Lawyers turn loss into hope

After the destruction wrought by terrorists on 11 September, lawyers have played a vital role in securing compensation for the victims' families.

But they have also had to cope with their own losses.

One year on from the attacks in the US, Linda Tsang describes how US law firms have rebuilt their practices

In common with many professionals based in and around the twin towers of the World Trade Centre, the US legal community suffered its own losses in the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, including lawyers who were passengers on the hijacked planes.

The reaction to deal with the immediate fallout from the attacks was swift, with legislation passed in Congress to allow airlines assistance and put a cap on their liabilities, and to set up a compensation fund for the thousands of victims.

The fund awards are determined by a Special Master, Kenneth Feinberg, a New York and Washington DC attorney appointed by the Attorney-General.

David Shapiro, a consultant at City firm SJ Berwin, was asked by Mr Feinberg in June to help the relatives of UK families make claims.

At the end of last month, just under a year after the attacks, nine victims' families accepted cheques from the federal government's compensation fund.

So far, 662 people have applied to the fund, out of families of the more than 3,000 killed and injured in the attacks, said the Justice Department.

Those who claim an award from the fund must give up their right to sue the airlines and other entities, although they are free to sue terrorists.

The fund was set up as an alternative to the courts by Congress as part of the $15 billion airline bailout passed soon after the attacks.

The average award for the original applicants is $1.36 million (870,000); payments range from $300,000 to $3 million.

Lawyers also reacted quickly.

Immediately after the attacks, a group of 130 volunteer lawyers worked to help the families of the thousands of people missing, arranging to compile affidavits to establish that their missing relatives were at the twin towers when they collapsed.

Teams of lawyers from leading firms such as Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (which has its office overlooking what is now Ground Zero, and was unable to return until December), Davis Polk & Wardwell and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy were among those giving help to the victims' families.

Davis Polk pro bono partner James Windels, who also chairs the New York City Bar Association's pro bono and legal services committee, praises all the bar's work and efforts to match lawyers with victims to give advice.

He says: 'We helped in setting up the systems such as drafting retention letters and dealing with ethical issues.

There is still ongoing work for many of the small businesses in the area regarding contractual obligations and dealing with logistical and infrastructure problems.'

Other firms which are active in this area are Strook Strook & Lavan, Sullivan & Cromwell and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison.

And the American Trial Lawyers Association set up Trial Lawyers Care Inc to help by giving pro bono advice on personal injury claims.

In London, immediately after the attacks, US firms in the City such as Arnold & Porter, Dechert, Broebeck Hale & Dorr, White & Case, Brown Rudnick Freed & Gesmer, Davis Polk & Wardwell and Dewey Ballantine were contacted by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Solicitors Pro Bono Group to give free legal advice to the British families bereaved by the attacks.

One year on, Felicity Kirk, pro bono officer at White & Case, says: 'The work we did was not just legal to deal with probate and any claims to compensation and the waiving of rights to litigate, but practical advice too.

In fact, I still liaise with the families, and we also set up a fund for one of the victims who worked for [bond traders] Cantor Fitzgerald.'

Back in the US, for those wanting to litigate, the reaction was also swift.

Within a week of the attacks on the twin towers, one family of a passenger who was killed on American Airlines Flight 11, which smashed into the north tower of the World Trade Centre, instructed New York lawyer Lee Kreindler, whose firm Kreindler & Kreindler is now representing about 250 victims' families.

His firm has been at the centre of efforts to recover damages from the 1988 sabotage of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie.

Mr Kreindler says: 'The 1988 event laid the groundwork for attempts to sue governments deemed responsible for the attacks.

Although we didn't realise it at the time, the age of terrorism was upon us.'

He adds: 'What happened on 11 September is unique in every way, from the federal compensa-tion fund to the legislation setting it up.

After our experience with the Pan Am Flight 103, we are in this for the long haul.'

Mr Kreindler says there were several 'interesting issues' being researched by his firm, including potential actions under a 1996 amendment to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and another amendment, passed in 1998, that together opened the way for huge damages against states that support terrorism.

He says: 'I saw a report out of Israel that Iraq may have been working with bin Laden.

