- And the winning litigators are…
The folks at Kirkland & Ellis get the nod from American Lawyer, which cited the number of high-impact trials the firm has won. K&E lawyers convinced a jury in Milwaukee state court that NL Industries Inc. was not liable for the cognitive problems of a boy exposed to lead-based paint. They proved to a state court jury in Florida that AlliedSignal was not responsible for the failure of a revered local business. They successful argued that Motorola should not have to forfeit $3 billion in payments it had received from Iridium LLC. Well, you get the idea. Kirkland's revenue per lawyer in 2006 was $1.035 million (litigators generate half of the firm's revenues). The Kirkland folks remind me a little of that Harrison Ford character in "Regarding Henry" (before he suffered brain damage). Consider that Milwaukee case, in which a big company has to defend itself against personal injury claims brought by a mentally retarded youngster from an urban housing project. The youngster, 17-year-old Steven Thomas, had an extremely high lead level in his body, never tested higher than 74 on IQ tests and attended special education classes only sporadically. In 1999 his family sued NL Industries and four other paint makers. Kirkland attorney Michael Jones acknowledges that the case presented "very, very sensitive issues."
Jones didn't dispute Thomas's high lead levels, but he challenged the assumption that lead exposure had caused Thomas's problems. Decades ago, when gas was leaded, doctors considered a lead level of 60 normal, he pointed out. "America's greatest generation had high lead levels," Jones told the jury. He also accused Thomas, his family, and plaintiffs lawyer Peter Earle of deceiving the jury with a "ginned up" case that exaggerated the boy's problems. (Earle did not return calls.) Jones argued that Thomas was far more capable than he claimed in court, and introduced evidence that the boy could play video games and chess. Jones also told jurors that Thomas's problems were exacerbated by his tumultuous life—he was the ninth child of a single mother and had attended 25 schools. The Kirkland lawyer even chided Thomas's family for failing to get the boy remedial help. "By the closing, I did not have to be gentle," says Jones, who says his kid-glove cross-examinations of Thomas and his sister showed that "it was obvious they were not telling the truth." At the end of the trial, Jones exhorted the boy, who was not in the courtroom that day, to take responsibility for his life: "I would say to Mr. Thomas, you can and you must change your attitude."
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| 11:44 AM Jan 2, 2008 | Email the Daily Dragon | Email this Article | Post Comments |
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