Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C.

What Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C. does

Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C. is a plaintiffs'-side employment and union-side labor law firm founded in 2009 by Harold L. Lichten and Shannon Liss-Riordan. The firm represents workers in class action and individual litigation across federal and state courts, with core practice areas in independent contractor misclassification (particularly against gig-economy defendants such as Uber and Lyft), tips and service-charge recovery, overtime and wage-violation claims, and employment discrimination and retaliation. Its practice is national, with offices in Boston (headquarters), Chicago, Washington D.C., New York, and San Francisco, and its docket includes landmark matters such as the $100 million Uber driver settlement, a $23.5 million Starbucks tips settlement, a $12 million Marriott judgment, and a $140 million TLC drivers settlement.

The firm operates on a contingency-fee revenue model, recovering attorneys' fees as a percentage of settlements or judgments; it does not charge clients upfront and does not develop proprietary technology products. Its competitive position is built on the combined 60+ years of experience of its two founding partners, attorneys credentialed from Harvard Law, Stanford, Columbia, Berkeley, and University of Chicago (including former federal prosecutors and federal appellate court law clerks), and the reputational profile of Shannon Liss-Riordan, who has been profiled in Vanity Fair, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, and LA Times, and named to Forbes' America's Top 200 Lawyers list in 2024 and 2025. The firm pioneered mass-arbitration strategies to counter employer use of forced arbitration clauses and has secured multiple circuit-court precedents invalidating such agreements, including rulings against Amazon in the Ninth and First Circuits.

Lichten & Liss-Riordan is a privately held professional corporation with no external investors, no parent company, and no public ownership. The firm has 13 listed attorneys plus paralegals and assistants, distributed across its five offices, and is preparing to launch an inaugural Workers' Rights Fellowship in Fall 2026 to train new plaintiffs' employment lawyers. Client acquisition flows from website intake forms, nationwide attorney referrals, and co-counsel relationships, with no recurring enterprise contracts; revenue is a function of settlement and judgment outcomes rather than subscription or retainer streams.

Name

Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C.

Legal name

Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C.

Website

https://llrlaw.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C. is a Boston-headquartered plaintiffs'-side employment and labor law firm representing workers in wage-and-hour, independent contractor misclassification, tips, and discrimination matters across the US on a contingency fee basis.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Plaintiffs' Employment Law

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (541110)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

Employment & Labor Law (BPAHAAAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Independent Contractor Compliance & Classification (IC vs Employee) (BPACAGAA)

Keywords

• Plaintiffs' employment law
• Class action litigation
• Wage and hour law
• Independent contractor misclassification
• Workers' rights representation

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Legal Services - Contingency Fee: The firm represents workers in class action and individual litigation on a contingency fee basis, typically recovering attorneys' fees from settlements or judgments against employers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C. represents workers in class action and individual employment litigation, including cases involving independent contractor misclassification, tips and gratuities violations, overtime and wage theft, and employment discrimination or retaliation. The firm operates on a contingency fee basis, typically recovering attorneys' fees from settlements or judgments obtained against employers. Its primary client base is individual workers and classes of workers seeking recovery of unpaid wages and enforcement of employment rights.

Product overview

Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C. is a nationally recognized plaintiffs-side employment and class action law firm that does not operate as a traditional software product company. The firm offers legal services rather than software products, with its core offering being comprehensive labor and employment law representation. The portfolio consists of practice areas including independent contractor misclassification litigation, tips and gratuities cases, overtime and wage violations, and employment discrimination matters. The firm also operates a Workers' Rights Fellowship program for training new plaintiff-side employment attorneys. The firm's services are delivered through its team of attorneys across offices in Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C., New York, and San Francisco.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Independent Contractor Misclassification Litigation

Quantifiable outcome

• Shannon Liss-Riordan has won seven groundbreaking victories at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Cooperating and Referring CounselcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe firm frequently co-counsels with cooperating and referring counsel and welcomes referrals from attorneys across the country, particularly in their specialty areas regarding tipped employees and independent contractor misclassification.

Scale indicators2 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Outten & Golden LLP: National plaintiffs'-side employment law firm representing workers in individual and class actions on wage/hour, discrimination, and misclassification matters; the most direct peer to Lichten & Liss-Riordan in size, mission, and case portfolio.
• Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC: Plaintiffs' class action firm with a leading employment practice (Fair Labor Standards Act and discrimination class actions); comparable in pursuing high-impact labor and employment class actions against major corporate defendants.
• Nichols Kaster PLLP: Plaintiffs'-side employment law firm specializing in wage and hour class/collective actions and independent contractor misclassification; a strong direct competitor on FLSA-driven misclassification work.
• Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein: Plaintiffs' class action firm with an active employment practice handling wage and hour, discrimination, and civil rights matters; similar mid-sized structure with national footprint and precedent-setting litigation.
• Keller Rohrback L.L.P. Complex litigation plaintiffs' firm with established employment practice; pursues class actions on wage/hour, misclassification, and ERISA matters for workers against large employers.
• Berger Montague PC: Philadelphia-based plaintiffs' complex litigation firm with active employment rights practice handling class actions on FLSA, discrimination, and labor-side matters; comparable in case mix and plaintiff orientation.
• McGillivary Steele Elkin LLP: Plaintiffs' employment law firm focused on federal sector workers, wage and hour, and discrimination matters; comparable boutique plaintiff employment practice with strong government-employee book of business.
• Garrison Law: Plaintiffs' employment and civil rights firm representing workers in wage/hour, misclassification, and discrimination cases; closely comparable boutique structure and plaintiff-side mandate.
• Katz, Marshall & Banks, LLP: Whistleblower and employment rights plaintiffs' firm; comparable in representing individuals against large employers, with overlap on retaliation and discrimination claims.

Emerging players

• Make the Road New York: Worker-led advocacy organization with in-house legal practice serving immigrant and low-wage workers on wage theft, misclassification, and discrimination; thematic peer in the gig and tipped-worker space though structured as a nonprofit legal services provider rather than a contingency-fee firm.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 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 Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C.