AAJ Updates

Stand with Us

By Linda A. Lipsen, CEO, American Association for Justice

On May 7, the insurance industry threw down the gauntlet, calling for a prolonged tort reform campaign.

The Chairman and CEO of Chubb Ltd., Evan Greenberg, during the RISKWORLD conference in San Diego this week, described how he’d like to handle inflation, jury verdicts, and settlements:

“Corporations should prepare to fund, with support from insurers, a long-term tort reform campaign to halt the trend [of rising verdicts and settlements] … It’s going to take money. It’s going to take talent. It’s going to have to be approached like a long-term political campaign.”

 AAJ must be prepared to fight fire with fire.

We have not encountered this level of threat to your practices and your clients’ rights since the George W. Bush administration. At that time, and in the decades since, corporations refused to look in the mirror. All they need to do is: Make it safe.

Instead, they continue to make dangerous products, dump chemicals, allow hospitals and nursing homes to be understaffed, and put profits over people. And when juries decide to hold them accountable, corporations cry “foul.”

The Chubb CEO’s call for tort reform is the latest reminder that our fight will never end. We face an ever-expanding list of opponents with unlimited money and unlimited desires to undermine the rights of Americans and shut down your practices.

What we do have is the truth. Corporations routinely play with the numbers and obfuscate reality. AAJ’s counter-offensive is always strong. But in addition to the truth, we will need you—and your colleagues who are not yet AAJ members.

Take Action

Make sure everyone in your firm is an AAJ member. If your firm is not already part of our Annual Firm Billing program, fill out this form and a membership team member will contact you.

• Our Annual Firm Billing program is a consolidated billing program. Instead of sending renewal invoices and reminders to each lawyer throughout the year, your whole office will be consolidated into one easy, annual invoice and have a synchronized renewal date.

Encourage others to join.

• Ask individuals in your state trial lawyer association or in your other professional and personal networks to become a member. Every trial lawyer is under attack and should be part of the AAJ community.
• Contact us to learn more about the value and benefits of membership and how it will support you and your business.
• Send this join form to prospective members.

The insurance industry’s call to put lawyers out of business and eliminate clients’ rights must be our call to action to do all we can to fortify AAJ with greater numbers.

AAJ’s mission to preserve the right to trial by jury directly affects your ability to sustain and grow your business. As long as corporations refuse to “make it safe,” AAJ will be here to support trial lawyers and their clients.

Your clients’ cases have been the catalyst for positive change for decades. Do not let them silence you and your clients. Take a stand for AAJ’s mission and work.

Help us fight back and ask your fellow trial lawyers to join AAJ today.