WBS Lawyers

What WBS Lawyers does

WBS Lawyers, legally Winer, Burritt, Scott & Jacobs, LLP (formerly Winer, Burritt & Tillis LLP), is a California-based contingency fee plaintiff litigation firm founded in 1980 by John D. Winer. The firm represents individual clients in employment discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, whistleblower retaliation, personal injury, and abuse matters — including therapist, clergy, and institutional sexual abuse — and operates under a "No Recovery, No Fee" model. Its customer base is structurally long-tailed: each matter is an individual plaintiff case, with no anchor enterprise clients. Revenue is therefore episodic, driven by case mix and settlement size rather than recurring contracts.

The firm executes litigation through approximately nine attorneys and four named partners, supported by nine offices spanning Oakland (headquarters), San Francisco, Palo Alto, Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Woodland Hills, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, and Riverside. Recent headline results include a $13.5 million sexual abuse settlement against Berkeley High School and inclusion in the Top 50 Sex Abuse Verdicts & Settlements for 2025. The firm's business model depends on case selection, partner-led litigation, and reputational signaling through media appearances and industry awards (Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, National Trial Lawyers Top 100). There is no disclosed technology platform; the firm's moat is partner reputation, case results, and statewide physical reach. The principal strategic vulnerability is that growth is constrained by partner capacity and that contingency economics expose the firm to lumpy cash flow tied to the size and timing of individual settlements.

Name

WBS Lawyers

Legal name

Winer, Burritt, Scott & Jacobs, LLP

Website

https://wmlawyers.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

WBS Lawyers is a California-based contingency-fee plaintiff litigation firm founded in 1980, representing individuals in employment discrimination, sexual harassment, whistleblower, personal injury, and abuse cases across nine statewide offices.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Services

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (541110), Offices of Lawyers (54111)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

Employment & Labor Law (BPAHAAAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Personal Injury & Insurance Defense (BPAHAAAM)

Keywords

• Personal injury law
• Employment law services
• Sexual harassment representation
• Contingency fee legal services
• California plaintiffs law firm

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices9 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Contingency Fee - Personal Injury and Employment Law: The firm finances all injury and employment law cases on a contingency fee basis. Unless they recover money for clients' injuries, clients pay no attorney fees. This model eliminates financial risk for clients seeking legal representation.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

WBS Lawyers is a California plaintiffs' law firm that provides legal representation to individuals in personal injury, employment discrimination, sexual harassment, whistleblower retaliation, and institutional sexual abuse (clergy, therapist, school) matters. The firm finances every case on a contingency fee basis, offering free initial consultations and only collecting attorney fees if it recovers money for the client.

Product overview

WBS Lawyers (Winer, Burritt, Scott & Jacobs, LLP) is a California-based law firm offering legal services as a unified practice. The firm provides specialized legal representation across multiple practice areas including sexual harassment, employment discrimination, personal injury, therapist abuse, clergy abuse, wrongful termination, whistleblower protection, and molestation/sexual abuse cases. The firm operates on a contingency fee basis with free consultations and serves clients throughout California from offices in Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Palo Alto, Newport Beach, Woodland Hills, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, and Riverside.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sexual Harassment Legal Services Legal representation for individuals who have experienced workplace sexual harassment, including quid pro quo harassment, hostile work environment, retaliation for reporting harassment, and harassment by industry; representation in state and federal courts on a contingency fee basis throughout California.
• Employment Discrimination Legal Services Legal representation for victims of workplace discrimination on the basis of race, gender, age, disability, pregnancy, religion, and other protected characteristics, including hiring, pay, promotion, and termination discrimination claims across California.
• Personal Injury Legal Services Legal representation for people injured by the negligent or wrongful acts of others, including car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, bicycle accidents, pedestrian accidents, wrongful death, and insurance bad faith matters across California.
• Therapist Abuse Legal Services Legal representation for victims of therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, and counselor abuse, including professional boundary violations, transference/counter-transference exploitation, sexual misconduct by therapists, and patient abuse settlements.
• Clergy Abuse Legal Services Legal representation for victims of Catholic clergy abuse and other institutional clergy sexual abuse in California and nationally, pursued on a contingency fee basis.
• Wrongful Termination Legal Services Legal representation for employees wrongfully terminated on unlawful grounds such as discrimination, retaliation, or whistleblowing, including pursuit of damages and remedies under California and federal law.
• Whistleblower Protection Legal Services Legal representation for employees who report illegal practices and face employer retaliation, including whistleblower retaliation lawsuits across California.
• Molestation / Sexual Abuse Legal Services Legal representation for victims of sexual molestation and abuse in settings such as schools, daycares, programs, and organizations, including claims against institutions for negligent supervision.

Quantifiable outcome

• $300+ Million recovered for clients
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Bursor & Fisher: California-based plaintiff firm handling consumer and employment class actions. Comparable contingency-fee model and California employment focus, though narrower practice area mix.

Broad incumbents

• Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro: Plaintiff firm with California roots handling employment, consumer, and securities class actions. Comparable contingency-fee model and California employment practice, with broader national class-action footprint.
• Simmons Hanly Conroy: Large national plaintiff firm with significant California presence, focused on mass tort, asbestos, and personal injury. Comparable in contingency-fee plaintiff model and personal injury focus, but broader national footprint and mass-tort specialization.

Direct peers

• Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein: San Francisco-based plaintiff firm with a national practice in employment, civil rights, and personal injury/mass tort matters. Comparable as a California-headquartered plaintiff firm with overlapping employment and catastrophic injury practice areas and a similar contingency-fee business model.
• McNicholas & McNicholas: Los Angeles plaintiff trial firm specializing in catastrophic injury, employment, and civil rights matters. Comparable contingency-fee plaintiff model and California trial orientation.
• Geragos & Geragos: California plaintiff firm handling personal injury, employment, and civil rights matters. Comparable in contingency-fee structure, California focus, and trial-oriented approach.
• Wilshire Law Firm: California plaintiff firm with a large personal injury and employment practice. Comparable contingency-fee plaintiff model, California geographic focus, and multi-office footprint.
• The Veen Firm: San Francisco plaintiff firm specializing in catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death. Comparable to WBS's personal injury practice and California trial-focused approach.
• Sanford Heisler Sharp: National employment, civil rights, and whistleblower plaintiff firm with offices including San Francisco. Closely comparable to WBS's employment discrimination, harassment, and whistleblower practice areas under a contingency model.
• Panish Shea & Boyle: Los Angeles plaintiff firm specializing in catastrophic injury, wrongful death, and employment cases. Comparable to WBS in personal injury and employment contingency work, with a similar West Coast plaintiff-side orientation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInwmlawyers.com/sitemap
• Xx.com/WBSlawyers
• Facebookfacebook.com/WBSLawyers

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 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 WBS Lawyers