If that is true, then we may be able to proceed against Iraq, bin Laden and possibly even Afghanistan.

That would be an extremely important liability consideration for all plaintiffs, whether on the aeroplanes or in the building.'

In a sign that a number of other victims and their families may turn to the courts, nearly 1,500 people and businesses filed notices of claim with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey - which owned the twin towers - by the 10 July deadline, preserving their right to sue.

Not all of those claimants will necessarily file lawsuits.

But New York law requires lawsuits against the Port Authority to be filed within a year of the incident prompting the litigation, so the lawsuits must be filed by this week.

A major insurance issue has also been thrown up - whether the two strikes counted as one or two events for the purposes of insurance.

A trial is scheduled to start in November.

In addition, ten lawsuits have been filed so far against the airlines, while there has also been a great deal of soul-searching among US lawyers about the legal rights of those being held by the US in Cuba or charged in the US.

There was fury in November at the decision to let investigators monitor communications between attorneys and clients in prison, including those detained but not charged with any crime.

But away from the substantive legal issues, one year on, the law firms that lost their own have been supporting the families and their employees.

Harris Beach - a 185-lawyer firm with offices across New York State - was the worst affected by the attacks.

Managing partner Gunther Buerman says: 'The events of 11 September were indeed tragic, and the loss of several colleagues and friends made it even more personal and more difficult.

Our New York City office on the 85th floor of Two World Trade Centre was destroyed in the attacks, and we lost six of our colleagues.

'While the events of that day affected us in ways difficult to put into words, they did not destroy the strength, the perseverance or the resolve of our New York City attorneys and staff to move forward.

And despite all the challenges we faced, our clients not only stuck with us but increased the level of business we were receiving and we have gained many new clients throughout the year.

'It has been a long year but the entire firm has hung together in the best way possible and we are focusing on the future and looking forward to the best of times after living through some of the worst.'

For the firms which had lost their offices, such as top five practice Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, Tom Smith, partner and a member of the management committee, says: 'We were fortunate that [pre-merger] Sidleys had an office on 3rd Avenue that we could all squeeze into.' Many competitors gave up office space for those made officeless by the attacks, and also made major contributions for all the victims.

Many of the firms affected are marking the events of 11 September within the office.

The staff at Cleary Gottlieb went back to their offices last December, overlooking the site that was the World Trade Centre.

Administrative partner Allan Sperling says: 'We will not be closing the office - many want to be together in this period of heightened emotions.

But we will be flexible as to how people will want to deal with this in their different ways.

Looking forward, the city has been remarkable in its ability to recover, and I am optimistic that they will do the right thing in redeveloping the site with a worthy memorial.'

Linda Tsang is a freelance journalist

Firms with offices in or near the World Trade Centre towers

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton - the 650-lawyer firm's main office is at One Liberty Plaza, which faces the twin towers.

At the time, the building was reported to be structurally sound, but access was blocked by a mountain of debris and it was inside the emergency area.

Staff returned to One Liberty Plaza on 3 December.

Harris Beach - had 50 lawyers and a total of 113 staff in its office on the 85th floor of the south tower.

Six were killed.

The firm moved into a new office last week, located at 805 Third Avenue in midtown Manhattan.

Sidley Austin Brown & Wood - the former head office of Brown & Wood was in the north tower of the World Trade Centre.

Telephone operator Rosemary Smith, having been evacuated, is thought to have been killed when the south tower collapsed.

The firm moved to the pre-merger Sidley & Austin offices on 3rd Avenue, and moved to 7th Avenue on 4 July.

Thacher Proffitt & Wood - the main office of the 150-lawyer firm was in the south tower.

Staff have been relocated to its two other offices in New York area.

The firm suffered no casualties among its staff.

It moved to a building on 11th West and 42nd Street in midtown New York.

One year on, all firms report that business is 'back to normal', if not better.

The main challenge in the immediate aftermath was to find temporary or permanent premises as quickly as possible.

Because of the experience following the bomb in the World Trade Centre in 1993, the firms already had disaster recovery plans in place to deal with setting up again quickly, in particular with the IT systems.

The firms were functioning virtually as normal by the Monday after the attacks of Tuesday 11 September.