Posted on Friday, March 14th, 2025 at 3:42 pm
David A. Neiman joined the Wallace Miller team as a partner in December 2024. Focusing on mass tort and class action litigation, he works to make sure that everyone has fair opportunities and equal access to justice. He is currently serving on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee for federal hair relaxer litigation and on the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee for the parallel state court hair relaxer litigation in Cook County, Illinois.
Partner David A. Neiman
What was your path to working in law?
The decision to concentrate my practice in personal injury and consumer protection law has been driven by a desire to help and do something that will better my community. Starting in high school, I was active in charitable organizations, volunteering both during and after school with my classmates that had developmental disabilities. That led to involvement with a wonderful organization called Lambs Farm, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people with developmental disabilities lead productive, happy lives.
My legal work is driven by the same desire. I’ve been very fortunate in my life, but I realize that not everyone has had the same opportunities. And so it’s my goal to level the playing fields by giving everyone, regardless of their background, access to our judicial system in their time of need.
How do you seek justice in personal injury, mass torts, and class actions?
Oftentimes we get introduced to clients who are at a low point in their life. Almost always it’s a situation that’s beyond their control, and almost always it’s a situation where, whether or not people like to ask for help, it is needed.
And although we can only provide a limited scope of help—explaining the legal process and navigating the murky waters of a lawsuit—we’re able to try to bring some clarity to their pending legal action and, in the end, hopefully make the future a little bit more promising for them and their loved ones.
You have a strong background in the legal field. What has surprised you over the course of your career? What do you think people misunderstand about the law?
Lawyers don’t always have the best reputation. Sometimes because of how they’re portrayed in the media, other times because of successful efforts of tort reform advocates.
But truth be told, the peers that I have been fortunate enough to work with, including those here at Wallace Miller—we really do care about the people that we represent, and the advocacy that we provide to our clients is sincere and real. It’s based on a real legitimate interest in helping our community and our clients. We want to benefit everybody who’s been impacted by the preventable injuries sustained as a result of someone else’s negligence or intentional conduct.
Are there specific moments in your work when you feel like you’re making a difference?
To me, justice is not always success in a courtroom. It’s providing the understanding to a client that through our collective efforts, we’re creating a safer and better world for everybody. With some of my clients, not only have we had success in court, but we’ve seen success in the state legislature, passing laws that protect people. And you can see, through the efforts and through the hardships that people have experienced, there’s been a tangible outcome that’s making our community a safer place.
In your experience, what makes a good plaintiffs’ lawyer?
There are a lot of typical answers. I think that a good lawyer can have a variety of different attributes, and I don’t think that it’s ever one person that makes or breaks a case. It’s a team of lawyers with a variety of different personalities and skillsets that move the case forward.
Throughout my career, one thing I’ve learned is the importance of a team approach. Anybody who thinks that they can singlehandedly take on some of the biggest companies in the world and defeat them—that’s someone with a huge ego. And if that’s not in check, it can be dangerous. The types of cases that we work on require a variety of different skills, and I don’t think it’s possible for one person to possess them all. And so, in order to be successful, you have to realize your strengths and your weaknesses and put together a team that allows people to work together to provide the best quality service to the clients that we have the honor to represent.
You’re currently working on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee for the hair relaxer litigation. Tell me a little bit more about that role.
For the hair relaxer case, we’re working in two parallel proceedings. With the sheer size and scope of the multidistrict litigation in federal court, the courts have consolidated matters before a single judge and selected a smaller group of lawyers to do work that all plaintiffs can benefit from.
I was honored to have been appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee and the Marketing Committee for the federal lawsuit, which means I am one of the lawyers who gets to get their hands dirty and do some of the work that benefits the greater group as we move through the litigation.
I’m also on the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee for the litigation in Cook County, Illinois. In that capacity, I’m often involved in handling communications with the court and with the defendants, and I’m doing a lot of broad administrative work that’s getting us ready through the litigation process and hopefully at some point ready for trial.
The end goal is to get a just resolution for our clients. The shared experience of being appointed to leadership in both state and federal court has been really rewarding—I feel like a pivotal part of the process as we get these cases through the system.
You joined Wallace Miller as a partner a few months ago. What made you want to work at the firm?
One of the things I mentioned before about what makes a good lawyer is teamwork and a team approach. I was honored to have the opportunity to work with Edward Wallace, Mark Miller, and Molly Condon Wells on the hair relaxer litigation, and what really impressed me was the way that the firm approaches these cases. I think that my personality and skillset match up with those lawyers particularly well.
In addition to that, I had the pleasure of meeting other firm lawyers through our joint efforts in legal organizations including the American Association for Justice. After working with all the impressive lawyers and staff at the firm, I’ve come to really appreciate their views, their perspectives, and the way that they approach their cases. Joining the firm was a great opportunity for me. And so, when the opportunity was presented, I jumped at it.
What do you do outside of work that informs your career?
Charitable work and volunteering are things that I’ve been interested in for a long time. As I said before, I’m very proud of where I came from. Both of my parents are business owners, they’re independently successful, and they provided me with a number of opportunities. I was very fortunate to be in a position where I could succeed in high school, get a college education, and then go to law school. And I had really good role models and people who guided me through that process.
I am very aware that not all people have had the same opportunities as me, and I feel that it’s my job to do what I can to level the playing field. This motivated me to join a legal aid clinic early on in my career that had just started in Highland Park. Years later, I became Chairman of the Board of that organization. It was an honor to see a small legal aid clinic grow and blossom and I take great pride to have been affiliated with that organization.
Most recently, I’ve been involved with Lambs Farm. Lambs Farm is a campus for developmentally disabled adults that provides housing, recreation, employment opportunities both on and outside the campus. It’s a really great organization that’s been around for a very long time, and I want to make sure it stays around for a very long time.
As a lawyer, you’re only as good as your willingness to learn and improve. So, in addition to charitable work, I make sure that I’m involved in legal organizations that help me to continue to do the work for my clients at a high level. With that in mind, my work for the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association (ITLA) and the American Association for Justice (AAJ) is really meaningful to me as well. Aside from providing myself and other lawyers with educational opportunities, these two organizations do a ton of lobbying on the state and federal level. There are always forces outside of our control that try to enact legislation that would inhibit our ability to protect our clients and retain the right to trial by jury. So, I’m really proud of the work that I do for those organizations, because I really do think it’s impactful and makes a tangible difference to how we function as a society and as a business in the practice of law.
Learn more about David on his bio page. Interested in working with Lambs Farm? Find out more on their website.