The best law firm for an AFFF lawsuit is one with a direct role in the federal multidistrict litigation handling these cases — ideally a firm on the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee or one of its working committees — that will represent you itself rather than refer your case out, and that will put its contingency fee and cost terms in writing before you sign. The four firms currently appointed as PEC Lead Counsel in MDL 2873 are Douglas & London, Napoli Shkolnik, Baron & Budd, and Motley Rice.1Nigh Goldenberg Raso & Vaughn. Case Management Order No. 29 They are not the only competent choices, but they are the baseline against which other firms should be measured.
The Firms Actually Running the Litigation
Almost every AFFF case in the country has been consolidated into MDL 2873, In re: Aqueous Film-Forming Foams (AFFF) Products Liability Litigation, before Judge Richard M. Gergel in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.2U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. MDL 2873 AFFF Products Liability Litigation In an MDL this size — 19,788 total cases as of January 2026 — the court appoints a Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee that runs discovery, argues motions, negotiates with defendants, and prepares bellwether trials on behalf of all plaintiffs.3Lawsuit Information Center. AFFF Firefighting Foam Lawsuit
Case Management Order No. 29, issued in April 2024, appointed four firms as PEC Lead Counsel for the 2024–2025 term:1Nigh Goldenberg Raso & Vaughn. Case Management Order No. 29
- Douglas & London, P.C.
- Napoli Shkolnik PLLC
- Baron & Budd, P.C.
- Motley Rice LLC (also serving as PEC Liaison Counsel)
Roughly two dozen additional firms hold PEC member seats, including Levin Papantonio, Weitz & Luxenberg, Hausfeld, The Ferraro Law Firm, Seeger Weiss, and the Environmental Litigation Group.1Nigh Goldenberg Raso & Vaughn. Case Management Order No. 29 Levin Papantonio has an attorney on the PEC and another on the science and discovery committees.4Levin Papantonio. PFAS Injury Lawsuit Paul Napoli of Napoli Shkolnik has been described as a co-lead of the MDL and was involved in negotiating the public water system settlements.5Napoli Shkolnik PLLC. AFFF Lawsuits
Why PEC status matters to an individual claimant: these firms have direct access to the shared discovery record, the expert reports, and the settlement talks. They set the pace. A firm not on the PEC can still represent you, but its clients move at the speed the PEC negotiates. That is a relevant data point, not a disqualifier.
Direct Representation Versus Referral
Many firms running AFFF ads online are intake operations. They sign the retainer, then hand the case to another firm that does the actual work. This is legal and common in mass torts. It is also the single most important thing to screen for.
Two consequences for you. First, the lawyer you spoke with is probably not the lawyer handling your case, and your real relationship will be with a firm you did not choose. Second, your effective fee can be higher, because the referring firm and the working firm both take a share of the recovery.
Before signing anything, ask the question directly: “Will your firm handle my case, or will it be referred? If so, to which firm, and how is the fee split?” A straight answer is the minimum; a vague one tells you to keep looking.
Fee Structure and What to Get in Writing
AFFF cases are handled on contingency. You pay nothing upfront, and the fee comes out of any recovery.6Sokolove Law. Firefighting Foam Settlements Typical individual contingency fees in this litigation run from 33% to 40% of the recovery, with case costs (expert fees, filing fees, records retrieval) usually in the $5,000 to $15,000 range and deducted from settlement proceeds.7Talli AI. AFFF Firefighting Foam PFAS Settlement Some firms use a sliding structure: 33% if the case resolves before suit is filed, 40% after.8Marin & Murphy Law Firm. Fee Structure Mass Tort Cases
Get the fee agreement in writing before signing, and confirm three things specifically:
- The contingency percentage, and whether it changes if the case is filed, tried, or appealed.
- How litigation costs are handled, and whether they are deducted from the gross recovery before the attorney’s percentage is calculated or from your share after.
- Whether any portion of the fee will be paid to a referring firm.
The percentage calculation point is not trivial. On the same recovery, deducting costs before versus after the attorney’s percentage can shift thousands of dollars.
Mass Tort Experience and Resources
AFFF cases turn on complex scientific causation. Whether a particular plaintiff’s cancer came from PFAS exposure rather than other risk factors is a question both sides fight with expert witnesses, and whether that expert testimony is admissible under the Daubert standard is a central battleground. In May 2023, Judge Gergel denied a 3M motion to exclude plaintiffs’ causation experts in a water contamination case, an early win for plaintiffs.9Call FOB. AFFF Lawsuit Update Additional Daubert proceedings on personal injury causation for liver and thyroid cancers were being scheduled as of late 2025.3Lawsuit Information Center. AFFF Firefighting Foam Lawsuit
A firm handling these cases needs three things: financial capacity to fund years of litigation, established relationships with medical and scientific experts, and familiarity with MDL procedure.10TruLaw. Tips for Choosing the Right AFFF Lawyer for Your Case A small firm without those resources is not necessarily the wrong choice if it is working with a PEC firm, but it is the wrong choice if it is going it alone.
One further point on scope: the personal injury side of the MDL focuses on six conditions with the strongest scientific support — kidney cancer, testicular cancer, liver cancer, thyroid cancer, thyroid disease, and ulcerative colitis.3Lawsuit Information Center. AFFF Firefighting Foam Lawsuit Neuroendocrine tumors and other diagnoses can be filed but are not among the prioritized conditions, and the causation evidence is less developed.11TruLaw. AFFF Neuroendocrine Tumors Lawsuit: Analyzing Studies If your diagnosis is outside the prioritized six, ask the firm specifically how it handles those cases and what the expected timeline looks like.
Questions to Ask Before You Sign
A short screening list that will separate most serious firms from the rest:
- Does your firm have a seat on the MDL 2873 Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee or any of its working committees? If not, which PEC firm do you work with?
- Will you handle my case directly, or refer it? If you refer, to whom, and what is the fee split?
- What is your contingency percentage, and is costs deducted before or after that percentage is calculated?
- How many AFFF personal injury clients does your firm currently represent?
- What is the realistic timeline for a case like mine, and how will you keep me updated?
Initial consultations are free in virtually every case, so talking to two or three firms before signing is cheap insurance. Compare how each describes your case’s prospects and its own role in the litigation. A firm that overpromises on value or timeline is telling you something about how it will communicate once you are a client.
Watch the Clock
Statutes of limitations for AFFF personal injury claims vary by state. Most apply a discovery rule, meaning the deadline runs from when you knew or should have known about the link between your exposure and your condition. Deadlines range from two years in states like California, Texas, and Pennsylvania, to three years in New York, to four years in Florida.12Lawfold. PFAS Lawsuit Because public awareness of PFAS contamination surged in 2022 and 2023, plaintiffs in shorter-deadline states face especially tight filing timelines in 2025 and 2026.
There is also a court-imposed proof clock to think about. For cases filed after the MDL’s September 2025 filing window closed, Judge Gergel’s Case Management Order No. 35 requires plaintiffs to submit medical records establishing the diagnosis within 90 days of filing and to serve expert causation disclosures within 120 days.13U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. Case Management Order No. 35 A firm you hire now needs to be ready to gather and file that evidence on that schedule. Ask how they will.
The MDL remains in a pretrial phase. The first bellwether trial, set for October 20, 2025, was vacated after a surge of new filings, and no new personal injury bellwether date has been announced as of April 2026.14Miller & Zois. Firefighter Foam Cancer Lawsuit15Drugwatch. AFFF Lawsuits Resolution will take years. Choose the firm you want to be with for that long.