Sunday, July 16, 2006

ATLA Changing Its Name?


The Association of Trial Lawyers of America will vote on Wednesday whether to change its name to the American Association for Justice. ATLA's president, Ken Suggs, sent a letter to members explaining that changing the name would help the organization reach the public:

Our research shows that if our message is about helping lawyers, we lose. On the other hand, if we're about getting justice and holding wrongdoers accountable, we win.
Trial lawyers to vote on changing name, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 15, 2006.

Of course, some critics are having fun with this.
"If I renamed a shark a 'kitten fish,' would I let my goddaughter play with it?" quipped Victor Schwartz, general counsel of the American Tort Reform Association, a group that wants to crack down on frivolous suits and put limits on jury awards.
Id.

A Washington Post columnist said that the name "American Association for Justice" "edged out runner-up suggestion 'Association for Apple Pie, Motherhood and the American Way,' or AAPMAW." Al Kamen, Just Don't Call Them the Suers, Wash. Post, July 14, 2006, at A19.

ATLA's 2006 Annual Convention is in Seattle, through Wed. July 18.

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Graphic by mw.

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