that takes on high-stakes commercial, IP, and antitrust cases on contingency and partial contingency. Comparable in trial-readiness, big-bucks case selection, and willingness to bet on verdicts over settlements.
• Hagens Berman: Seattle-based class action and complex litigation firm representing consumers, investors, and employees in high-stakes matters. Comparable contingency model and focus on tech/IP class actions.
• Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein: San Francisco-based elite plaintiffs' firm handling high-stakes class actions, mass torts, and individual catastrophic injury cases on contingency. Directly comparable in practice mix, contingency-fee model, and blue-chip defendant bench to Dovel & Luner.
• Grant & Eisenhofer: Wilmington/Chester County-based firm specializing in complex civil litigation including securities, antitrust, and mass torts. Comparable in contingency-fee high-stakes litigation and large-verdict track record.
• Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann: New York-based leading securities and shareholder rights plaintiffs' firm. Comparable contingency-fee model, focus on institutional-class cases, and proven track record of large settlements/verdicts in complex litigation.
• Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll: Washington, D.C.-based premier plaintiffs' firm with top-tier class action, antitrust, and securities practices. Directly comparable in contingency-fee complex litigation against Fortune 500 defendants and a similar elite talent profile.
• Robins Kaplan: Minneapolis-based plaintiffs' firm with significant mass tort, class action, and IP practices. Comparable contingency-fee orientation and representation of small companies/large classes against major corporate defendants.
• Scott+Scott: New York/Connecticut-based class action firm handling securities, antitrust, and consumer cases on contingency. Comparable contingency model, case-size selectivity, and big-defendant focus.
• Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check: Radnor, PA-based securities class action and shareholder derivative firm. Comparable in contingency-fee model, concentration on high-stakes corporate governance and securities cases, and similar case-threshold selectivity.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Dovel & Luner