A fund to protect the civil justice system.

The Robert L. Habush ATLA Endowment was created to fund programs that will create public understanding and provide research and ideas to promote the civil justice system in the 21st century. The Endowment functions as a grant-making foundation with the mission to preserve and protect the civil justice system and individual rights. It does this by providing consistent public education and research to promote informed public dialogue on, understanding of, and appreciation for the civil justice system. Additionally, the Endowment sponsors prestigious education programs and publications for judges and law professors and funds innovative scholarship and research on the civil justice system and individual rights. These issues are addressed through four institutes: the Public Education Institute, the Judicial Institute, the Law School Institute, and the Research Institute.

TRIAL is proud to feature profiles of ATLA members who have completely fulfilled their commitment to the Endowment. The next four of the series appear on the following pages. For a complete list of Endowment Profiles, please see the 2005-06 ATLA Membership Directory Supplement.

For more information, please call [phone], ext 544, or send a message to [e-mail].

Paul D. Rheingold is senior partner in Rheingold, Valet, Rheingold, Shkolnik & McCartney LLP, a firm of trial lawyers in New York City.

He graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1958. He has served on steering committees and has held similar positions in mass tort cases involving myriad drug products and medical devices, including Ephedra, Albuterol, L-Tryptophan, the Dalkon Shield, MER/29, and diet pills. He has served on the faculty of Harvard Law School and has lectured at many other law schools. He was a visiting scholar at the RAND Institute for Civil Justice and at Stanford Law School. He has been an adviser on two American Law Institute restatements. He is the author of Mass Tort Litigation, published by WestGroup and updated annually, as well as many articles. He is cochair of the Ephedra and Phenylpropanolamine ATLA Litigation Groups and was chair of many previous litigation groups. He is a former secretary of ATLA.

Joyce Rheingold is on the board of directors of Open Door, a Westchester County, New York, provider of free medical services to the poor, and is active in other local fundraisers.

Gary C. Robb and Anita Porte Robb are partners in the Kansas City, Missouri, law firm of Robb & Robb LLC. Both are cum laude graduates of the University of Michigan Law School.

Mr. Robb is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and as a board-certified civil trial attorney by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.

Ms. Robb has been recognized by the National Law Journal as one of the top 10 women trial lawyers in the country. She is a past president of the Association of Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City and past chair of the Medical-Legal Committee of the Kansas City Bar Association. Ms. Robb is the author of Missouri's New Medical Malpractice Law: Practice Guidebook and Forms, published by the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law in 1994.

Mr. Robb is the immediate past president of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys and serves on its executive committee. He is a past chair of the ATLA Products Liability Section and is chair-elect of the ATLA Aviation Section. He is also a past cochair of the ABA Section of Litigation Aviation Litigation Committee.

Mr. Robb is the author of numerous articles that have been published in TRIAL magazine, including: "How to Select and Use Aviation Experts" (November 2002), "Suing Foreign Product Manufacturers" (November 1999), "General Aviation Cases: Investigating the Case and Knowing the Law and Applicable Rules" (November 1997), "Deposing the Product Manufacturer's In-House Engineers" (November 1994), "10 Steps for Maintaining the Plaintiff's Litigation Edge" (November 1993), and "Pre-Filing Preparation of a Products Liability Lawsuit" (July 1989). Mr. Robb is also the general editor of Missouri's Products Liability Handbook, published by the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law since 1984.

Mr. and Ms. Robb have represented plaintiffs in many high-profile cases, including Sen. Jean Carnahan and her family in a case arising from the death of Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan in a plane crash; wrestling star Owen Hart, who was killed during a failed stunt where he fell eight stories into the ring before a live television audience; the Daskal family in a case filed after the fiery crash of a Papillion helicopter in a tour over the Grand Canyon; and the family of Judge Michael Coburn, who was killed while conducting a building inspection when he fell down an unguarded elevator shaft.

Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley is a nationally recognized trial law firm, committed to protecting and vindicating the rights of people injured through negligence, deceit, and abuse of power. It has represented clients in courtrooms throughout Florida and across the nation, often with unprecedented results. Over the past 30 years, the firm has recovered record-setting settlements and verdicts for clients. These verdicts and settlements have been among the highest in Florida and the nation.

The firm takes pride in its experience and professional integrity. The lawyers on its litigation team, all of whom have courtroom experience, are assisted by a support staff of professionals with backgrounds in insurance, law enforcement, and nursing. The firm is equipped with state-of-the-art technology to ensure that its cases are organized, its presentations are powerful and effective, and its messages reach opposing attorneys, insurance adjusters, judges, and, ultimately, jurors.

The firm also maintains ongoing relationships with nationally known experts in fields such as medicine, law enforcement, engineering, business, and economics to ensure that cases are well founded and carefully supported.

Serving clients is the firm's primary goal. It extends that service outside the courtroom through dedicated efforts to fight for the rights of clients on political and legislative fronts. Its commitment also includes extensive philanthropic endeavors. The firm supports over 100 charitable and civic causes each year, donating time and much-needed capital to the community.

Highly skilled and professional legal services, substantial resources, responsiveness, commitment to clients and the community, innovation, and endurance are the hallmarks of Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley.

The firm's lawyers are licensed to practice in the following jurisdictions:

* District of Columbia 

* Florida

* Massachusetts

* New Jersey

* New Mexico

* Virginia

David S. Shrager was senior partner of Shrager, Spivey & Sachs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in 1957 (with honors and Phi Beta Kappa), earning his J.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1960.

Shrager was the principal founder of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association and served as its president from 1971 to 1972. He served as president of ATLA from 1983 to 1984. He continued to serve as an active member of the ATLA leadership. By appointment of the ATLA president, he was a member of the Executive Committee. He served as president of the Roscoe Pound Foundation from 1985 to 1988. As a former chairman of the Organization Review Committee, he oversaw the adoption of significant changes in the bylaws dealing mainly with the governing structure of ATLA.

Shrager served for six years as a member of the Board of Overseers for the RAND Institute for Civil Justice. On appointment by the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, he was as a member of the Civil Procedural Rules Committee of that court. He also served as chair of the Civil Litigation Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

Shrager was awarded ATLA's Harry M. Philo Award in 1995 for his leadership support of the rights and dignity of individuals through the civil justice system. In 2004, he was awarded the prestigious Leonard M. Ring Award, given annually to that ATLA member who has distinguished himself or herself in support of the advancement of the purposes of the association.

He was listed in The Best Lawyers in America from 1990 to 2006. From 1993 to 2006, was listed in Martindale-Hubbell's Preeminent Practitioners for Civil Trial Practice.

Shrager appeared on multiple occasions before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, including in cases that resulted in fundamental changes in the law protecting the rights of injury victims. He served as court-appointed national lead counsel in litigation on behalf of about 6,000 hemophiliacs who contracted HIV-related illness. He also served, by court appointment, as national lead counsel in litigation on behalf of more than 1,000 health care workers who alleged injuries from latex glove allergy.

He served as judge pro tern for the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas and as a mediator for the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Shrager was a frequent lecturer and author on civil litigation topics. He was a guest lecturer at many law schools and before dozens of organized bar groups. He was the editor of Pennsylvania's No-Fault Motor Vehicle Act and is coauthor of The Quotable Lawyer (1998).