One of Pennsylvania’s most notable personal injury lawyers is making sure his name leaves a lasting imprint on the Commonwealth’s legal landscape. Thomas Kline – a founding partner of Kline & Specter P.C. – has donated $50 million to two law schools at Drexel University and Duquesne University. As a result of these generous gifts (which are made possible thanks to numerous jackpot verdicts secured from health care providers, doctors, and others during his legal career), both law schools have been named after him.
Just another avenue to train the next generation of trial lawyers on how to milk the health care system for huge paydays?
According to an article that originally appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Kline’s law practice is one of the “leading firms handling catastrophic personal-injury cases” and also specializes in medical malpractice cases. The firm has been known to achieve explosive verdicts in several high-profile cases, conveniently lining the pockets of Kline and his colleagues.
Kline has also had the financial wherewithal to establish the Thomas R. Kline Center for Judicial Education of the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University which “supports the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in its ongoing efforts to enhance the administration of justice through high quality continuing education for judges of the Commonwealth.” Just guessing that this education does not train judges on how to prevent jackpot verdicts that cripple health care.
Of course, attorney Kline is free to spend the money he extracts from health care on anything he chooses. The Kline & Specter website reveals that he has contributed back some of that money snatched from health care entities. Now that the medical liability venue rule has been rescinded, Kline and his firm will surely see even larger contingency fees from all the cases they will now get to file in Philadelphia! Who knows, maybe all the law schools in Pennsylvania will soon be named after him.