Cochran Law Firm-Atlanta DOING GOOD While Doing Well
Jan Jaben-Eilon
“The thread is the justice you seek for the client and the same justice you seek for your community.”
When legendary defense attorney Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. decided to expand his Los Angeles law
firm into a national firm, and set his sights on Atlanta, he consulted with several local lawyers,
seeking the top trial lawyer both in terms of experience and reputation. “Apparently the only guy on
everyone’s list was me,” says Hezekiah Sistrunk, Jr., managing partner of The Cochran FirmAtlanta. “Johnnie solicited me and it took us a year to make the transition.”
The 2000 merger of Sistrunk and Associates – then a defense firm – into The Cochran Firm-Atlanta
– representing plaintiffs – brought together the team of Sistrunk, Jane M. Lamberti and Shean
Williams, who had been hired directly by Cochran in 1998. Today this tightknit group focuses on
retaining and spreading the philosophy of Cochran,
who died in 2005, years after gaining fame for
obtaining several multimillion-dollar verdicts and for
representing O.J. Simpson.
Williams recalls that when Johnnie Cochran was
seeking an experienced trial attorney with whom he
could partner in Atlanta, “he specifically told us that he
was looking for a person like Mr. Sistrunk who
possessed not only a vast knowledge in trying cases,
but a big part of what he was looking for was the ability
to mentor a team of lawyers to train.” The Cochran
Firm-Atlanta became the eighth regional office of the
national firm.
“Johnnie’s philosophy was to use the law as a method
to achieve social justice,” explains Sistrunk, who says
he grew up admiring the late Supreme Court Justice
Thurgood Marshall.
When Lamberti first met Cochran, she “immediately felt empowered by Johnnie’s vision of doing
good and doing well at the same time. When doing defense work, Mr. Sistrunk and I knew
sometimes we won cases we shouldn’t have. Representing plaintiffs is much more difficult because
you must carry the burden of proof – a true burden we take on with honor to fight for our clients. The
risks are great but the rewards in achieving justice for them are even greater.”
Williams describes Cochran as “one of the most recognized legal minds in the last 50 to 60 years.
He set a foundation and established a reputation as a trial lawyer with the ability to communicate his
clients’ unfortunate circumstances and get empathy and compassion from the community. This goes
well beyond O.J. He represented several police brutality and product liability and transportation
cases and he was always able to show how the client’s situation can impact the whole community.”
When a case is first brought to the firm, Williams says, the lawyers ask themselves: How does the
case affect the client, the jury and community. “The thread is the justice you seek for the client and
the same justice you seek for your community.”
“The result you want to achieve in the case is to make the jury believe the case has merit,” says
Sistrunk. Continuing that line of thinking, Lamberti says a good trial lawyer must “make the jury feel
invested in the case.”
“The jury,” says Williams, “is a small subsection of the whole community. Everyone brings their own
prejudices and thought processes to a case and we try to bring them all together and make the case
relevant to all of them. Everyone wants to be a part of something bigger than themselves. When you
sit in a jury box, you have a chance to make a positive change in your community. Our philosophy is
to present our case in a way that the jury leaves with a verdict that brings personal justice and social
justice.” Lamberti adds that she sees trial lawyers as “warriors for social justice.”
For example, Williams recalls one case with a $20 million verdict in which a man was killed, but the
verdict also caused a trucking company to change its policies. More recently, the firm received a
$17.5 million verdict against Grady Hospital in a medical malpractice case. “We believe this brings
social change to the community,” he says.
“At the end of the day,” says Williams, “what we do as lawyers must have a longstanding effect. We
want to make sure the client has a positive outcome and change as well as the community. That’s
what true social justice is all about.”
According to Sistrunk, Lamberti and Williams are the next generation through which the Cochran
legacy is moving into the future. “They have knowledge and they share it. That’s the biggest gift you
can share. You must have a passion for giving, and that’s what these guys have.”
Lamberti brings her scientific and engineering background to her cases, many of which are medical
malpractice cases, and for which she has obtained more than $90 million in settlements and
verdicts. “The logic in science and the logic in proving your client’s cases go hand-in-hand. Science
is everywhere from makeup to medicine to manufacturing. I use my scientific expertise to interpret
complex technical evidence and cross-examine medical witnesses easily clarifying crucial technical
details to win a jury’s confidence and favorable verdict.”
For the last two decades, Williams has represented injured people and their families in the areas of
trucking litigation, auto accidents, civil rights litigation, medical malpractice and products liability. His
jury verdicts and settlements are in excess of $100 million.
Sistrunk, who is also a national partner and chairman of the national firm’s executive/management
committee, is very clear about what makes a good trial lawyer. “You have to have someone who has
a passion for law. It is a living, breathing entity that changes all the time. How do you take it from
paper and mold it into real life? A lot of people don’t have that passion. Second, you have to be
willing to be open to learn from someone else; embrace change.” At the Cochran Firm, the attorneys
are always reading and sharing what they learn about new theories on how to handle cases, he
notes.
But Sistrunk also looks for “someone who is comfortable standing up in front of people. It’s really a
conversation. You have to talk to a jury like you talk to a neighbor. If you are addressing a witness,
you must have a conversation that the jury will understand. It’s about communication at every level.”
Sistrunk, who received the Clarence Darrow Award in April 2014 during the Mass Torts Made
Perfect Conference, says he’s been practicing law long enough that he gets personal satisfaction in
seeing the growth of a novice lawyer. “I get even more pleasure when a client says to me, after we
got good results, ‘What your firm did changed the course of my life.’”
For Lamberti, the joy of practicing law comes when the case is submitted to the jury but before a
verdict is rendered and a client “turns to me and says, ‘Thank you. No matter what the jury decides, I
know I had the best representation.’” Lamberti also likes to see the physical benefits of a monetary
award. “One client suffered a brain injury and lost his ability to speak. After using settlement
proceeds to get the best therapy, I visited him and he said my name for the first time.”
While agreeing with his partners’ comments, Williams adds that he’s in awe of the “ability to actually
have the opportunity to carry forward the legacy of Mr. Cochran and Mr. Sistrunk. It’s very humbling.
The opportunity to do that is pretty amazing, and I want to take that opportunity and leave a long
legacy. Mr. Cochran said that to do good and do well at the same time is a piece of practicing law
that most people don’t get to do. Some people do well and some do good, but we’re able to do both.”
Sistrunk adds that the firm believes in being an integral part of the community. “Community service
is part of who we are. We focus on seniors and kids, those parts of the community who are less
protected.” That includes helping send youth to college and providing school supplies, supporting
domestic violence shelters and providing free legal clinics. “We’re not just working on cases; we put
back into the community. Nationally, we have a commitment to do that. Bottom line is that we like
fighting for the underdog,” just as Johnnie Cochran is remembered advocating for the
disadvantaged, disenfranchised and the downtrodden. “That is what separates us from other legal
firms.”