2011 Trial Lawyer of the Year

Brent S. Schafer and co-counsel Robert Hilliard were honored as 2011 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award Finalist by the National Public Justice Foundation at the Foundation's annual Gala and Awards Dinner on July 12 in New York City.  A total of six trial lawyers/teams were selected from hundreds of nominations to receive this prestigious honor. Former President Bill Clinton was the guest speaker at the conference that lasted four days and culminated in a Gala at The Plaza Hotel where Schafer, Hilliard and the other nominees were honored.

Schafer and Hilliard were recognized for their efforts in gaining the release of Koua Fong Lee.  In Lee v. State of Minnesota, the team argued that Koua Fong Lee was wrongfully convicted of vehicular manslaughter for an accident that occurred on June 10, 2006, when Lee was driving his 1996 Toyota Camry.  At his trial, Lee adamantly maintained that he pumped the brake, but the car wouldn't stop.  Nonetheless, he was convicted and sentenced to jail.  Nearly three years after the conviction, when Toyota began recalling some its late-model Camrys due to a problem with unintended acceleration, Schafer used evidence that was buried during Lee's original trial to win a new trial -- and ultimately convinced the State to drop the charges and release Lee from prison.

A team of California attorneys was named the 2011 Trial Lawyers of the Year. The team was cited for having won a staggering $677 million jury verdict against Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc., a for-profit corporation that owns and operates nursing homes throughout the U.S.  The lawyers represented a class of approximately 32,000 current and former nursing home residents and their families in Lavender v. Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc.