Ibiere N. Seck

Seck is set to make history. She’s the secretary-elect of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, but in 2024, she will become its president. When Seck assumes the presidency, she will become the first African American female to lead the organization, which is among the nation’s largest local plaintiffs’ attorneys associations.

“Trial lawyers come from different backgrounds and different life experiences. I’m honored to have earned the trust and confidence of the CAALA membership and am proud of what I have been able to accomplish in the first 10 years of practice,” she said. “A lot is expected today me but I’m am capable and up to the challenge. I look forward to leading the association in 2024.”

Seck spent 10 years at the Cochran Firm, focusing on catastrophic injury and sexual abuse cases. She went on to start her own shop, but later realized running a business, while litigating simultaneously took up a lot of bandwidth.

Now she is joining forces with the Simon Law Group, where she is of counsel, and taking part in an attorney collective called Justice HQ, which hopes to pool lawyers’ resources. The idea behind the organization is to use tech ethos to link attorneys with different expertise so that the lawyers worry less about the business side of being a sole practitioner and have the capacity to take more cases. Think Avengers meets the plaintiffs’ bar.

“To me what was appealing was a larger forum beyond your border where you can tap into this incredible train trust of skilled attorneys,” said Seck. “It frees you up to do the work you’re most interested in,” she said.

In the beginning, Justice HQ will comprise a 50-attorney membership that will decide which cases to take. Since attorneys will be freed up from the administrative side of the law, they can focus on specific parts of the litigation.

“I want to argue appeals. I want to take really good depositions,” said Seck.

She said the legal field is seeing more young attorneys doing well, and an organization like Justice HQ would help facilitate that.

The immediate past-president of the National Black Lawyers, Seck recently secured a $1.5 million jury verdict for a female amputee who had dementia. Seck’s client fell out of a wheelchair and broke her femur as she was being transported from her nursing facility for dialysis.

Seck helped try the case, handling closing arguments. The verdict was comprised general damages along with pain and suffering following a $50,000 settlement offer.

“In general my philosophy is to try as many cases as I possibly can,” she said. “Win or lose — I truly am proud of every case I try.”

— Justin Kloczko