A very good year.

ATLA's chief executive officer reviews the association's successes in safeguarding consumers and preserving individual rights.

The 1999-2000 fiscal year was one of great success for ATLA and its mission to protect consumers. Members gathered in record numbers at this year's annual convention in Chicago to share strategies for representing people harmed by the negligent conduct of others. The association won important battles on Capitol Hill, in state legislatures, and in courtrooms around the country. And the ATLA Endowment continued to grow, fortifying the foundation on which the organization will build its future.

The year also brought improvements in member services, including enhancements to the association's Web site and a long-distance learning program offered through the National College of Advocacy.

The importance of the civil justice system in the life of our nation was underscored at the Chicago convention in July when President Clinton addressed an audience of about 2,800 attendees. He stated his strong support of the right to trial by jury and emphasized, in particular, the need for Congress to pass a patients' bill of rights to protect consumers from negligent decision making by managed care organizations whose top priority is profit.

On that issue, Clinton was preaching to the choir. ATLA has played a key role in the coalition effort to enact a true patients' bill of rights. In a historic vote in October 1999, the House of Representatives voted to pass the Bipartisan Consensus Managed Care Improvement Act, which would greatly expand patients' access to care. The bill would also lift ERISA preemption to permit state law actions to recover damages for personal injury or death against an insurer or plan administrator. Senate Republican leadership opposition caused the legislation to die at the end of the 106th Congress.

The public demand for real patients' rights was also advanced by many of ATlas state affiliates, to which the association has sought to provide greater support than ever. Nine states have enacted some version of a patients' bill of rights, and at least 27 others considered managed care accountability legislation in 1999-2000.

Meanwhile, back on Capitol Hill, Congress expanded the legal rights of commercial aviation passengers by amending the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA). The association and victims' groups were instrumental in persuading lawmakers to allow recovery for nonpecuniary loss arising from commercial aviation accidents that result in death on the high seas. The Public Affairs Department, looking to build on that victory, pressed Congress to go further, and last July the Senate voted to expand DOHSA rights for deaths at sea arising from maritime accidents. The provision did not pass, but ATLA will encourage its introduction in the next Congress.

In another major legislative victory this year, a bill that would have shielded asbestos companies from liability for the harm caused by their product was stopped in its tracks. In an effort coordinated by Public Affairs and the association's Media Relations Department, ATLA members' clients who have been devastated by asbestos-related diseases came to Washington to tell lawmakers their stories. The testimony made clear the harshness of the bill, which would have deprived these families of their legal rights and severely limited the compensation available to them. Last spring, the corporate-backed bill died for lack of bipartisan support.

Constitutional challenges

Where tort "reform" has been successful in state legislatures, ATLA is taking the battle to the courts. The Legal Affairs Department is working with the association's state affiliates to challenge the constitutionality of laws that restrict access to justice. The effort claimed notable victories this year in Indiana, Oregon, and Ohio.

In Indiana, the state supreme court struck down a statute of limitations on medical malpractice cases. In Oregon, a 12-year-old $500,000 cap on noneconomic damages was found unconstitutional. And in Ohio, the nation's most draconian and, at 246 pages, the longest tort "reform" law was held to violate the state constitution. The Ohio case marked the first time an attorney on the ATLA staff argued before a state supreme court. The court endorsed those arguments, finding that the legislature had overstepped its authority and enacted a measure that was "openly subversive of the separation of powers."

Additional constitutional challenges are in the works in Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nebraska, and North Carolina.

Oregon voters also recently demonstrated that when people have the truth, they understand that tort "reform" means giving up their legal rights. In May, Oregon voters rejected by a 3-1 margin a proposed constitutional amendment to take power away from juries and allow the legislature to limit all civil damages.

Endowment grows

To ensure that ATLA and its allies can continue the fight to preserve the civil justice system and protect individual rights, the association has worked hard this year to build the ATLA Endowment, created by the Board of Governors in 1995. The Endowment has received pledges of more than $16 million, and more than $5 million has been received to date. Income from the Endowment--the corpus will remain untouched--is already financing worthy research projects necessary for the advancement of the civil justice system.

A number of grants from the Endowment have gone to the Roscoe Pound Institute, formerly known as the Roscoe Pound Foundation. The name change, announced last February, reflects the broader mission of the Pound Institute as a think tank that will balance the "research" disseminated by entities attempting to limit individual access to the civil justice system. The institute will establish a center for civil justice research and scholarship that will be presented in a variety of ways to ensure the broadest possible dissemination and impact, so that the next generation of judges, lawyers, and law school professors will be well versed in the crucial, positive role played by the civil justice system.

Education efforts

One of ATLas most valuable services to members is the array of continuing legal education programs offered by the National College of Advocacy. For years, the NCA has hosted superior programs for trial attorneys, and the schedule has been expanding steadily to accommodate growing attendance. This year, the NCA launched a new long-distance learning program that will allow members with Internet access to participate in training programs without leaving their offices.

The NCA will build a robust multimedia curriculum available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at www.cledirect.org. With lower overhead costs for the association, more programs can be held on topics that might not be feasible as in-person seminars. This format will allow more faculty to participate than is possible with traditional seminars. A program on dealing with Allstate and other insurance companies in auto cases is currently available, and a number of high-quality programs are being developed for 2001.

ATLA's educational mission extends beyond its members to the general public, which is bombarded by negative messages about the civil justice system by tort "reform" advocates. The Media Relations Department monitors press coverage of civil justice issues and responds promptly when news reports or editorials give a distorted picture of the jury system.

Public information and education efforts this year have included letters to the editor, op-ed columns, and faxes and telephone calls to editorial page editors soliciting favorable editorials. The department works with ATLA members, state affiliates, and other consumer organizations to provide accurate, positive information to balance the myths that are propagated about jury verdicts and other aspects of the civil justice system.

Of particular note this year was ATLA's successful media campaign regarding the asbestos bill. Media Relations built on a local story about a W.R. Grace Co. vermiculite/asbestos mine and processing plant in Libby, Montana, and transformed it into major regional and national coverage of asbestos, its dangers, and the legislation in Congress. Major stories appeared in hundreds of newspapers across the country and on network news programs, and dozens of editorials opposing the legislation were published. These ATLA efforts were instrumental in the bill's defeat.

World-class Web site

Embarking on the new century, ATLA has committed itself to developing a world-class Web site that will be indispensable not only to members, but to the trial bar generally, the media, and the public. Among the improvements will be a greatly enhanced ATLA Exchange, with more electronic documents, pertinent hot-topic packets, and information on experts instantly available to members. An improved atla.org was launched in September, and new enhancements are on the way.

There were other highlights in 1999-2000, including the introduction of a new logo and slogan "Balancing the Scales of Justice" and the rededication of the headquarters building in Washington, D.C. The building was renamed the Leonard M. Ring Law Center in memory of one of ATlas most inspiring leaders.

It has been an outstanding year, but ATLA cannot rest on its laurels. New challenges lie ahead. The association's officers, members, and staff will continue to work hard to fulfill ATLA's mission and to balance the scales of justice.

Thomas H. Henderson Jr. is chief executive officer of ATLA.