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on behalf of plaintiffs in personal injury actions. Beginning in
the 1980s, however, petitioner shifted his focus to a more
specialized law practice, class actions. Petitioner has been
very successful in this endeavor.
A class-action-based legal practice is unique in several
ways. Since petitioner began focusing on class actions, his case
volume has been smaller, the number of plaintiffs has been
significantly higher, the cases have been more complex, and his
income has increased and become more variable. For example,
petitioner earned $7 million in 1996, but little to nothing from
1997 through 1999. In 1998, petitioner had a $1.6 million loss,
and he earned only a small income in 1999. In 2000, however,
petitioner earned over $6 million when a case he had expected to
close earlier finally closed.
Class action cases also require a huge investment, in time
and money, including traveling abroad, deposing hundreds of
potential claimants, soliciting expensive experts, hiring highly
skilled personnel, purchasing expensive technical equipment, and
partnering with other law firms. At one point, petitioner hired
approximately 80 people and situated them on the entire floor of
a modern office building. In another case, which has been
ongoing for 13 years, petitioner has been representing some
26,000 banana workers from around the world who allegedly were
exposed to a toxic chemical rendering them sterile. Petitioner
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