Stuart B. Esner graduated magna cum laude from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles in 1982. He then worked as a law clerk for the Honorable John L. Cole in the writs and receivers department of the Los Angeles Superior Court, and for more than four years as a research attorney for Associate Justice Eugene McClosky at the Second Appellate District Court of Appeal, Division Four. He gained further appellate experience as an associate at Horvitz & Levy (then Horvitz, Levy & Amerian), before co-founding the appellate firm now known as Esner & Chang in 1990.

Mr. Esner was an adjunct Professor of Law at Loyola Law School of Los Angeles teaching appellate advocacy from 1989 until 2017. He has been selected as a Southern California "Super Lawyer" every year since 2005 and was selected as one of the top 100 lawyers in Southern California in 2007, 2010, 2011 and each year between 2016 through 2023. Mr. Esner was also named the Appellate Lawyer of the Year by the Consumer's Attorney Association of Los Angeles for 2005.