On a scorching afternoon in August 2007, Minneapolis commuters were making their way home from work when their world fell apart. Some 1,900 feet of the Interstate 35W bridge gave way, plunging 13 people to their deaths and injuring 145 others.
As the city reeled from the collapse of the eight-lane structure that spanned the Mississippi River, Chris Messerly and Philip Sieff were trying to figure out how to help. Spearheading a pro bono effort that eventually grew to include 17 law firms based in Minnesota and the upper Midwest, the two partners from Minneapolis-based Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi and the rest of the group helped secure about $99 million for victims and their families. Messerly and Sieff, both litigators, represented about 25 clients; the pro bono consortium as a whole represented about 120 people.
