Litigation is initiated by chance institutional connections rather than by the victims themselves.

Evidence

The conversation with the Washington lawyer, continued Young, had come about by coincidence, the result of a call from a staff member in Senator Edward Kennedy’s office. The staffer had read that Trial Lawyers for Public Justice was looking for a good environmental case. Woburn had come to her mind. She’d called Reverend Young, and then, at four o’clock that afternoon, she’d set up a conference call between him and the executive director, whose name was Anthony Roisman. Over the phone, Young had described the situation in Woburn, and Roisman had said the case sounded interesting. Moreover, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice had some funds already earmarked for an environmental case. But, Roisman had also said, he could not just step in and take the case away from another lawyer. — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 328

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the Woburn families’ long, failed attempts to get state and federal agencies to act — here the trigger is a Senate staffer’s memory, not evidence. — connects to: Litigation selects for fringe and hard cases, not representative legal disputes — Frederick Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer, 38; Whether courts address problems at the opportune time is largely a matter of chance — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2852; In political litigation lawyers rather than clients control the case’s strategy and aims. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 757
• SEED: An angle on how public-interest litigation actually begins: a newsletter item, a bored staffer, a coincidental phone call, and earmarked money.

Broader Connections

• In political litigation lawyers rather than clients control the case’s strategy and aims. #expands (0.85) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 757
• Whether courts address problems at the opportune time is largely a matter of chance #corroborates (0.80) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2852
• Litigation selects for fringe and hard cases, not representative legal disputes #complicates (0.75) — Frederick Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer, 38