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From courtrooms to capitols: by advocating for their injured or powerless clients, trial attorneys learn skills that serve them well in political life. The desire to see justice prevail beyond individual cases fuels the many trial lawyers who choose to enter politics.

Article Excerpt
In December 2007, Washington state senator Brian Weinstein issued a press release confirming growing speculation that he would unexpectedly retire after one term. The state's building, insurance, pharmaceutical, and mortgage industries all breathed a sigh of relief.

They had good reason. After a successful career as a plaintiff attorney specializing in asbestos litigation, Weinstein sold his law firm and ran against Republican incumbent Jim Horn in 2004 on a message that Horn had lost touch with his district and had failed to take action on issues like education, transportation, and the environment. Weinstein was a liberal Democrat and a trial lawyer taking on a powerful 16-year incumbent Republican in a district that had elected only Republicans for decades. Weinstein won.

He immediately established himself as a legislative three. His fearless advocacy-led him to become, in his first yeah the chief sponsor of a major education initiative. By his second year, he was named assistant majority whip and chairman of a consumer protection committee.

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In 2007, Weinstein sponsored Washington's landmark Insurance Fair Conduct Act. The bill, now law, makes it easier for the state's consumers to bring lawsuits against insurance companies suspected of denying claims in bad faith. It also allows Washington courts to award up to treble damages to successful plaintiffs.

Insurance interests quickly mobilized for the law's repeal, forcing a ballot referendum in November 2007. Although they spent nearly $12 million (at least three times the amount the law's proponents spent) to ensure its repeal, they failed spectacularly: 57 percent of voters approved the act.

Three months later, Weinstein announced that he would resurrect his Homebuyer Bill of Rights, another landmark consumer protection initiative that had been defeated by a floor vote in a prior legislative session. At press time, he was still brawling with the bill's opponents, including the house speaker, the Building and Industry Association of Washington, and the state attorney general. With only a few months remaining in his term, he was using every method at his disposal to try to break the legislative logjam.

Trial attorneys of both...

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