Trial Lawyers Campaigning for Political Office

I>The Washington Post published an article on June 25th, outlining the growing role of trial lawyers in the Democratic Party, entitled, “Trial Lawyers: From Courtroom to Campaign Trail.” In particular, the article focused on Michael Ciresi, a Minnesota plaintiffs’ lawyer who running for a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Reportedly, Ciresi is “… one of several trial lawyer candidates this election recruited by Democratic leaders [because] their riches from the tobacco, asbestos and other mass-injury lawsuits enable them to be largely self-funded.” Like Michael Ciresi, Edward Bernstein, a personal injury lawyer from Nevada, and Jim Humphreys, a plaintiffs’ lawyer from West Virginia, are seeking political office this election cycle. According to Jim Jordan, political director of the Democratic Senate Campaign, “The trial lawyers are a terrifically important Democratic constituency… they can do more than just write checks… [they] are comfortable in using populist rhetoric.”

This report is just the latest in what has now become a pervasive attack mounted by the trial lawyers against our political process. As the article outlines, plaintiffs’ attorneys have contributed more than $4 million to the Democratic Party since January 1999. The bulk of The Association of Trial Lawyers of America’s (ATLA’s) contributions have gone to the Democratic Party: $1.3 million of the $1.6 million distributed so far in this election cycle.

Click on the following icon for the details of The Washington Post entitled, “Trial Lawyers: From Courtroom to Campaign Trail.”