Jan Schlichtmann JD '77, the principal plaintiffs' attorney in a major environmental civil case documented in the paperback best seller A Civil Action, will participate in a panel discussion on "The Uncivil Handling of a Civil Action: Legal Ethics Issues, Life as a Litigator and What About Justice?" March 26 at 4 p.m. in Room G90 of Myron Taylor Hall of the Cornell Law School. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Schlichtmann represented eight families in Woburn, Mass., in their case brought in 1982 against W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods for allegedly leaking toxins into drinking water wells, which, the plaintiffs said, caused a variety of health problems, including a dozen cases of childhood leukemia. This nine-year legal battle, which was fraught with controversial decisions from the judge and seemingly endless delays, brought an $8 million settlement from W.R. Grace and a not-guilty verdict for Beatrice Foods. It also left Schlichtmann broke.

The case from Schlichtmann's perspective is the focus of A Civil Action (Random House, 1995) by Jonathan Harr. A movie based on the book is currently in production with John Travolta in the role of Schlichtmann.

Also participating in the panel discussion are Donald Frederico JD '79, who participated in the legal defense of Beatrice Foods and is now a partner in the firm of McDermott, Will & Emery, specializing in business litigation; and Robert Bloomquist JD '77, professor of law at Valparaiso University School of Law, who has written extensively on environmental law. Bloomquist wrote a review of A Civil Action that appeared last year in the Cornell Law Review.

Roger C. Cramton, the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law at Cornell, says the case raised many ethical questions and concerns that will be addressed at the March 26 program. They include client communication, communication of settlement claims with clients and the destruction of corporate records relevant to future legal proceedings. The program also will address the stressful lifestyle of a litigator as well as issues of justice, such as whether judge and jury are institutionally capable of doing their jobs, and the extraordinary costs and delays of high-stakes litigation.

This Cornell Law School program is sponsored by the Keck Legal Ethics Program, the Law School Career Office, the Environmental Law Society and Phi Delta Phi.