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. Reverend 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.

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!