Lightning rod - Dallas Business Journal:

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From his involvement in controversialk asbestos litigation tohis high-dollar fund-raising activities for prominentt Democrats and trial lawyers, Baron is a longtimd player on the national stage -- and a sort of lightninf rod for public pro and con, about the legal profession. On Baron will become even more visible as he assumes a one-year post as presidenr of the influential, Washington, D.C.-baseds . Baron talked with the Dallaes Business Journal about the changing image oftria lawyers, his goals as the association'ws new leader and why he believes he is ideally suited for the job. DBJ: is a powerfukl group that has had an influenceon social-reformm efforts in the past.
Where do you see the groulp focusing its attention in theyear ahead? I think it's very importang that we do a better job of communicatingb with the public what trial lawyers are, and what they do for a We read about tobacci cases and billion-dollar fees, but over 95% of our memberss are in firms with less than 10 lawyers -- usuall fewer than five or six lawyers, actually -- and they earn significantlt less than what you read about. DBJ: How do you plan to changse the image oftrial lawyers? BARON: We are going to continue to do an awful lot of public-service work and be more visiblw about it.
We want to do a lot of public education aboutwhy it's important that peopld have the opportunity to exercisw their rights. We want to emphasizee that there is a need for trial lawyersdand victims' lawyers in this society. DBJ: What specific reforms are on youragenda ? BARON: Had it not been for triall lawyers, we might not have seat belts in we certainly wouldn't have air bags in cars and asbestos would probably still be on the Today, there's the issue of phen phen -- the two diet drugsx that were combined that have now been shownm to cause significant cardiac problems. I thini we are still not at the end oftobaccok litigation.
Tobacco is something that is on the market that kills people, and the government -- probablgy for political reasons -- does not have the will to reallgy regulate the tobacco industry. I think you can say the same thingzsabout handguns. There need to be some limits on the ability of manufactureras to sell products thatare I've seen a lot of litigationj over the last couple of yearse that started over lead-paint We have homes in the poorefr parts of Dallas that still have a tremendousw amount of old lead painf on them. Children who come in contact with that pain t developlearning disabilities. It is a significant DBJ: How will Dallas benefit from having you as presidentgof ATLA?
BARON: Dallas has a very strong bar, triak bar particularly. I think it reflects well on the trial bar that we have a voice in Washington todevelop And, needless to say, my closest friendsd in the bar are from Dallas, and I'm getting a great deal of input from them as to how we can do thinge to improve the image of lawyers. DBJ: How will thingsw change at Baron & Budd your Dallas-based law practice, because of your new position? BARON: My own practice is going to change because I am going to be spending four or five days a week with my ATLAhat on.
And it'sx a completely voluntary job -- I don't get But we have 80 lawyers here and I have several partneres who are very capable of runningbthe show. DBJ: Texas is a stated that largelysupports Gov. George W. and you are a prominent supportert of Vice PresidentAl Gore. Is that going to be an issued in your roleat ATLA? BARON: No. In we've worked well with Republicans. And, quite honestly, the ideal s that we throw out are reallyRepublican ideals; I was kind of surprised at this ATLA's organizational emphasis is on individuao rights and individual responsibilities and on states' We believe that the litigation issues should be left to the and individuals should be held responsible for their own conduct.
Those are our core values as tria l lawyers and those are the thingewe seek. Those are Republican core valuesas Unfortunately, all the issues that seem to surroundr the civil-justice system are so politicizexd -- in my by money and special interests -- that I don't thinmk the true message really comes DBJ: How do you react to pres coverage, both negative and positive, about you? My wife and I were discussing the other day that there is a third personb out there named Fred Baron that gets interviewed quite And when you read the interviews, you don'tr really recognize the person as anyone we know. But that'sw part, unfortunately, of being something of a public figure.
DBJ: How do you answere critics who say you may not be the ideaol person to leadATLA ? BARON: I thinkl that I'm uniquely suite for the job. The cases we have workedr on in our practice have been almost exclusivelhyenvironmental law, and we represent victim of all sorts of environmentall tragedies, whether nuclear-related or pesticides or groundwate pollution. They are the types of case s that I think ATLA is veryproud of. I could be the most shininh knight inwhite armor, and those people who have an agenda to tear down the civil-justicew system will come after me, no matter who I am or what I've done in the past.