Chris Dodd: “Cindy Cohn is one of those ``trial lawyers.'' She is lead counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a small…”

“Cindy Cohn is one of those ``trial lawyers.'' She is lead counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a small public-interest law firm bringing suit against the telecom corporations. And when she heard that Fox News claim about typical greedy trial lawyers, she laughed. If he still thinks that we're rich plaintiffs' attorneys after he's visited our little tiny Mission Street offices, [she said,] then I have a bridge to sell him. Most of the EFF lawyers worked in those big fancy firms for big fancy salaries, and took big pay cuts to join us . . . Young lawyers come to me and say, ``I really want to work for EFF--you have such great lawyers.'' I say: ``Take your current paycheck, rip it in three pieces, take any third, and that's about what you'll get working for EFF.'' The lawyers who work for EFF . . . are making far less than they could on the open market in exchange for being able to work in things they believe in every day. Consider the hundreds of lawyers retained by the corporations in question, and their multimillion-dollar legal budgets, and the attempt to portray them as pitiable Davids is ludicrous. Sprint's lawyers recently settled an unrelated class-action lawsuit for $30 million. Three years ago, AT&T handled a settlement with shareholders for $100 million. With those resources, I think they can give EFF's nine nonprofit lawyers in their little office on Mission Street a fair fight. Mr. President, I don't presume to know how that fight will end.…”