Leonard W. Schroeter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (March 2008) |
 |
This article or section needs to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help improve this article with relevant internal links. (March 2008) |
LEONARD W. SCHROETER is a Seattle trial lawyer who has devoted his life to issues of civil justice and the preservation of the United States Constitution. Schroeter has been a frequent lecturer on constitutional litigation, civil justice issues, professionalism and legal ethics, trial practice, tort law, medical-legal issues, at seminars, conventions, and workshops of Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, The American Trial Lawyers Association, law schools, judicial conferences, and bar associations.
EDUCATION
Indiana University, 1942-1943
University of Chicago, 1946-1948 (M.A., International Relations -- Soviet Area)
Harvard Law School, 1948-1951 (LL.B., J.D.)
LEGAL PRACTICE
Of Counsel to Stritmatter Kessler Whelan Coluccio (SKWC), September 1997-Present
Founding partner (1968) of Schroeter, Goldmark & Bender (SGB), Seattle, Washington. Trial attorneys specializing in science-based litigation; products liability; medical negligence; environmental; toxic torts; industrial and maritime negligence; workers' compensation; social security; civil rights; and criminal defense.
Of counsel to SGB, September 1989-September 1997.
Private practice, primarily in torts, civil rights and criminal defense from 1956-1968, as a principal founder and partner in law firms which became SGB.
National legal staff, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense & Education Fund, then headed by the late Justice Thurgood Marshall; preparation of school segregation cases (1951-1952)
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, King County, Washington (1955-1956)
Principal Legal Assistant to Attorney General of Government of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel (1970-1972)
Attorney and Representative of Soviet samizdat writers and human rights activists (1972-1982)
Member of Bar:
Massachusetts, New York, Washington, California, Israel, United States Supreme Court and various federal courts
PROFESSIONAL LEGAL ACTIVITIES
Consultant, Washington State Access to Justice Board (ATJ)
Chair, ATJ Board Jurisprudence Committee
Member, Education Committee, Communications and Technology Committee Association of Trial
Lawyers of America (ATLA): Board of Governors, 1989-1997 Section on Toxic, Environmental & Pharmaceutical Torts (STEP), Executive Committee, Past Chair Section on Civil Rights, Executive Committee, Past Chair Committee Member: Amicus Curiae (Vice Chair, 1996-97); Academic Liaison; Constitutional Litigation (Founder and Past Chair); Courts (Past Vice Chair); Legal Affairs; Organization and Home Office; Scientific & Medical Integrity (Founder and Past Chair)
Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ): Board of Directors, 1985 to present Committee Member: Case Selection & Evaluation; Program Planning; Public Interest Outreach; Jurisprudence of Public Justice Task Force; Long Range Planning
Association of Trial Lawyers Assurance (A Mutual Risk Retention Group) Founder and Board of Directors, 1987 to date
Washington State Trial Lawyers Association (WSTLA): Board of Governors, 1989-1997, as well as earlier terms Past President (1963-64)
Current Committee, Section and Task Force membership and leadership (varied) in WSTLA; King County Bar Association; Washington State Bar Associations; American Bar Association
LEGAL MEMBERSHIPS
King County Bar Association
Washington State Bar Association
American Bar Association
National Lawyers Guild
ATLA, Sustaining Member
WSTLA, Eagle Member
TLPJ, Founding and Sustaining Member
Inner Circle of Advocates, Member (Emeritus)
Damage Attorneys Round Table (DART), Founding Member, President (1993)
Roscoe Pound Foundation, Patron, Fellow
Civil Justice Foundation, Sustaining Member
American Judicature Society
PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION
WSBA Celebration 2000, September 15, 2000, Special Lifetime Service Award ("For his staunch advocacy of civil rights and access to justice issues. For more than four decades, his passion has exemplified the spirit of professionalism in the practice of law.")
ATLA, 1994, Harry M. Philo Award ("For his unwavering dedication and service to his clients and community, his steadfast pursuit of justice for all through our civil justice system and the rule of law, and his unflagging support for the Association of Trial Lawyers of America")
ATLA, Citation of Excellence, Wiedemann Wysocki Award, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997
WSTLA, 1993, Trial Lawyer of the Year (His fierce commitment to the principle that where there is wrong there must be a remedy? has made him a giant among lawyers and immeasurably improved American justice.)
