FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, July 24, 2002

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Jonathan Hutson, TLPJ, 202-797-8600 x 246
Arthur H. Bryant, TLPJ, 510-622-8150 x 202

ISAAC BYRD OF MISSISSIPPI, ARMAND DERFNER OF SOUTH CAROLINA, BOB PRESSMAN OF MASSACHUSETTS, AND ALVIN CHAMBLISS OF TEXAS WIN 2002 TRIAL LAWYER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Mississippi’s Isaac K. Byrd, Jr., of Byrd & Associates in Jackson, Mississippi, Armand G. Derfner of Derfner & Wilborn, L.L.C. in Charleston, South Carolina, solo practitioner Bob Pressman of Lexington, Massachusetts, and Alvin O. Chambliss, Jr., of Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston received the 2002 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award from The Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ) Foundation at its 20^th Anniversary Gala last night for winning a landmark $513 million settlement in a 27-year class action battle over Mississippi’s unequal funding of the state’s historically black universities in Ayers v. State of Mississippi. The award is bestowed annually upon the trial lawyer or lawyers who have made the greatest contribution to the public interest by trying or settling a precedent-setting case. It is the nation’s single most prestigious award for trial lawyers.

"These outstanding attorneys exemplify trial lawyers’ commitment to fighting injustice and improving our nation," said outgoing Foundation President Susan Vogel Saladoff of Davis, Gilstrap, Hearn, Saladoff & Smith P.C. in Ashland, Oregon. "We laud these exceptional attorneys for their incredible dedication and accomplishments."

Ayers v. State of Mississippi was filed in 1975 by the late Jake Ayers, Sr., who accused Mississippi of neglecting its three historically black universities – Jackson State, Alcorn State, and Mississippi Valley State. For decades, the State had appropriated double and sometimes triple the per student share of funding for historically white universities, compared with the per student share for historically black universities. The financial disparity forced the historically black universities to use decrepit class rooms, dorms and offices, while students learned from worn and outdated textbooks.

After nearly two trials and numerous appeals – including repeated trips to the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court – the case was settled in 2002, after the Mississippi legislature passed a resolution to fund the half a billion dollar agreement, despite a severe budget crunch. The settlement includes $245 million for academic programs – plus millions more for new facilities, endowments, and administration funding – for Mississippi’s historically black universities. It is a major victory against institutional racism in higher education.

The 2002 Public Justice Achievement Award also was presented at TLPJ’s 20^th Anniversary Gala to Jim Sturdevant and Karen L. Hindin of The Sturdevant Law Firm in San Francisco, and F. Paul Bland, Jr., of TLPJ, who won a landmark ruling against mandatory arbitration in their class action lawsuit on behalf of seven million phone customers in Ting v. AT&T. The case vindicated the rule of law and held a communications giant accountable.

The other finalists for the 2002 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award, also honored at the gala, were:

Mark A. Darden III and Evelyn O. A. Darden of the Law Offices of Addison-Darden in Glen Burnie, Maryland, Deborah St. Jean and John P. Coale of Coale, Cooley, Lietz, McInerny & Broadus in Washington, D.C., solo practitioner Stacey Gurian-Sherman of Takoma Park, Maryland, William H. Murphy, Jr., William H. Murphy III, and Richard V. Falcon of William H. Murphy Jr. & Associates, P.A. in Baltimore, and James E. McCollum, Jr. of James E. McCollum, Jr. & Associates, P.C. in College Park, Maryland, who forced Maryland to enact sweeping reforms to its juvenile justice system by suing the State in Gary J. v. State of Maryland, a class action lawsuit on behalf of nearly 1,000 juvenile males who were victims of physical and emotional abuse at juvenile boot camps.

Katherine K. Freberg of Freberg & Associates in Irvine, California, who won a record-setting $5.2 million settlement, precedent-setting reforms, and a first-of-its-kind public apology from the Roman Catholic Church on behalf of a man who suffered childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a priest in DiMaria v. Roman Catholic Bishop of Orange County.

Peter Neufeld, Barry C. Scheck, and Vanessa Potkin of the Innocence Project at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law in New York and David Rudovsky of Kairys, Rudovsky, Epstein, Messing & Rau in Philadelphia, for their work in Godschalk v. Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, in which the federal right to post-conviction DNA testing was recognized and an innocent man imprisoned for 15 years was freed.

Broadus A. Spivey and Price Ainsworth of Spivey & Ainsworth, P.C. in Austin, Texas, and Ramon Garcia and Sonia I. Lopez of Law Office of Ramon Garcia in Edinburgh, Texas, who won a $35 million wrongful death verdict in Salinas v. City of Harlingen in Texas, whose Police Department allowed a police-issued rifle to be used as a murder weapon.

Gary R. Will of Will Barristers in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who won an unprecedented $1 million punitive damage verdict in Whiten v. Pilot Insurance Company, a Canadian Supreme Court case, against an insurance company for engaging in "exceptionally reprehensible" conduct against a poor family.

Lawrence Wobbrock and Richard A. Lane of Lawrence Wobbrock Trial Lawyer, P.C. in Portland, Oregon, and Charles S. Tauman of Portland’s Bennett, Hartman, Morris & Kaplan, LLP, who won a precedent-setting $150 million punitive damages verdict in Schwarz v. Philip Morris, the first "low-tar fraud" case against Big Tobacco to go to trial.

Trial Lawyers for Public Justice is the only national public interest law firm dedicated to using trial lawyers’ skills and resources to advance the public good. Founded in 1982, TLPJ utilizes a nationwide network of more than 2,700 trial lawyers to pursue precedent-setting and socially significant litigation. It has a wide-ranging litigation docket in the areas of civil rights and liberties, consumer rights, worker safety, toxic torts, environmental protection, and access to the courts. TLPJ is the principal project of The TLPJ Foundation, a not-for-profit membership organization. It has offices in Washington, DC, and Oakland, CA. The TLPJ web site address is www.tlpj.org.

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