In the News

National and State lawyer groups honor Richard Bieder for career aiding victims of crime, accidents, other trauma.

Connecticut trial lawyer awarded for helping 9-11 victims, others

July 28, 2004

Richard Bieder

Richard Bieder

BRIDGEPORT — After nearly 35 years of helping victims of crimes, accidents and malpractice, Attorney Richard A. Bieder has been named this year’s recipient of top awards from three lawyers’ associations.

Bieder, a partner in the law firm Koskoff, Koskoff and Bieder, has been given the Distinguished Service Award from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. The National Board of Trial Advocacy honored him with that organization’s top award for his contributions to trial law.

Bieder also was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Connecticut Trial Lawyers’ Association.

The Association of Trial Lawyers of America selected Bieder for its Distinguished Service Award for his “dedication to selflessly helping families in need” and for his leadership in helping create and now lead Trial Lawyers Care, an umbrella organization for 1,100 trial lawyers nationwide, that offered free legal services to more than 1,700 victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks. Trial Lawyers Care is the largest pro bono legal services program ever created.

The National Board of Trial Advocacy honored Bieder for his dedication to the trial bar. The non-profit Boston-based organization helps train and then certifies lawyers as specialists in civil, criminal or family trial law. The group also assists consumers in finding experienced and qualified trial attorneys.

Bieder was one of three leaders of Trial Lawyers Care that accepted the 2004 Public Justice Achievement Award given by Trial Lawyers for Public Justice. They accepted the award on behalf of the lawyers that donated the equivalent of more than 100 years of time representing victims of 9-11.

The Connecticut Trial Lawyers’ Association noted that its Lifetime Achievement Award went to Bieder because he has “championed plaintiff rights throughout the broad realm of the civil justice system – educating, encouraging and inspiring others to the high standards of integrity, ethical conduct and dedication that have characterized his service to all the injured he has courageously served.”

Among many high-profile cases, Bieder represented families of individuals killed in the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City. He was lead council for workers injured and killed in the 1987 collapse of L’Ambiance Plaza, a building under construction in Bridgeport. He represented individuals killed in a major hotel fire in Puerto Rico and families of victims of the Mianus River Bridge collapse in Greenwich, Conn.

Bieder is responsible for an important legal breakthrough in his handling of a Connecticut case that made persons who serve liquor to minors liable in any resulting accident. He was lead state court counsel in the Colonial Realty real estate fraud case, and he has represented many families of victims of the 9-11 attacks.

Bieder, who was raised in Stamford, is recognized and listed in Best Lawyers in America and has been a frequent consultant to Court TV.

Outside the United States, Bieder is a member of the Association of Plaintiff Lawyers, a United Kingdom organization, and the Australian Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Association. In addition to the state and federal courts of Connecticut, he is admitted to practice in the U.S. Court of Military Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.