Just back from the Mass Torts Made Perfect Conference in Las Vegas. The Conference was attended by a few hundred of the country’s leading lawyers who specialize in representing the many injured by the few.

Mike Pappantonio opened the conference by challenging lawyers to be “more than their practice”. He warned that we need to actively fight against the concerted attempt by the National Chamber of Commerce and other lobbyists for large corporations to limit the rights of consumers to obtain justice in the courts. Revrend Al Sharpton gave an inspiring luncheon address on the first day calling on the assembled attorneys to be “lawyers for their time”. He spoke eloquently about the lawyer’s obligation to honor the past struggles for civil rights and liberty by engaging in the present fight for individual dignity and justice so the future can be better. And Bobby Kennedy exhorted attorneys to action against the permanent devastation being wrought by corporate interests who this administration has given carte blanche access to plunder the nation’s resources.

While there I had the pleasure of interviewing several lawyers known for practicing on the cutting edge. In the next day or two you’ll be able to view the video of my interviews. You’ll hear John O’Quinn describe his latest exploits including holding retail giant Walmart accountable on charges that employee’s were involuntarily required to work certain shifts without compensation.

Rick Kuykendall discusses the Washington scene and what is happening in Congress regarding consumer rights legislation. Roberta Ashkin talks about the need to address the special problems women face in dealing with legal crisis and what steps Roberta is taking in her practice to address that issue. Robert Foote, one of the country’s more successful class action attorneys, weighs in about the need for lawyers to work together to determine the full extent and nature of the injuries suffered by the anemia drugs Procrit made by Johnson & Johnson and Aranesp and Epogen made by Amgen.

Jock Smith who heads up more than 23 law firms across the country founded by “America’s Lawyer” Johnnie Cochran honored us with an insightful and heartfelt discussion about the special role of the lawyer to promote civil rights and liberty.  If you look closely at his lapel you’ll see the engraved photograph of former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall who turned back a hundred years of injustice with the landmark Brown v Board of Education.

My interview of Revrend Sharpton is also not to be missed. He goes into the recent revelations about the connection of his family to the family of former Senator Strom Thurmond and how on a very personal level this caused him to rededicate himself to the struggle for human freedom.

There was also the important and timely announcement by me, at the Conference, of the formation of the ESA Settlement Trust for people injured by use of anemia drugs. Over the next few days I will be discussing in more detail our successful recruitment of the mass torts bar to join in the Trust project. And there was equal excitement about joining in the Public Shade Tree Trust project to protect our urban forests. I will be reporting on more developments and posting additional documents and materials regarding how you can become involved in these exciting and developing mass torts.

So stay tuned - alot more to report!

Attorney Jan Schlichtmann and his innovative Public Shade Tree Trust were featured this week in over 200 media and news publications and outlets across the country and around the world. The groundbreaking project to help towns and cities protect the urban forest from the poisoning caused by leaks from our aging natural gas pipeline network can be reviewed by going to google.com and selecting “News” and putting in “gas leaks and shade trees” or “Schlichtmann”.

As of this date the following major media organizations have reported on this unique and pioneering project to protect our environment and health, Fox News, CBS, ABC, Washington Post, Newsday, Forbes, International Herald Tribune, Business Week, Houston Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe and the Denver Post. There are currently over 200 different media outlets running the story.

The featured video on Channel 5 in Boston is available by clicking here.

Another featured story on CBS Channel 4 in Boston is available by clicking here.

If you want to learn more about the Civil Action Center, The Shade Tree Trust or Attorney Schlichtmann just subscribe to our RSS feed for the Shade Tree Trust Blog by clicking here and you can stay up to date on all the news, stories and progress this unique approach makes as it attempts to assist cities and towns, and their citizens, in identifying trees damaged by natural gas leaks and then working to save or replace them.

Earlier today the Associate Press and reporter Jay Lindsey released a feature story on the innovative Shade Tree Trust that was designed by noted Civil Action Attorney Jan Schlichtmann.

You can read the entire story in the online Boston Globe by click here.

The story relates how Attorney Schlichtmann and his work on the Danvers explosion case brought him together with noted gas leak expert Bob Ackley, and how their discussions and work on that matter evolved into the creation of a novel approach to assisting towns and cities in Massachusetts to begin the process of identifying the trees under their care that have been damaged by undetected under ground gas leaks. The use of the innovative trust, which Attorney Schlichtmann has also utilized in a recent ground water case in the town of Wilmington MA, as well as in the Danver’s matter, is a further extension of his unique practice of finding solutions where litigation can be avoided but injured parties, in this case towns and cities with old growth tree’s dying, can begin to repair damage to their urban forest.

You can read and learn more about The Civil Action Center, Attorney Jan Schlichtmann and the Shade Tree Trust by browsing our site here at The Civil Action Channel.