Gerry Spence

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Gerry Spence (b. January 8, 1929, Laramie, Wyoming) is one of the most renowned trial lawyers in the United States, and has had more multi-million dollar verdicts without an intervening loss than any other lawyer in America.

Spence graduated from the University of Wyoming Law School in 1952. The University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in May 1990. Spence started his career as a prosecutor, and later became a successful attorney for the insurance industry.

Years later, Spence said he "saw the light" and became committed to representing people, instead of corporations, insurance companies, banks, or Big Business.[1]

Spence first gained national attention and is most well known for the Karen Silkwood case.[2] Karen Silkwood was a chemical technician at the Kerr-McGee plutonium production plant, where she became an activist and vocal critic of plant safety. On November 13, 1974, Silkwood died in a fatal one-car crash under mysterious circumstances, after reportedly gathering evidence for her union. Spence represented Silkwood's father and children, who charged that Kerr-McGee was responsible for exposing Silkwood to dangerous levels of radiation. Spence won a $10,500,000 verdict for the family.

In 1984, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the family's right to sue under state law for punitive damages from a federally regulated industry. [3] The Silkwood case achieved international fame and was the subject of many books, magazine and newspaper articles, and even a major motion picture.

After Silkwood, Spence tried a number of high profile cases. He has not lost a jury trial since 1969, and has never lost a criminal case, although he has had several of his more prominent civil verdicts overturned on appeal and lost a 1985 manslaughter case at trial, later prevailing on appeal. Spence successfully defended Randy Weaver on murder, assault, conspiracy, and gun charges in the Ruby Ridge, Idaho federal standoff case, and Ed Cantrell in the Rock Springs, Wyoming murder case. He also won the acquittal of former Filipino First Lady Imelda Marcos in New York City on federal racketeering charges.

In civil litigation, Spence won a $52,000,000 verdict against McDonald's Corporation on behalf of a small, family-owned ice cream company. A medical malpractice verdict of over $4,000,000 established a new standard for nursing care in Utah. Spence also earned a $33,500,000 verdict for emotional and punitive damages for his quadriplegic client, after a major insurance company refused to pay on the $50,000 policy. Spence continues to actively practice law, maintaining his longtime law office, now known as the Spence Law Firm, located in Jackson, Wyoming.

During the election season of 2004, Spence, a vocal opponent of tort reform, crisscrossed his native Wyoming spearheading a series of self-funded town hall style meeting to inform voters of an upcoming ballot measure, Constitutional Amendment D, which would have limited Wyoming citizens' ability to recover compensation if injured by medical malpractice. The ballot measure failed with a 50.3% "No" vote.

Gerry Spence is the author of sixteen books, fifteen of which remain in print, including Gunning for Justice, Of Murder and Madness, Trial By Fire, With Justice for None, From Freedom to Slavery: The Rebirth of Tyranny in America, How to Argue and Win Every Time, The Making of a Country Lawyer, O.J.: The Last Word, "The Smoking Gun," [4] and Give Me Liberty.[5][6]

For many years, Spence has lectured at law schools and conducted seminars at various legal organizations around the country. He is the founder and director of the non-profit Trial Lawyers College, where lawyers learn to try cases on behalf of the people.

He is also the founder of Lawyers and Advocates for Wyoming, a non-profit, public interest law firm. Spence served as legal consultant for NBC television covering the O.J. Simpson trial and has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, and Geraldo.

Gerry Spence and his second wife, Imogene Spence, share their time between homes near Jackson, Wyoming and Santa Barbara, California.