Fight for Justice Campaign lakes message to the media.

AAJ's Fight for Justice Communications Campaign continues to spread a powerful message about the work that trial lawyers do confronting those who support civil justice restrictions.

A key component of the campaign is the dissemination of stories about the service trial lawyers provide. AAJ's professional television and radio booker placed stories with CNN about the insurance industry's mistreatment of Hurricane Katrina victims and with CBS about negligent care at assisted-living facilities.

In January, the New York Times published an article that tells the story AAJ has been pushing since the campaign was launched--that the efforts by proponents of civil justice restrictions have had a detrimental effect on our country, especially those who are injured and must seek justice. For the story, AAJ's Communications Department worked with the reporter and provided research compiled in its war room. To view the article, visit www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/opinion/14sun2.html?_r= 2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin (subscription required).

Also, the Washington Post recently reported that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform conducted a poll on the AAJ name change. Here is an excerpt from the story (the full story is available at www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/ 16/AR2007011601429.html):

   Seems that the Association of Trial Lawyers
   of America (ATLA) was onto something
   when members voted to change its
   name to the American Association for
   Justice (AAJ).... Its archrivals at the U.S.
   Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR)
   have proof that it was a smart move, according
   to a Jan. 4 memo to donors by ILR
   President Lisa Rickard.... The name
   change has a lasting impression.... In
   every focus group, at least one if not more
   participants said ATLA's name change to
   AAJ was their most powerful takeaway....

      AAJ--that's the trial lawyers-spokeswoman
   Chris Mather said this
   "endorsement from the Chamber of
   Commerce gives me second thoughts"
   about the name change. She suggested
   the ILR might be called the "Chamber of
   Corporate Criminals."

      "They defend Halliburton, Philip
   Morris, Exxon, and Enron," she said. "We
   are fighting for people and they are
   fighting for corporate bottom lines."

The U.S. Chamber's strategy is never to use the new name. AAJ members' strategy should be to always use it.

The campaign also continues to counter baseless attacks on the civil justice system.

The communications staff distributed to the press a "pre-buttal" statement debunking the "judicial hellhole" report issued by the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA). The statement showed that no facts back up the report's claims and noted that ATRA--a front group for powerful corporations--intended the document to make lawmakers in targeted states more receptive to civil justice restrictions. As a result, the press gave minimal coverage to the report. The few press accounts that were published included facts contradicting the study.

AAJ's Fight for Justice Communications Campaign will continue to tell the trial lawyers' story and fight back against those seeking to eliminate the right of Americans to hold wrongdoers accountable.