TLPJ, 1991, Public Justice Achievement Award
TLPJ, 1990, President's Public Interest Award (In Special Recognition for Outstanding Contributions to the Public Interest)
TLPJ, 1988, Trial Lawyer of the Year Nominee
The Best Lawyers In America listed since 1985
Alaska Academy of Trial Lawyers, Honorary Fellow, 1966
PUBLICATIONS (incomplete)
Books
Afterword to new edition of False Witness by Melvin Rader (UW Press 1997).
Admissibility of Expert Scientific Opinions - Frye, Daubert and Reese, chapter in The Trial: Evidence (ed. Keith Kessler) (Best of WSTLA Series 1997).
The Last Exodus (New York, 1974) (University of Washington Press 1980) [paperback edition: a documented history of the Soviet Jewish emigration movement].
Articles, Book Reviews and Seminar Presentations
Landmark Legacy (an interview with Leonard W. Schroeter) by J. Kingston Pierce, Washington Law & Politics, April/May 2004
Will Access To Justice In The Twenty-First Century Resuscitate, Shun, Or Re-Tool Its Historic Fundamental Rights Jurisprudence Presentation at Washington State Access to Justice Annual Conference Jurisprudence Workshop, Spokane, Washington, September 2000
Do Trial Lawyers Write Novels For Gold Or Goals?, Book Review of: Harmful Intent by Baine Kerr (Scribner 1999), and Prosecutors Will Be Violated by Archibald Spencer (Trigance Press, Minneapolis 1999), Trial News, April 2000.
Will This Be the Public Interest Century?? Book Review of Assuming the Risk: The Mavericks, The Lawyers, and the Whistle-Blowers Who Beat Big Tobacco, Michael Orey (Little, Brown & Co. 1999), Trial News, March 2000.
The Future For Access To Justice: We Shall Overcome! Washington State Bar News, March 2000.
KCBA Attacks The Erosion Of Judicial Independence. King County Bar Bulletin, Fall 1999.
Obstacles To Civil Gideon: The Washington State Experience, Parts I and II Washington State Bar News, November and December, 1999.
The Right To Counsel As Developed In The United States Supreme Court, Washington State Bar News, October 1999.
Attorney Representation: An Essential Right Or Not? Washington State Bar News, September 1999.
The Duty Of The Judiciary To Ensure Access To Justice, Washington State Bar News, August 1999; also in OAC Judicial News, August 9, 1999.
The Declaration of Independence: The Precursor of Equal Justice under Law, Washington State Bar News, July 1999.
Civil Gideon: If Not, Why Not? Presentation at: Washington State Access to Justice Annual Conference, Jurisprudence Workshop, Wenatchee, Washington, June 27, 1999.
The Jurisprudence Of Professionalism, Washington State Bar News, June 1999.
The Fundamental Right To Access To Justice: The Historical Antecedents, Washington State Bar News, May 1999.
Right Wing Think Tanks: Sword and Shield for the Corporate Agenda, Trial News, September and October 1998.
The Mind and Faith of Justice Sanders, June 1998.
Prisoner's Rights - The Litmus Test Of Our Humanity: The Celling Of America: An Inside Look At The U.S. Prison Industry, book review of Daniel Burton-Rose, Dan Pens and Paul Wright (eds.) (A Prison Legal News book: Common Courage Press: 1998), Washington Law & Politics, June, 1998.
'The Jurisprudence of Access to Justice: from Magna Carta to Romer v. Evans via Marbury v. Madison,' Trial News, June, 1998.
A Guide For The Perplexed: Why A Legislative Global Tobacco Settlement Can't Meet Constitutional Principles, ATLA Seminar, Summer 1998.
'Judicial Independence A Sine Qua Non For Rule Of Law And Constitutionalism,' presentation to Access to Justice Conference, Chelan, Washington, March 5, 1998.
Ethics, Ambiguity and Economics: Paying the Price for Justice, University of Washington 'Dangerous Liaisons' Seminar, December 11, 1997.
'What Will Civil Rights Mean in the 21st Century?' Trial News, September and October 1997.
'The Jurisprudence of Ethics: Should Legal Professionalism Be in Accordance with Public Justice?' presentation to Access to Justice Conference, Yakima, Washington, June 20-21, 1997.
'How Life Health & Well Being Are Subordinated to the Values of Corporate Profits,' book review of Fagin, et al., Toxic Deception, and Stauber and Rampton, Toxic Sludge Is Good For You, Trial News, May 1997.
'Defining the Problem: How the Right to a Remedy for Harm Caused by the Wrongs of Corporate Malefactors (and their Government, Media, and Public Relations Pawns) Can Be Preserved,' Trial News, May 1997.
