"These outstanding attorneys exemplify trial lawyers' commitment to fighting injustice and improving our nation," said outgoing Foundation President Gary Gwilliam of Gwilliam, Ivary, Chiosso, Cavalli & Brewer in Oakland, California. "We laud these exceptional attorneys for their incredible dedication and accomplishments."

The attorneys' victory against lumber baron Jack T. Taylor in Lobato v. Taylor -- which included three appeals to the Colorado Supreme Court and two appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court -- won descendants of Colorado's first Mexican settlers the right to use La Sierra again, which had been used by the plaintiffs and their ancestors for more than 100 years to graze sheep and cattle, gather wood and timber, hunt, and fish. La Sierra first came under U.S. jurisdiction after the Mexican-American War with the signing of the 1848 treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. That treaty promised to respect the land use rights of Mexican citizens who stayed on La Sierra.

This case represents a major victory for a legally disenfranchised and disillusioned population over a wealthy individual with virtually unlimited resources, and has galvanized land grant heirs throughout the Southwest to fight for their rights.

The other finalists for the 2004 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award, also honored at the gala, were:

* Neil V. Getnick, Lesley Ann Skillen, and Margaret J. Finerty of Getnick & Getnick in New York City, and Michael E. Getnick of Getnick, Livingston, Atkinson, Gigliotte & Priore, LLP in Utica, New York forced drug giant Bayer Corporation to pay $251 million -- the nation's largest-ever Medicaid fraud settlement -- to federal and state governments to settle a whistleblower action against Bayer for fraudulently overcharging the federal Medicaid program for prescription drugs. The attorneys' efforts in United States ex rel. Estate of George Couto v. Bayer Corporation also forced Bayer to plead guilty to violations of federal law and pay a criminal fine of $5.6 million, and resulted in another Medicaid fraud settlement of $88 million against Bayer competitor GlaxoSmithKline.

* Vanita Gupta of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund in New York, solo practitioner Jeff Blackburn of Amarillo, Texas, E. Desmond Hogan, Mitch E. Zamoff, Adam K. Levin, Jennifer Klar, Lori J. Searcy, Tara P. Hammons, and Kristin Krause Cohen of Hogan & Hartson L.L.P. in Washington, D.C., and Ted Killory, J. Winston King, William E. White, Mark M. Oh, and Anitra Cassas of Wilmer Cutler Pickering LLP in Washington, D.C. took on Texas law enforcement power, won the freedom of 35 innocent citizens of Tulia, Texas who had been arrested and jailed on fabricated drug charges, and negotiated a $6 million settlement and the dismantling of a federally financed 20-county narcotics task force responsible for the false arrests. The White v. Coleman legal team also waged a national media campaign to expose the racist underpinnings of these arrests --- approximately 10% of Tulia's African-American population had been rounded up and arrested in this "sting" operation.

* Stuart T. Rossman of the National Consumer Law Center in Boston, Clint W. Watkins of the Law Office of Clint W. Watkins in Brentwood, Tennessee, Michael E. Terry of Terry & Gore, P.C. in Nashville, Tennessee, Wyman "Gil" Gilmore of Gilmore Law Office in Grove Hill, Alabama, Darnley D. Stewart of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP in New York, and Gary Klein of Grant Klein & Roddy in Boston battled against General Motors Acceptance Corporation -- the nation's second largest auto lender -- for over six years, winning a groundbreaking settlement in Coleman v. General Motors Acceptance Corporation, a nationwide class action that transformed the way in which car purchases are financed in this country and exposed discriminatory auto financing practices that had operated secretly for over 75 years and had resulted in higher-interest car loans for minority car buyers.

* Solo practitioner Richard R. Ruggieri of San Rafael, California won one of the nation's first jury verdicts against a gun manufacturer for defective design, with the jury awarding a record $50.9 million in compensatory damages to the family of a young boy left a quadriplegic after an accidental shooting. In May 2003, an Oakland, California jury found that the .38-caliber semiautomatic Bryco Arms pistol -- commonly known as a "Saturday Night Special" -- used in the shooting was defectively designed because the gun could be unloaded only when the safety was turned to the "off" position. The verdict in Maxfield v. Bryco Arms is especially noteworthy because, by employing creative "asset protection" strategies, this manufacturer of cheap, easily concealed Saturday Night Specials has historically evaded all trials. It has now filed for bankruptcy protection.

* San Francisco attorneys James C. Sturdevant and Mark T. Johnson of The Sturdevant Law Firm and Thomas J. Brandi of The Law Office of Thomas J. Brandi won a groundbreaking jury verdict in excess of $1 billion on behalf of a class of over one million Bank of America customers -- mostly elderly or disabled -- who accused the banking giant of mishandling their Social Security direct deposit funds. Miller v. Bank of America is the first case ever to challenge a bank for dipping into the checking and savings accounts of customers who have government benefits electronically deposited, claiming a right to collect fees, overdrafts, and other debts from exempt funds in those accounts.

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