Michigan Association for Justice

The Michigan Association for Justice (MAJ), formerly the Michigan Trial Lawyers Association (MTLA) is a trade association of over 1,600 plaintiff's attorneys and staff, with offices in Lansing, Michigan.

MAJ provides members with professional networking, online listserves, a data bank of relevant court documents and legal experts, and a member directory. The organization also provides an extensive continuing legal education (CLE) program in locations throughout Michigan. Additionally, MAJ's Lansing-based government affairs staff lobbies legislators and state agencies to advance a pro-civil justice legislative agenda, intended to preserve and enhance the rights of injured people.

MAJ states that it "promotes justice and fairness for injured persons, safeguards victims' rights--particularly the right to trial by jury--and strengthens the civil justice system through education and disclosure of information critical to public health and safety."[1] It provides information and professional assistance to its members. It is headquartered in Lansing, Michigan. The MAJ is an affiliated member of the American Association for Justice.

History

In the halls of the State Capitol and in courthouses across the state, MAJ has fought, and won, in the name of justice, equality, and the integrity of the American jury system.

It was here in Michigan that a small group of workers' compensation attorneys in Detroit formed what would eventually become both the Michigan Association for Justice and the American Association for Justice.

It was back when WWII was drawing to a close that Sam Charfoos, the very first President of our association, decided that he could “wait no longer for a plaintiff’s lawyer organization to just happen.” Charfoos brought together 20 Workers’ Compensation and Negligence attorneys into a group that within the year would become the genesis --“Chapter I”—of what was then called the “National Association of Compensation Claimant Attorneys.”[2]

The genius and dedication of the many thousands of MAJ members who have followed these pioneers helped create the trial bar as we know it today.

Since then MAJ has grown to a prominent, statewide organization of 1600 members, dedicated to the preservation of civil justice. MAJ seminars, forums, document banks, and library of publications help our dedicated members advocate for their clients. And MAJ’s work in our state’s Capitol makes certain that those who place profit over people can not tilt the scales of justice in favor of the rich and powerful.

And MAJ does more. Our People’s Law School[3] program has taught tens of thousands of Michigan citizens about our legal system and their civil justice rights. The MAJ Helmet Safety Campaign has fitted more than 22,000 children with bike safety helmets at over 100 events all over the state, earning MAJ recognition from the Governor, the Legislature, and mayors of cities across the state as well as the police and public safety community.[4]

MAJ’s members can be proud that they are part of this legacy, and part of an ongoing movement that has helped to create the safer, fairer, more just and responsible modern world in which we live today.

A Dream Realized

"I had not reached my teens when inwardly I vowed that I would be a lawyer and decided, naively, that I would serve mankind. By 1929, at 21 years of age, I was a lawyer having gone four years to evening law school and worked in factories in the daytime. Up to 1929, Detroit lawyers' representation in workers' compenstation cases were rare. My practice had the effect of attempting to restore workers' compensation to the employers' promised 'no fault.'

The year was 1944 and World War II was still aflame. After one year of foot soldiering in the States, I returned to work consumed with the idea that I could wait no longer for a plaintiffs' lawyer organization to just happen and that it was up to me. I started with about 20 workers' compensation specialists. We all did some negligence work which, then, on the whole, was less desirable than compensation cases.

In 1946, at one of our regular meetings, Ben Marcus introduced Sam Horovitz of Boston. Ben continued on with Sam to Portland, Oregon, for a Workers' Compensation Commissioners Convention. When he returned I agreed with him and Horovitz to expand nationally. We were not Chapter I of the National Association of Compensation Claimant Attorneys (NACCA, now ATLA.)

For over two centuries, society's injured and maimed were expendable. They were ignored for the good of the "Industrial Revolution" and "progress." Improved workers' compensation and NACCA-ATLA were dramatic breakthroughs in compelling society and especially industry to be more adequently responsible. My naive youthful dream has been realized"

-Taken from a letter written to MAJ by Samual Charfoos, MAJ's First President (1945-1949)

Past presidents

Membership and governance

The MAJ is currently presided over by President Ven R. Johnson.[9] He works with the other officers and MAJ Executive Director Jane Bailey, who oversees the day-to-day operation of the organization. The executive board, which meets throughout the year, is made up of 113 members including all past presidents.

References

  1. ↑ https://www.michiganjustice.org/index.cfm?pg=Mission
  2. ↑ http://www.justice.org/cps/rde/justice/hs.xsl/2079.htm
  3. ↑ http://www.tncp.net/Articles/tabid/1800/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/3960/Default.aspx
  4. ↑ http://www.wlns.com/story/22289905/heads-up-for-safety-gives-free-helmets-to-kids
  5. ↑ http://www.abclawcenters.com/about-the-firm/about-the-attorneys/jesse-reiter/
  6. ↑ http://www.michiganautolaw.com/blog/2015/05/15/robert-raitt-michigan-association-for-justice-president/
  7. ↑ http://berkley.patch.com/groups/announcements/p/huntington-woods-resident-gerald-acker-of-goodman-acker-pc-elected-president-of-michigan-association-for-justice
  8. ↑ http://www.1888goodwin.com/2013/08/06/scott-goodwin-named-president-elect-of-the-michigan-associate-for-justice/
  9. ↑ http://www.venjohnsonlaw.com/team/ven-johnson/

External links

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