ATRA ASKS CORPORATE AMERICA: DO YOU KNOW WHO YOUR LAWYERS ARE?

ATRA Announces First “Legal Reform Champion”

Washington, DC, July 03, 2003 -- The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) is pleased to announce its first group of “Legal Reform Champions” – a list of high-profile lawyers who have dedicated themselves to restoring equal justice under law and reclaiming the civil justice system from the grip of plaintiffs’ lawyers.

“Our idea is simple,” said ATRA President Sherman Joyce. “We believe everything possible must be done to recognize lawyers and law firms who fight for fairness and balance in the courtrooms.”

ATRA will send its “Champions” list to top CEOs and general counsels around the nation for use as a tool when hiring defense attorneys and law firms. “Hiring lawyers from the ‘Legal Reform Champions List’ will help ensure that Corporate America is enlisting the services of lawyers who are dedicated to civil justice reform and to the interests of their clients,” Joyce said.

ATRA’s honorees have distinguished themselves by doing pro-bono work on behalf of civil justice reform organizations, and also have supported pro-reform candidates, refused to accept cases that abuse tort law, and taken a public stand against abusive lawsuits.

The first group of “Champions” includes Dick Thornburgh, former Attorney General of the United States and partner with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP in Washington, DC; Victor Schwartz, partner in the Washington, DC office of Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP; Matthew McDonald, a partner in the Alabama-based firm of Miller Hamilton Snider & Odom LLC; and Elliot Kaplan, officer and director of Missouri-headquartered Daniels & Kaplan, P.C.

“We are honored to recognize these outstanding leaders, who practice not only in Washington, New York, and abroad, but who also have carried the civil justice reform banner throughout the United States,” said Joyce. “We look forward to expanding this list.”

The “Legal Reform Champions” were featured in an ad in the Spring 2003 issue of Chief Legal Executive Here

The costs of the civil justice system reached $205 billion in 2001—a 14-percent increase over the prior year—2.04 percent of the gross domestic product and equivalent to a 5-percent tax on wages. The American Medical Association has determined that 18 states are in crisis because excessive litigation threatens access to health care. Even neutral observers are alarmed by the huge political expenditures of the plaintiffs’ bar. The Center for Responsive Politics says the Association of Trial Lawyers of America contributed more money in the 2002 federal election cycle—$4,242,638—than the Teamsters, who contributed $2,521,143, or the AFL-CIO, whose contributions reached $2,324,433.

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The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) is the only national organization dedicated exclusively to tort and liability reform through public education and the enactment of legislation. ATRA's membership includes non profits, small and large companies, as well as state and national trade, business, and professional associations.