Trial Lawyers Care – For 9-11 Victim Free Legal Aid – Names Richard Bieder President
January 21, 2004
NEW YORK — Connecticut attorney Richard Bieder has been named president of Trial Lawyers Care, Inc., the national nonprofit organization providing free legal services to families and victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Bieder, of the Bridgeport, Conn. law firm, Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder, is nationally known for individual and class-action cases resulting from mass disasters, consumer rights, personal injuries, unfair trade practices and commercial fraud and misrepresentation.
John Bailey, Executive Director of Trial Lawyers Care, said, “I am looking forward to working with Atty. Bieder. His range of experience and well-known compassion for victims will ensure that the work of Trial Lawyers Care will continue toward a just conclusion for the victims of the 9-11 disaster.”
Atty. Bieder, who has been a member of the organization’s Board of Directors since it was formed in October 2001, replaces outgoing Trial Lawyers Care president, Atty. Leo V. Boyle, whose term expired.
Trial Lawyers Care is the largest pro bono legal program ever undertaken with at least 1,000 volunteer attorneys representing more than 1,500 victims in 35 states and 11 countries who have chosen to make claims under the government’s September 11 Victim Compensation Fund. The organization was created by the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) in conjunction with state trial lawyer associations, especially those in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
He represented victims of the collapse of the L’Ambiance Plaza building in Bridgeport, Conn., and victims of the Dupont Hotel fire in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He advises families of individuals killed in the Oklahoma City bombing and the plane crash that resulted in the death of former U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown.
Atty. Bieder, listed in The Best Lawyers in America, is a Certified Civil Trial Advocate and a past president of the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He is a member of United Kingdom’s Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers, and the Australian Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Association. He is a for former member of the U.S. Navy’s Judge Advocates Corps, is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and New York University School of Law.