Elizabeth J. Cabraser
AGE: 48
FIRM: San Francisco's Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein L.L.P.

Highly prominent plaintiffs' attorney specializing in complex civil litigation; has taken a small firm and made it and herself national players in mass torts and other plaintiffs' litigation; one of the most experienced attorneys nationally in class actions; was one of plaintiffs' class counsel in the state and federal Exxon Valdez litigation; member of the plaintiffs' management committee for the ongoing feNewlin - Popeohen diet drug products liability litigation; a member of the tort claimants committee in the $3.2 billion Dow Corning plan of reorganization to settle breast implant claims; has been involved since the beginning in various class actions against the tobacco industry; is also heavily involved in handgun litigation; active in Holocaust litigation; although most of her cases have settled, also highly regarded as a trial attorney -- she was a member of the plaintiffs' trial team in the $456 million verdict won in 1999 against State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.; was elected in 1999 to the governing body of the American Law Institute.

Center for Individual Rights

Michael McDonald
AGE: 43

Michael Rosman
AGE: 41

The conservative answer to the American Civil Liberties Union, founded by nonlawyer Michael Greve and attorney Michael McDonald in 1989, the center has won a series of victories in the U.S. Supreme Court and other appellate courts on issues as diverse as racial preferences, sexual harassment, free speech, gender equity in university sports teams, FCC limits and federalism; best known for Supreme Court win in Hopwood v. Texas; scheduled to go to trial this year in lawsuit against the University of Michigan over preferential admissions policies; in May, with General Counsel Rosman arguing, won Supreme Court decision striking down the Violence Against Women Act; earlier this year, won 5-4 decision limiting DOJ's ability to force local jurisdictions to create additional minority electoral districts.

Stanley M. Chesley
AGE: 64
FIRM: Cincinnati's Waite, Schneider, Bayless & Chesley Co. L.P.A.

Credited as one of the originators of the mass tort, has negotiated some of the largest settlements, including the multibillion-dollar feNewlin - Popeohen settlement by American Home Products Corp., the $500 million class action settlement involving the Bjork-Shiley Convexo/Concave Heart Valve; and the $150 million settlement in the Albuterol drug class action; is national lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the litigation over the SwissAir and the TWA Flight 800 crashes; appointed interim lead plaintiffs' counsel in the civil consumer litigation against Microsoft; active in community and pro bono work -- represents the World Jewish Restitution Organization in the Holocaust litigation and was class counsel in the Swiss National Bank case.

Morgan Chu
AGE: 49
FIRM: Managing partner of Los Angeles' Irell & Manella L.L.P.

Litigator of complex intellectual property, antitrust and First Amendment cases; considered an innovator, with a penchant for reversing trends; in 1996, won summary judgment for Matthew Bender & Co. Inc. in landmark copyright litigation against West Publishing Co.; in 1994, won a $120 million jury verdict against Microsoft for Stac Electronics in a patent case involving data-compression products, handing Microsoft a rare pre-1999 loss; other clients include Sony Pictures Entertainment, Affymetrix Inc., Compaq, Alcatel, Broadcom Corp., NCR Corp. and numerous biotech or medical companies, including many startups that have recently gone public; became co-managing partner of his firm in 1997; extensive pro bono work includes winning the reversal of a first-degree murder conviction for an inmate on death row, whose conviction and sentence had already been upheld by the California Supreme Court.

Michael V. Ciresi
AGE: 54
FIRM: Minneapolis' Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P.

One of the most feared trial attorneys even before he represented Minnesota and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota against the tobacco industry, which led to a $6.5 billion settlement and the release of millions of pages of tobacco industry documents; internationally known for his work on mass torts cases in the 1980s -- lead plaintiffs' counsel in the Dalkon Shield cases, chief counsel to the government of India in the Bhopal/Union Carbide litigation and lead counsel in the Copper-7 IUD cases; in 1997, won a jury verdict for Union Oil Co. in a patent infringement case that triggered in excess of $90 million in damages; primarily a plaintiffs' attorney but not limited to traditional personal injury litigation; clients include General Mills Inc., Honeywell Inc., Medtronics, 3M, Polaroid Corp. and Pitney Bowes Inc.; increasingly involved in financing public works since cutting the tobacco deal -- and winning a whopping fee; running for the U.S. Senate.

Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.
AGE: 62
FIRM: The Cochran Firm -- Schneider, Kleinick, Weitz, Damashek & Shoot, in New York and Los Angeles

Even before the O.J. Simpson trial brought him to national attention, was a leading trial attorney, winning substantial verdicts and settlements for police misconduct; since O.J., has become the attorney of choice for litigants on racial profiling, police brutality and other law enforcement issues; current cases include wrongful-death action in Providence, R.I., over shooting death of black off-duty police officer and representation of Abner Louima in lawsuit against the city of New York over his treatment by police; has allied himself with other top plaintiffs' lawyers, establishing litigation franchises across the country; also a leading entertainment lawyer, representing rappers and other black artists; long-term involvement in civic affairs; as a pro bono project, won reversal of conviction and release of Black Panther leader Geronimo Pratt and helped arrange $4.5 million settlement.

John C. Coffee Jr.
AGE: 55
FIRM: Adolf A. Berle professor of law at Columbia University School of Law

Expert on securities law, corporate governance and class actions; cited in about 60 federal court decisions and more than 1,000 law review articles; cited approvingly by the U.S. Supreme Court in Amchem Products Inc. v. Windsor and Ortiz v. Fibreboard decisions; frequently called to testify in class actions, including all recent settlements in excess of $1 billion; appeared before the FCC on behalf of AT&T in debate over pending Bell Atlantic/GTE merger; has testified before congressional committees on four occasions in past three years; was an adviser to the White House on the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and was a member of the advisory committees that drafted the corporate environmental sentencing guidelines for the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

H. Rodgin Cohen
AGE: 56
FIRM: New York's Sullivan & Cromwell

Dean of american banking lawyers; regularly lead counsel to one or the other side in major banking deals; handled the first hostile takeover in U.S. banking history -- the Bank of New York's takeover of Irving Bank Corp.; Institutional Investor magazine notes, "You can try a bank merger without Rodgin Cohen, but you might regret it"; in the past three years, has represented AmSouth Bancorp. in its purchase of First American Corp.; Wells Fargo & Co. in its acquisition by Norwest Corp.; H.F. Ahmanson & Co. in its purchase by Washington Mutual Inc.; and, in a nonbanking transaction, Union Carbide Corp. in its sale to Dow Chemical; was key factor in passage of Gramm-Leach- Bliley Act, enacted last November to bring down the barriers between banking and other financial institutions. The other leading M&A specialist at S&C is Benjamin F. Stapleton III, who represented Vodafone AirTouch P.L.C. in its $192 billion acquisition of Mannesmann A.G. and Glaxo Wellcome P.L.C. in its $76 billion merger with SmithKline Beecham P.L.C.

Stephen A. Cozen
AGE: 60
FIRM: Philadelphia's Cozen and O'Connor P.C.

A top insurance litigator; has been involved in disaster suits such as the World Trade Center bombing, Three Mile Island, the MGM Grand Hotel fire in Las Vegas and the Hyatt Hotel Skywalk collapse in Kansas City, Mo.; considered visionary in his development of methods for insurance companies to contest damage claims; developed a team of former state and federal prosecutors who aggressively defend property insurance claims in which contentions of arson or fraud are part of the carrier's defense, the team has a spectacular 95 percent win ratio; represents most major insurance companies in complex litigation and in arbitration and mediation; led expansion of his firm from four attorneys in one Philadelphia office to 375 attorneys in 14 offices; in noninsurance matters, won defense verdict for Praxair Inc. in a 1999 contract case in which plaintiff Airgas Inc. sought $60 million.

Mary B. Cranston
AGE: 53
FIRM: Pillsbury Madison & Sutro L.L.P.

Since becoming chairman in January 1999, has turned around the management of this 500-plus attorney firm -- first-year results were significant, with revenues rising 13 percent and profits per partner 17 percent; former head of litigation and a major rainmaker -- estimated annual book of business when she became chairman was $9 million; clients have included Chevron, Lockheed, Pacific Telesis and Rhone-Poulenc Rorer; noted for work in shareholder rights and shareholder litigation; her expertise in this field is so valued that in 2000 she became a member of the board of directors of UCAR International Inc. at the request of the plaintiff pension fund Florida State Board of Administration, as part of the settlement of a lawsuit filed by the pension fund against UCAR.

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