Tom Kline is a member and immediate past president of the Inner Circle of Advocates and Shanin Specter was selected as a member in 2010 of the organization described by The Washington Post as "a select group of 100 of the nation's most celebrated trial lawyers."
The Inner Circle of Advocates is limited to 100 members considered among the best plaintiffs attorneys in the United States and also to be “lawyers of excellent character and integrity."
To gain membership a lawyer must have completed at least 50 personal injury cases and won at least three verdicts of $1 million or more or one verdict exceeding $10 million. Most of its members have won a multitude of large verdicts for their clients in a variety of practice areas.
Tom Kline has won a long list of multi-million dollar verdicts, including his $51 million verdict in the Hall v. SEPTA premises liability case and the medical-malpractice Welteroth Case, which produced a $33.1 million jury award. He has also won a number of eight-figure settlements, including those in highly publicized cases. (See Major Victories.)
The Inner Circle of Advocates was formed in 1972 by a Tucson attorney, Richard Grand. "My goal," Grand said, "was an organization of highly experienced plaintiffs attorneys who were willing to share information about experts, techniques and whatever it took to be a great trial lawyer. I think this goal has been consistently achieved since the organization was created.”
The organization was started on June 26, 1972 in San Francisco with 11 lawyers. Current members, limited to 100, are still selected on an invitation-only basis.
The Inner Circle of Advocates states that "its members believe that by achieving justice for their clients, they also achieve changes for the good of society as a whole."
It goes on to note: “Many times people who have been injured and families who have lost loved ones find themselves facing big corporations or big insurance companies with unlimited resources to deny just compensation to those they harmed. Through the work and skill of our members, cover-ups can be exposed and those at fault held accountable. By punishing the guilty for their wrongs, we make America a safer place.”
- Tom Kline named President of Inner Circle of Advocates, The Legal Intelligencer 9/5/2007
- Huge Corporate Settlements Provide Fuel for Trial Lawyers Running as Democrats, The Washington Post 6/25/00
