In the business of law there is little business bigger than the business of class action litigation. Class action settlements routinely distribute tens — and even hundreds — of million dollars to class members and their lawyers.

However, a Google data privacy class action settlement approved Friday in San Francisco follows a different model: after the lawyers are paid, the money being distributed will go to nonprofit organizations that work in the general area of data privacy; virtually none of the money will go to members of the plaintiff class.

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Joe Dworetzky is a second career journalist. He practiced law in Philadelphia for more than 35 years, representing private and governmental clients in commercial litigation and insolvency proceedings. Joe served as City Solicitor for the City of Philadelphia under Mayor Ed Rendell and from 2009 to 2013 was one of five members of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission with responsibility for managing the city’s 250 public schools. He moved to San Francisco in 2011 and began writing fiction and pursuing a lifelong interest in editorial cartooning. Joe earned a Master’s in Journalism from Stanford University in 2020. He covers Legal Affairs and writes long form Investigative stories. His occasional cartooning can be seen in Bay Area Sketchbook. Joe encourages readers to email him story ideas and leads at joe.dworetzky@baycitynews.com.