Warren campaign releases record of her legal work
WASHINGTON — Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren's campaign Wednesday night released a summary of the cases she worked on during her tenure as a Harvard University professor to the public on Wednesday night.
Most of the cases were bankruptcy-related, with Warren serving as either a counsel, a consultant, an expert witness, a mediator or an author of an amicus brief to a court deciding on the case.
During Warren's 2012 Senate race, Republican Scott Brown used some of these cases to paint her as a friend of the conglomerates and corporations she now rails against. Her campaign at the time released a partial accounting of her legal work.
In this latest, fuller release of her legal work, Warren’s campaign describes these as examples of Warren trying to help the little guy, even in instances where she took the part of larger companies. Most of these are bankruptcy-related.
Read the release from Warren's campaign here for the summaries. Here are a few of the most interesting cases in the list.
- LTV Steel v. Shalala (1995): Warren helped write a petition in this case, advocating on behalf of the conglomerate as it fought against a Congressional requirement forcing it to pay millions into a fund for retired miners’ healthcare. Brown criticized Warren for her involvement in this case during the campaign. The Boston Globe reported that, at the time, Warren's camp argued she worked on the case because it had significant implications for future employees to receive compensation from companies that went bankrupt.
- Travelers v. Bailey (2009): Warren worked for Travelers Insurance, which was ordered to pay out a $500 million settlement for future and current asbestos poisoning victims. The result, according to a Boston Globe report from the time, was the preservation of a piece of bankruptcy law that gave victims of corporate malfeasance a better chance of getting compensated, even if the company responsible went bankrupt. But after Warren left the case, future litigation freed Travelers of having to pay that $500 million settlement and gave it immunity in future suits.
- Dow Corning Corp (1995): In another case litigated during the Brown race, Warren consulted for Dow Chemical, the parent company of a subsidiary that was sued for making faulty breast implants. Brown attacked her for taking the side of big business. A Globe story from 2012 said that Warren "suggested during a press conference that she had advised the company in setting up a trust" and framed her as being brought on board ultimately to work through that process."