Clifford H. Pearson

SHERMAN OAKS - Clifford H. Pearson co-founded the class action boutique Pearson Simon Warshaw LLP in 2006. As the firm's 20-year mark nears, he said he's increasingly interested in developing the careers of the junior lawyers he and his partners have hired. Two are his sons.

"My goal is to get the younger attorneys more involved in our cases," he said. "We're at 14 lawyers now. In today's world, it's tough to hire. We are looking for ambitious people who can do the job."

Those cases include antitrust claims against corporations in the poultry and pork industries and a suit targeting alleged anticompetitive agreements among major league soccer teams and their league.

The recent successes he and his colleagues have attained include last year's $170 million settlement with several defendants in a class action over alleged price-fixing by poultry producers. In May 2022, the plaintiffs obtained class certification allowing them to proceed against additional defendants. Pearson said attorneys Bobby Pouya and son Michael H. Pearson have been instrumental in litigating the case. In re: Broiler chicken Antitrust Litigation, 1:16-cv- 08637 (E.D. ll., filed Sept. 2, 2016).

In the pork case, two defendants agreed to pay $107 million to settle antitrust claims; five other defendants remain. Pearson named Pouya, Michael Pearson and Benjamin E. Shiftan as the junior members of the firm taking lead roles. In re: Pork Antitrust Litigation, 0:18-cv-01776 (D. Minn., filed June 28, 2018).

And in the soccer matter, the parties await rulings on dueling summary judgment motions. Pearson said Shiftan and son Matthew A. Pearson are leading that case. North American Soccer League LLC v. U.S. Soccer Federation Inc. and Major League Soccer LLC, 1:17-cv-05495 (E.D. N.Y., filed Sept. 19, 2017).

Pearson said his effort to put in the litigation forefront the less-experienced lawyers in his firm is part of a trend he has noticed recently. "I've seen judges tell the parties that if they want an oral argument, they need to assign lawyers with less than four years on the job to do the arguing," he said.

He pointed to an October incident in which a federal judge in Illinois told firms involved in a multidistrict antitrust class action targeting turkey producers that he wanted young lawyers to participate. The judge called it "the court's attempt to create professional development opportunities for junior counsel."

"I think it's a trend, not just my firm," Pearson. "Judges, like us, are looking for diversity and leadership among the up-and-coming cadre of lawyers."