['Detroit', 'News,', 'March', '13,', '1994', '(Not', 'coincidentally,', 'Cooper', 'garnered', 'a', 'mention', 'in', 'Best', 'Lawyers.)', '"Mest', 'trial', 'lawyers', 'don’t', 'even', 'know', "who's", 'in', 'the', 'Inner', 'Circle', 'and', 'I’m', 'not', 'Sure', 'they', 'care,"', 'Cooper', 'said.', '"I', 'lock', 'at', 'it', 'as', 'kind', 'of', 'a', 'private,', 'macho', 'thing,"', 'Well,', 'not', 'entirely.', 'In', '1992', 'che', 'Inner', 'Circle', 'admitted', 'its', 'first', 'female', 'member,', 'crack', 'New', 'York', 'trial', 'lawyer', 'Judith', 'Livingston,', 'allowing', 'it', 'te', 'shed', 'its', 'label', 'as', 'a', 'lily-whice', 'old-boys', 'club.', '(Actually,', 'it’s', 'Scill', 'white', 'and', 'old.', 'The', 'club', 'has', 'no', 'blacks', 'and', 'the', 'average', "member's", 'age', 'is', '60-plus.)', ' ', 'Still,', 'most', 'of', 'the', 'jabs', 'at', 'the', 'inner', 'Circle', 'are', 'really', 'swipes', 'at', 'the', 'whole', 'field', 'of', 'personal', 'injury', 'law.', 'Fear', 'and', 'loathing', 'have', 'exploded', 'along', 'with', 'the', 'fabulcus', 'sums', 'routinely', 'awarded', 'for', 'lose', 'limbs,', 'lives', 'and', 'livelihcods.', 'Insurers', 'and', 'Gocters', 'blame', 'the', 'attorneys', 'for', 'their', 'skyrocketing', 'malpractice', 'insurance', 'premiums.', 'Businesses', 'curse', 'them', 'as', 'they', 'set', 'up', 'a', 'trust', 'fund', 'to', 'settle', 'another', 'product', 'liability', 'claim.', 'Zef=', "doesn't", 'deny', 'he', 'and', 'others', 'have', 'made', 'a', 'pile.', 'But', 'he', 'said', 'it’s', 'really', 'all', 'about', 'sticking', 'up', 'for', 'the', 'little', 'guy.', '"Tf', 'it', 'weren’t', 'for', 'the', 'work', 'of', 'personal', 'injury', 'lawyers...we', "wouldn't", 'have', 'any', 'safety', 'standards', 'today,"', 'Zeff', 'said.', '"We\'d', 'be', 'back', 'to', 'the', 'bad', 'old', 'days', 'when', 'injured', 'workers', 'got', 'a', 'pink', 'slip', 'and', 'those', 'hurt', 'by', 'dectors', 'and', 'products', 'got', 'waileh.', 'That', 'may', 'sound', 'a', 'little', 'disingenuous,', 'coming', 'from', 'a', 'member', 'of', 'a', 'lawyer’s', 'club', 'whose', 'very', 'logo', 'stands', 'for', 'a', 'fat', 'jury', 'award,', 'But', 'even', 'adversaries', 'give', 'them', 'their', 'due.', 'A', 'Detroit', 'attorney', 'who', 'defends', 'doctors', 'and', 'hospitals', 'in', 'malpractice', 'claims,', 'said', 'he’s', 'seen', 'the', 'handiwork', 'of', 'Inner', 'Circle', 'attorneys', 'and', 'can', 'only', 'shake', 'his', 'head', 'in', 'admiration,', '"There’s', 'no', 'doubt', 'there', 'are', 'Some', 'good', 'lawyers', 'in', 'there,"', 'said', 'the', 'attorney,', 'who', 'declined', 'to', 'be', 'named.', '"If', 'they', 'can', 'beat', 'me', 'for', 'that', 'kind', 'of', 'money,', 'they', 'must’be', 'doing', 'something', 'right.', 'GRAPHIC:', 'Photo', 'LANGUAGE:', 'ENGLISH', '9431367', 'LOAD-DATE-MDC:', 'August', '8,', '1994', 'SEGrVGOVIOG']