What Scott Cole & Associates does

Scott Cole & Associates, doing business as Cole & Van Note (CVN), is a California-based plaintiff-side consumer protection law firm founded in 1992 and headquartered in Oakland, California. The firm concentrates its practice in five primary areas: data breach class actions, employment law, false advertising, defective product liability, and fragrance and chemical sensitivity civil rights cases. Its client base consists of individual consumers and class-action members, and the firm operates exclusively on a contingency fee basis, meaning clients pay no upfront legal fees and the firm is compensated only upon successful recovery. The firm is founder-owned and private, with no disclosed parent company, subsidiaries, or external funding rounds, and reports cumulative client recoveries of over $3 billion across its 33-year history with a stated 200 million+ lives impacted figure.

Operationally, the firm runs a high-volume intake pipeline reportedly handling more than 100 requests per day, supported by consumer-facing self-service infrastructure including a "Hack Checker" breach-lookup tool and a Data Breach Sign-Up portal. The website and marketing stack are conventional — WordPress CMS with Google Analytics, Hotjar session analytics, and PixelYourSite tracking — and the firm maintains active accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, X, and Instagram to drive lead generation. Headcount sits in the 11–50 employee range, and the firm holds BBB accreditation as a third-party trust signal. No AI/ML capability, proprietary legal-tech platform, or external capital raise is evidenced in the available data.

Name

Scott Cole & Associates

Legal name

Cole & Van Note

Website

https://scalaw.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Scott Cole & Associates is an Oakland, California-based plaintiff-side law firm founded in 1992 that represents individual consumers and class members in data breach, employment, false advertising, defective product, and fragrance sensitivity cases on a contingency-fee basis.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Oakland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Revenue model

1. Contingency Fee Legal Services: The firm operates exclusively on a contingency fee basis for all case types. Attorneys receive payment only upon winning cases and securing financial recovery for clients. The firm also fronts all litigation costs, bearing the complete financial risk. In most cases, the law provides that defendant companies pay the firm's fees in addition to what clients personally recover, making it a win-win arrangement where clients pay no upfront costs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Scott Cole & Associates (operating as Cole & Van Note) is a California-based plaintiff-side law firm that represents individuals in data breach, consumer fraud, employment law, and chemical/fragrance sensitivity discrimination cases. All legal services are provided on a contingency fee basis, meaning clients pay no upfront costs and the firm only gets paid when cases are won. The firm has recovered over $3 billion for clients since its founding in 1992.

Product overview

Cole & Van Note is a California-based law firm established in 1992 offering legal services across five core practice areas: Data Breach Law, Employment Law, False Advertising, Defective Products, and Chemical/Fragrance Sensitivity cases. The firm operates on a contingency fee basis, meaning clients pay only when the firm wins their case. The firm provides an online Hack Checker tool for individuals to verify if their data was compromised, and a data breach sign-up portal for claim submission. The practice areas are integrated under a unified legal team approach, with services accessible through the firm's Oakland, California office.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• $3 billion+ recovered for clients
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Edelson PC: Edelson PC is a leading plaintiff-side consumer protection and data breach class action firm. It is the most direct peer to Cole & Van Note, competing head-to-head for lead plaintiff roles in data breach MDLs and consumer fraud actions, with similar contingency-fee model and tech-enabled intake approach.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ColeVanNote
• Facebookfacebook.com/ColeVanNote
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/colevannote
• Instagraminstagram.com/colevannote

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Scott Cole & Associates