Campaign brings results on Capitol Hill, training to the states.

ATLA's aggressive communications campaign intensified in the months of May and June, helping to beat back bad legislation on Capitol Hill and drive the association's message about the civil justice system in the media.

Going into the Senate debate over legislation to cap damages in medical negligence cases, ATLA ran a full-page ad in the New York Times to expose the insurance industry's price-gouging of health care providers and its true motive--to pad its already bloated pocketbook.

ATLA took on the elected officials advocating for caps on damages, running hard-hitting television ads in Pennsylvania and Montana. One of the ads attacked Montana Sen. Conrad Burns (R) for supporting a cap of $250,000 on the value of a human life.

The other pointed out the hypocrisy of Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (R) on the issue and his ties to the insurance industry. ATLA also launched an Internet campaign against Santorum, which included a new Web site called TrickyRicky Santorum.com. The Senate rejected both med-mal bills.

Meanwhile, ATLA's opposition-research shop continued to expose distortions and propaganda being spread by the other side. When the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) released its "ranking" of state liability systems--an excuse for it to call for proposals to dismantle the civil justice system--ATLA's research exposed PRI as a front group for corporate wrongdoers like Exxon Mobil, Altria, and Pfizer. The media reported the corporate ties that discredited the group's findings.

A critical part of the communications campaign is helping state trial lawyer associations create and implement their own plans to reinforce the pro-civil-justice message. That effort kicked off recently with three regional communications training programs.

The first, held in May in Washington, D.C., included 6 TLA executive directors and 9 communications staff from 11 states. Led by ATLA Vice President for Communications Chris Mather and the communications team, the session focused on strategic communications planning and skills-building. Two more sessions were held in June in Chicago and Denver. A total of 48 TLA staff from 38 states took part.

Since the launch of the campaign, members of ATLA's communications staff have traveled to more than 25 states to meet and work with state TEL staff and leaders. In addition to holding the regional trainings, the team has

* held monthly strategy calls

* sent weekly e-mails with talking points, press materials, and planning information

* created a rapid-response hotline for urgent requests

* written op-ed articles, press releases, and letters to the editor for local media

* created an integrated team of ATLA staff from the lobbying, grassroots, state affairs, research, and communications departments to provide strategic assistance to states facing legislative and electoral challenges.

In the fall, ATLA will provide additional training to enhance the communications skills and capacity of the state trial lawyer associations.