How Trial Lawyers Care: Examples from Right Now

Michael A. Stratton

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Corporations have tried to take over the practice of personal injury law by advertising their services on billboards and buses. These are not real trial lawyers. They are marketing companies whose members rarely if ever enter a courthouse. Real trial lawyers try cases and are are involved in the life of their communities.

Here are some great examples:

• When lawyers at the Lakeville, Minn., office of Sieben, Grose, Von Holtum, and Carey heard that giving stuffed animals to distressed children helps calm them, the lawyers collected 3,000 stuffed animals for the local police to distribute when responding to traumatic accidents and domestic disturbances calls.
• Teaneck, N.J. Trial lawyer Steven Benvenisti survived a coma and serve traumatic brain injury after a drunk driver injured him to go to law school. He now helps those who have suffered traumatic brain injuries by giving dozens of talks every year to students and to rehabilitation and legal conferences throughout the country. He donates 100 percent of every honorarium from these appearances to charities.
• Winston-Salem, NC trial lawyer David Daggett is a founder of the Safe Sober Prom Night program, which started in 1991. Daggett developed a project to assist teens in making smart choices that can save lives and prevent life-changing injuries. Also a triathlete, Daggett uses his athletic experiences when speaking to students to motivate them to focus on goals of graduating and being successful, productive adults.
• Lawyer Ralph Pittle of Redmond, Wash., and his client Elizabeth Conte had a vision about helping prevent needless injuries from happening to others. Conte was permanently injured by Reglan, and she committed 100 percent of her settlement to creating the Conte Foundation. Pittle donated all his fees from her case. They hope other plaintiffs and attorneys will contribute one to five percent of their settlements and fees as well.
• Seattle lawyer Karen Koehler created the Spinal Cord Injury Association of Washington (SCIAW) in 2011, a nonprofit charitable organization devoted to advancing quality-of-life issues for people with spinal cord injuries. SCIAW is also the Washington state chapter for the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, which works to discover a cure for spinal cord injuries. Karen was motivated to start SCIAW when her quadriplegic client from a small town was unable to access peer mentoring or other support networks.