'The Jurisprudence of Ethics: Should Legal Professionalism Be in Accordance with Public Justice?' University of Washington Seminar "Dangerous Liaisons," December 12, 1996.
'Nader: America's Jeremiah,' book review of Nader and Smith, No Contest: Corporate Lawyers and the Perversion of Justice in America, Trial News, December 1996.
'Justice Richard Sanders Dissents: `An Avidity to Punish Is Always Dangerous to Liberty: Three Strikes Is Unconstitutional,' Trial News, October 1996.
'The Jurisprudence of Access to Justice: From Magna Carta to Romer v. Evans via Marbury v. Madison,' Access to Justice Board Seminar, October 5, 1996.
'Human Experimentation, the Hanford Nuclear Site, and Judgment at Nuremberg', GONZAGA LAW REVIEW 31:1 1995/96.
'What Do We Mean by Civil Rights? The Social and Political Context: More Than Just Words,' WSTLA Seminar, January 31, 1996.
'Smoking Documents/Cooked Studies: Tobacco Litigation -- A Hotbed of Truth,' ATLA STEP Seminar, July 30, 1996.
'Best Seller Chronicles Protracted Civil Lawsuit Against Chemical Dumping Corporations,' book review of Harr, Jonathan, A Civil Action, Trial News, December 1995.
'Is The New Heightened Pleading Standard For Bivens Liability Consistent With Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a), Supreme Court Precedent, And Common Sense?' Kimberlin v. Quinlan, Trial News, September 1995.
'Frye, Daubert And A New Look At Scientific Evidence,' WSTLA Science & Law Seminar, May 1994.
'Law Practice: A Profession Or A Business,' book review of Caplan, Skadden: Power, Money & The Rise of a Legal Empire: Trial News (February 1994) and Washington State Bar News (September 1994).
'Hanford: Washington's Auschwitz,' book review of D'Antonio, Atomic Harvest, Trial News, February 1994.
'Are Fair Juries Possible In High Stakes Cases?' Trial, September 1993.
'The Mind and Faith of Professor Richard Epstein,' book review of Epstein, Forbidden Grounds and Epstein, et al., The Bill of Rights in the Modern State:? Trial, July 1993.
'Re: E-Coli and Other Mass Tort Class Actions,' Trial News, May 1993.
'Claimant's Fraud: The Insurance Industry's War on the Consumer,' Trial News, December 1992.
'2001: The Prospects for Civil Justice Reform And The Future of the Tort System,' Trial, August 1992.
Book review of Dees, A Season for Justice: The Life & Times of Civil Rights Lawyer Morris Dees, Trial, September 1991.
'Privacy Rights Can Limit Discovery,' Trial, November 1990.
'Constitutional Litigation,' Trial, January 1988.
'Tort Reform -- Being An Insurance Company Means Never Having To Say You're Sorry,' 22 GONZAGA LAW REVIEW 31 (1986) (co-author).
'Evaluation of Structured Settlements,' 31 American Jury Trials 595 (co-author).
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Contributor to journals, magazines and newspapers, including Nation, New Republic, Moment, Soviet Jewish Affairs, Midstream, The Congress Bi-Weekly, The Jerusalem Post, The Jewish Chronicle (London), The Economist (London), Civil Liberties Review and other journals in the U.S., Israel and Europe on subjects involving civil liberties, civil rights, international human rights, Soviet Jews, and Israeli affairs. Guest lecturer: University of Washington, Seattle University, Harvard, Yale, New York University, Stanford, University of California (Berkeley), University of Mississippi, Vanderbilt University, Memphis State University, Hoover Institute of War & Peace, London School of Economics. Subjects: constitutional law, civil justice system, race relations, civil liberties, civil rights, health care, and international human rights. Reporter with Stars & Stripes, Rome, World War II.? Newspaper reporter for daily newspapers and United Press.
PUBLIC SERVICE
Cancer Prevention Coalition, National Board of Directors, 1996-
Government Accountability Project (GAP), National Board of Directors, 1996-
National Voting Rights Institute, National Board of Directors, 1996-
National Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, member (1976-1985)
American Civil Liberties Union -- National Board of Directors; Chairman, National Development Committee; National Planning Committee (1964-1970)
ACLU of Washington -- president (1962-1964); Board of Directors, 1953-1970 Board Member of varied public (state and city) commissions; public interest organizations concerning civil rights, civil liberties, international human rights, Jewish community relations, cultural, educational, health care and environment, 1955-1989.?
PERSONAL
Born July 27, 1924, Chicago, Illinois.
Wife: Alice
