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Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Law - Senator Edward's Legal Career
The NY Times has a very interesting feature today titled "Edwards's Lawyerly Style Drew Fierce Foes and Fans." A few quotes:
In Mr. Edwards's first race for public office, the 1998 Senate campaign, he "faced the charge that he was getting wealthy off the insurance companies and the H.M.O.'s," said Jack Fleer, emeritus professor of political science at Wake Forest University and author of the book North Carolina Politics. "But he turned that around," Professor Fleer continued, "saying that he was the advocate of the little guy. The general population may say sure, there is a problem with trial lawyers' getting rich off these cases. But there are also problems with corporations' being insensitive to average citizens."Mr. Edwards won that race, to the relief of defendants here. In the two decades before that, his quick intelligence, native charm and impressive work ethic, coupled with his rigorous selection process, came to terrify his adversaries - often to the point where they would settle the cases upon learning that Mr. Edwards was involved. * * *
His very name had power, [former adversary, James P. Cooney III] said. When settlement discussions involving other plaintiff lawyers came to an impasse, they would invoke Mr. Edwards. "'You either pay me what I want or I'm going to get John Edwards,' they'd say," Mr. Cooney recalled. "They would be using his name for leverage, and I'm sure he never knew it was happening."
Michael J. Dayton, the editor of The North Carolina Lawyers Weekly, said that reputation was built on more than anecdotes and impressions. "The numbers speak for themselves," Mr. Dayton said. "He had over 42 multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements and another 33 right near a million."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 14, 2004 01:48 PM
Posted to General Law Related