SAN FRANCISCO, July 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Mary Alexander, National Political
Action Committee Chair of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA)
and a San Francisco consumer advocacy attorney, reported today that 98% of the
September 11th victims' families nationwide opted to apply to the Victims'
Compensation Fund, rather than sue by last month's deadline.
    Trial Lawyers Care (TLC), more than 1100 trial lawyers providing help as
volunteers to the victims of the September 11th disasters, represented over
half of the 2900 victims' families from the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and
Pennsylvania. "ATLA's work was the largest pro-bono legal effort in U.S.
history," Alexander said.
    Alexander wrote an article in the San Francisco and Los Angeles Daily
Journals today saying, "The families were devastated by their loss and grief.
Litigation would have caused uncertainty and time, given that suits were
considered against airline giants, security companies, foreign governments,
and terrorist organizations among others."
    "The greatest achievement of the Victims' Compensation Fund has been to
bring justice to the families - including those in the Bay Area," said
Alexander.  Melissa Mennie, 27-year-old daughter of Alan Mennie of San
Leandro, was working in the Pentagon when Flight 77 crashed into it.  Derrill
Bodley's daughter Deora, 20, a student at Santa Clara University, was the
youngest person on Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania.
    Alexander wrote, "ATLA felt that if the country were to protect airlines
from the financial impact of 9-11, it certainly should assist the individual
victims (and their families) of this unprecedented attack.  To leave the
families out in the cold would have been the ultimate injustice."
    "Leaders on both sides of the aisle agreed," Alexander stated.  On
September 21, 2001, "in a remarkable spirit of bipartisan comity, Congress
passed and the president signed into law the Victim Compensation Fund."
    Kenneth Feinberg, Special Master to the Fund, and Supreme Court Justice
Stephen Breyer recently attended this month's ATLA national convention and
honored the efforts and contributions made by Trial Lawyers Care.  Alexander
was presented an award for her pro bono representation of 9-11 victims.
    "I've never been more proud in my life of what trial lawyers did than for
the people and families who were victims of the September 11th attack against
America," said Alexander, whom the San Francisco Daily Journal recently named
one of the top 50 female lawyers in California.

    CONTACT:  Bob Weiner, Taylor Jubanowsky, or Sasha Varghese of Robert
Weiner Associates, +1-301-283-0821 or +1-202-329-1700.

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