Trial Lawyers: Serial Name Changers?
Evan Schaefer's Legal Underground shares some information that shows last year's name change for the national trial lawyers (from Association of Trial Lawyers of American to American Association for Justice) wasn't the first time (and maybe not the last time?) the organization has changed its name. This little snippet sheds some light:
As we've pointed out before, the trial lawyers have simply read the writing on the wall: they've destroyed their own reputations, and now are trying a whitewash to save face. Will it work? Who knows. But we think it takes more than a simple name change to completely restore a reputation...FROM NACCA TO AAJ . . . It wasn't the first time that ATLA changed its name. Here's the complete history of name changes:
1947 - National Association of Claimants' Compensation Attorneys
1960 - National Association of Claimants' Counsel of America
1964 - American Trial Lawyers Association
1972 - Association of Trial Lawyers of America
2006 - American Association for Justice
The list is from an article in this month's ABA Journal, "New Name, New Strategies: ATLA changes its moniker and hones its tactics to battle tort reformers," by Terry Carter.
To view or post comments, please visit the Illinois Justice Blog.
Technorati Tags: trial lawyer, tort reform, Illinois Civil Justice League, American Bar Association, Evan Schaeffer
2 comments:
The ICJL's posts get more and more inane. A handful of Americans have heard of ATLA. Before we accuse ATLA of changing their name because their reputation is soiled, let's look at the reputations of the Illinois Civil Justice League's biggest backers: The Tobacco Industry, Insurance Industry, the Gun Lobby, Big Oil, and Pharmaceutical companies.
In the wake of Sept. 11th, ATLA created the largest pro-bono project in American history, to assist victims of the attacks and their families.
Right now, trial lawyers are fighting to recover claims for Katrina victims, white and black, that are getting screwed by their insurance companies.
It was trial lawyers who uncovered the tobacco industry's decades-long trail of lying to Congress and the American people.
And trial lawyers that protect the hundreds of thousands families victimized by faulty breast implants, birth-deform causing drugs, and pills that make us sicker instead of better.
It was a trial lawyer who rose from the Illinois Legislature to become the 16th President of the U.S., at a time of war, and became one of the greatest -- if not the greatest -- presidents of all time.
As far as reputations go, I'll hang with the trial lawyers every time.
I am usually the first in line to rip plaintiff's attorneys, but I agree with YDD that this post was pretty bad.
For what its worth, the Illinois defense bar has changed its name at least once, and may do so again in the future.
Organization names change to reflect times, moods, and personal preferences. Big deal.
YDD's post also was pretty ridiculous though. Apparently he is completely unaware of the fact that the plaintiff's bar has made the construction industry more dangerous through lawsuits that create incentives for contractors to sit in trailers and ignore dangerous conditions, and sidewalks more dangerous with suits that say if you do shovel your walkway, you may be held liable. Nice work people.
Post a Comment