Report Details The Ties That Bind AGs, Trial Lawyers
A new report by the Manhattan Institute details the close financial ties between trial lawyers and state attorneys general, in what the author calls a “questionable bargain between the trial bar and the states’ top law-enforcement officers.” The report, Trial Lawyers Inc.: Attorneys General shows how AGs like Mississippi’s Jim Hood raise thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from lawyers whom they then appoint to represent the state in lawsuits that bring them millions of dollars in fees.
It’s an old story, of course. I wrote about how the AGs’ professional association, the National Association of Attorneys General, reaped more than $100 million from the tobacco settlement that is still throwing off $500 million a year in fees to the politically-connected lawyers who negotiated it.
Forbes
10/25/11
Magnolia Tribune
