MinnLawyer Blog

I-35W bridge collapse survivor Erica Gwilliam discusss case, thanks pro bono attorneys at press conference announcing URS settlement.

The I-35W bridge fund, litigation and settlement have to represent the single biggest pro bono project in the history of the state’s bar. A total of 17 firms agreed to be a part of the unprecedented display of lawyer generosity. To give you an example of how impressive a showing this was, considered one of the firms that lead the charge — Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi. The Robbins firm had 130 of its employees (presumably including everything from senior partners and junior associates to paralegals and administrative staff) spend a total of 20,000 hours on the project. If you average everyone together — from high priced partner to support staff — and assign a $200/hour rate, that alone is a $4 million donation.

The I-35W bridge, not long after the collapse

Although money can never replace a life lost or provide a full measure of compensation for permanent pain, the financial results achieved were truly amazing. The state (which could have escaped with what would have been a token payment given the state/municipal liability cap) set up a special $37 million compensation fund for the survivors and families of the deceased. The plaintiffs received a $10 million settlement from a bridge contractor. Last week, URS, an engineering firm that inspected the bridge, settled for $54 million, bringing the victims’ total recovery to just about $100 million. The settlement brought to a close to all of the plaintiffs’ remaining claims over the Aug. 1, 2007 bridge disaster.

It was unlikely from the beginning that lawyers would take money out of the till from the special compensation fund. It would not sit well with the public to have the state dedicate this money it was not obligated to pay to the victims, only to have a third (or 40 percent) go to the lawyers (which is the routine range personal injury lawyers get.) This part of the case was most like the 9/11 fund, which also was part of a massive lawyer pro bono project.

Jim Schwebel

The fact that many lawyers would take the second part of the case (the litigation phase) without a fee was much more surprising to me. And not everyone agreed to do this. Minneapolis attorney Jim Schwebel took some heat (in that uniquely Minnesotan tongues-wagging-behind-the-scenes kind of way) for having the audacity to not waive his fee for bridge plaintiffs who signed with his firm. I never blamed him. This aspect of the case did not seem much different to me from what personal-injury lawyers typically do — representing the survivors and the families of those killed in tragedies. Whether you lost a loved one by the I-35W bridge collapse or by a collision caused by a drunk driver, it seems to me the pain and misery are pretty much the same – and each set of survivors is equally deserving.

However, listening to the survivors thank the lawyers at the press conference announcing the I-35W bridge settlement, it’s hard to be anything but proud of the efforts of those members of the bar who were able to do this pro bono. It was an act of generosity on the part of the bar that went above and beyond anything would have expected. (Law firms are businesses after all.) Kudos to those that were able to financially swing being part of this historic effort.

It’s funny, but in this age of lawyer bashing, not a lot was made of this pro bono effort in the media. Sure the consortium got some mention in the stories about the settlement, but by and large the public is not so much aware of the lawyer generosity involved that anybody seriously expects there to be a significant goodwill after glow toward lawyers. Perhaps, Mark Antony said it best in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” 

However, the act of generosity will never be forgotten by the survivors. To that point, this video of the settlement press conference is worth checking out: