|
Leo
V. Boyle on
Why Lawyers Should Participate in Trial Lawyers
Care* September 11, 2001, broke America's
heart. But it did not break our spirit. All
but 19 of the thousands who died in that day's events were heroes. They were going
about their lives, their loves, their work when democracy was assaulted in the
freest nation in the world. The terrorists'
acts offended the human conscience more grotesquely than almost any event in history,
and it is tempting to think of September 11 as a defining moment for every segment
of our society, including our profession. But we-not events or enemies-define
ourselves. We Americans have given blood,
food, money. Now, we trial lawyers need to give ourselves-our legal skills and
devotion to our system of justice-to help the victims of the terrorist attacks
and their families. And we're going
to do it for free.
Click here
For Your Volunteer Form
While we
were putting together a plan to set that help in motion, Congress was considering
a bailout for the airline industry. It was then that Kevin Gallagher, one of the
firefighter heroes and president of the Uniformed Firefighters of New York, made
an eloquent entreaty to the nation's legislature: We
would . . . be shocked if the U.S. Congress, prior to, or at the expense of, the
needs of some 6,000 grieving families, passed special interest protections for
the airline industry enjoyed by no other business or person in our country. .
. . [It] would be an affront to the firefighters, police officers, and emergency
medical personnel . . . throughout the nation, as well as the families of all
others who died on the ground. . . . Please assure the American people that .
. . the number one priority is promptly and completely addressing the needs of
the families who have suffered indescribable loss.
Trial
lawyers sought that assurance in our own way. The first response of the Association
of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) to September 11 was to call for a moratorium
on civil lawsuits (which so far has been honored). We urged restraint and respect,
putting relief for the families above all else. Next,
we took our skilled advocacy to Congress-not for ourselves or our "industry,"
but for the victims. We argued that no special interest should be bailed out before
the 6,000 families blindsided by terrorism received the care they needed. Congress
responded with a comprehensive, humanitarian bill that was signed into law September
22. It establishes a fund for every injured victim, and the family of every deceased
victim, to recover full economic damages and unrestricted damages for noneconomic
but very real suffering. There are no caps, and claimants need not prove negligence,
duty, or causation. We developed principles
for and encouraged this law because it represents what is in our hearts and reflects
our long-held values-constants since the moment we took our oaths, long before
September 11. Once we knew that the
September 11th Victim Compensation Fund would be established, we moved to ensure
that no family would suffer even more for lack of a lawyer.
In partnership with the New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and
other state trial lawyer associations, we launched Trial Lawyers Care,
a program offering free legal services to victims and their families from the
entire community of trial lawyers. The program is committed to ensuring that 100
percent of the federal money in the fund goes to families, not to lawyers. This
broad-based undertaking represents who we are and why we practice law: for the
greater good. Enemies of the civil justice system have tried to define us as opportunistic,
greedy, self-centered. Sadly, a few of us have bolstered that image. But
our response to September 11 revealed our priorities-and the true definition of
trial lawyers.
Click here
For Your Volunteer Form
*The
above message was taken from ATLA Past President
Leo V. Boyle's "President's Page," which
appeared in the November 2001 issue of TRIAL
magazine.
| 
