Program areas at ATRA
To enhance the fairness, efficiency, and predictability of the tort system through public education and legislative enactments. ATRA accomplishes its legislative agenda by working with state tort reform coalitions. It is a clearing-house for information from approximately 40 state tort reform coalitions. Each fall, ATRA hosts a planning conference at which coalition leaders meet to discuss past successes and future strategies. ATRA also prepares educational materials which carry its message directly to the public. ATRA has developed a communications "tool-kit" for use by local grassroots coalitions interested in fighting lawsuit abuse. See Schedule O
To serve as the nation's voice on lawsuit abuse and the need for civil justice reform. ATRA's media relations program ensures that the media hears both sides of the legal reform debate. ATRA editorials have appeared in such national newspapers as USA Today, and regional dailies nationwide. In addition, ATRA experts have appeared in NBC news, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and many others. ATRA also publishes a legal reform champions list to recognize and publicize the efforts of legal reformers throughout the civil justice community.
To support activities of legislative coalitions in each state by keeping their members informed, mobilizing them for action and keeping media attention focused on the need for civil justice reform. ATRA's weekly "Legislative Watch," available online, via fax and e-mail, keeps members abreast of tort reform at the state and federal level. ATRA's "Reformer" newsletter is a quarterly update of ATRA activities and civil justice issues. ATRA has also published a comprehensive guide to civil justice reform laws in all 50 states.
The "Judicial Hellholes" program will monitor problematic jurisdictions, as documented in ATRA's report "Bringing Justice to Judicial Hellholes", and the judges that preside over them. "Judicial Hellholes" are cities, counties or judicial districts that attract lawsuits from around the nation or the region because they are correctly perceived as very plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions. They are places where the law is not applied even-handedly to all litigants.