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. In 2008 he made it public that he would retire, at age 79, at the end of the Geoffrey Fieger trial in Detroit, MI. Spence never lost a criminal case in the over 50 years he practiced law.[1]

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[edit] Background

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 defense 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.[2]

[edit] Karen Silkwood

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, what would now be known as a whistleblower. 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 $10.5 million 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.

[edit] High Profile Cases

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, by successfully impugning the conduct of the FBI and its crime lab. He also successfully defended Ed Cantrell in the Rock Springs, Wyoming murder case, and 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 million verdict against McDonald's Corporation on behalf of a small, family-owned ice cream company. A medical malpractice verdict of over $4 million established a new standard for nursing care in Utah. Spence also earned a $33.5 million 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.

[edit] Spence & Tort Reform

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.

[edit] Books

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, Bloodthirsty Bitches and Pious Pimps of Power, The Smoking Gun, [4] and Give Me Liberty.[5] [6]

[edit] Miscellaneous

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.

In 1986, Spence defended Lee Harvey Oswald in a 21-day television trial sponsored by London Weekend Television in the United Kingdom. The trial involved an actual U.S. judge, a jury of U.S. citizens, and actual witnesses to the events leading up to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The unscripted trial, and the preparation for it, inspired Vincent Bugliosi's book Reclaiming History.

Note also that Spence lost this trial to a jury, which convicted Oswald on the count of murder in the first degree.

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. He briefly had his own talk show on MSNBC, which he hosted from his home in Wyoming.

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

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080602/METRO/806020407&imw=Y
  2. ^ a b Gerry Spence Biography at speakers' bureau site.
  3. ^ Silkwood Case Laid To Rest, August 30, 1986, Science News.
  4. ^ The Smoking Gun
  5. ^ Give Me Liberty at BookReporter.
  6. ^ Gerry Spence Biography at Trial Lawyers College.

[edit] External links

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