Jay Edelson

Curriculum Vitae

JAY EDELSON is the founder of Edelson PC. He is considered one of the nation’s leading plaintiff’s lawyers, with his firm having helped secure over $45 billion in settlements and verdicts on behalf of classes, individuals, and governmental entities. Law360 recognized Jay as a  “Titan of the Plaintiff’s Bar” in 2014, 2021, and 2023. Jay has been recognized as one of “America’s top trial lawyers” in the mass action arena. LawDragon named him one of the top Plaintiff Financial Lawyers in the country. He has been called “probably the best known, and most innovative, consumer privacy lawyer on the planet,” with he and his firm holding records for the largest trial verdict in a consumer privacy case ($925m), the largest consumer privacy settlement ($650m) and the largest TCPA settlement ($76m).

Jay has been appointed to represent state and local regulators on some of the largest issues of the day, ranging from opioids suits against pharmaceutical companies, to environmental actions against polluters, to breaches of trust against energy companies and for-profit hospitals, to privacy suits against Google, Facebook, and others.

Of Counsel explained that Jay has made a career out of “battling bullies”:

Big banks. Big tech firms. Big Pharma. The big business that is the NCAA. Plaintiff ‘s attorney Jay Edelson wages battle against many of the nation’s most fortified institutions. Not only does he refuse to back down to anyone, regardless of their stature or deep pockets, he welcomes the challenge.

Edelson earned a monumental victory in the US Supreme Court in what’s been characterized as one of the most important consumer privacy cases of the last several years, Robins v. Spokeo. He and his team are leading the charge against the NCAA in representing former college football players who suffered concussions, and their families. And, on behalf of labor unions and governmental bodies, he’s elbow-deep in litigation against pharmaceutical companies and distributors for their pivotal role in the opioid crisis.

Simply put, he’s a transformational lawyer.

Other commentators have similarly singled out Jay’s willingness to tackle problems other lawyers shy away from and his creativity in finding winning strategies that were not readily apparent.  He successfully litigated cases of first impression against the national banks in the wake of the housing collapse, leading to the reinstatement of over $3 billion in home credit lines. Through his privacy cases, he has “fostered a reputation for his uncanny ability to come up with creative standing and damages arguments” leading to “momentum-shifting rulings in challenges to the data security and information-gathering practices of companies.”

The American Bar Association recognized Jay as one of the “most creative minds in the legal industry.” Law360 noted that he has “taken on some of the biggest companies and law firms in the world and has had success where others have not.”  Yet another put it  even more simply, explaining “when it comes to legal strategy and execution, Jay is simply one of the best in the country.”

Jay has received special recognition for his success in taking on Silicon Valley.  The national press has dubbed Jay and his firm the “most feared” litigators in Silicon Valley and, according to the New York Times, tech’s “babyfaced … boogeyman.” Chicago Lawyer Magazine dubbed Jay “Public Enemy No. 1 in Silicon Valley.”  Fortune Magazine has also singled out Jay’s work in the privacy space.  In the emerging area of privacy law, the  international press has called Jay one of the world’s “profiliertesten (most prominent)” privacy class action attorneys.  The National Law Journal has similarly recognized Jay as a “Cybersecurity Trailblazer” — one of only two plaintiff’s attorneys to win this recognition.

Jay is a frequent speaker and writer on class, mass, and governmental action issues, the practice of law more generally, and training and law firm management.  In recognition of the fact that his firm runs like a start-up that “just happens to be a law firm,” Jay was recently named to “Chicago’s Top Ten Startup Founders over 40” by Tech.co and was recognized by The Unicorn in the Room’s “The 45 Over 45: Entrepreneurs Over Age 45 Who Are Disrupting the Way We Do Business.”  In 2022, Jay was named one of Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business.”

Jay has taught privacy litigation at UC Berkeley School of Law and class actions and negotiations at Chicago-Kent College of Law and has guest lectured at law schools throughout the country, including the University of Chicago Law School, the University of Florida Law School, University of California at Hastings Law School and many others.  He has written a blog for Thomson Reuters, called Pardon the Disruption, where he focused on ideas necessary to reform and reinvent the legal industry and has contributed opinion pieces to TechCrunch, Quartz, the Chicago Tribune, Law360, and others.  He also served on Law360’s Privacy & Consumer Protection editorial advisory board.

Jay is also the leading voice of the “reform wing” of the Plaintiff’s Bar, bringing suits, pushing for legislation, and speaking out about critical issues needed to reform plaintiff’s litigation.

Jay is also the host of the Non-Compliant podcast and is the head of Edelson Creative, the creative wing of the firm.