Decades‑long clash leads to $256 million verdict against human rights lawyer

By David Thomas, Sara Merken and Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - (Billable Hours is Reuters' weekly report on lawyers and money. Please send tips or suggestions to D.Thomas@thomsonreuters.com.)

After decades of suing major corporations over alleged human rights violations overseas, Washington, D.C.-based lawyer Terry Collingsworth is facing a $256 million judgment in a case brought by one of his oldest adversaries.

On January 15, a federal jury in Alabama sided with coal producer Drummond [RIC:RIC:DRMND.UL] and found Collingsworth and his firm liable for defamation and racketeering. The verdict capped a 24-year legal fight with Drummond, which accused Collingsworth of filing "fraudulent" lawsuits and orchestrating a scheme to pay witnesses to deliver false testimony linking Drummond to a Colombian paramilitary group responsible for killing hundreds of civilians.

Jurors awarded Drummond $68 million in damages, an amount the company said will be automatically tripled under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. They also awarded $52 million in compensatory and punitive damages over allegedly defamatory statements Collingsworth made in letters to Dutch officials and Drummond’s Japanese business partners.

Collingsworth said in an email that he would appeal and declined to comment further. In a video message posted on his firm’s website before the verdict, he characterized Drummond’s case as “frivolous” and retaliatory.

Trey Wells of Starnes Davis Florie, who represented Drummond, said in a statement that the coal company has faced “malicious accusations and narratives for decades.”

“This verdict is further proof that Drummond has had no connection whatsoever with illegal organizations,” he said.

The clash began when Collingsworth brought a landmark Alien Tort Statute case in federal court in Alabama in 2002, alleging Drummond was liable for the 2001 murders of three union leaders at one of its Colombian mines. A federal jury sided with the company in 2007, and Drummond first brought a defamation claim against Collingsworth in 2011.

Collingsworth has pursued similar corporate accountability claims against other multinational companies since the 1990s. He was among the lawyers behind a 22-year lawsuit against ExxonMobil, alleging that security personnel guarding the company’s Indonesian natural gas operations committed murder and torture. Exxon reached a confidential settlement with 11 Indonesian villagers in 2023, days before trial.

In July 2024, a U.S. appeals court rejected a proposed class action brought by Collingsworth on behalf of Malian citizens who sought to hold Hershey, Nestlé and other chocolate companies liable for child labor on cocoa farms in Ivory Coast. Another case attempting to hold Alphabet, Apple, Dell Technologies, Microsoft and Tesla liable for allegedly supporting child labor in Congolese cobalt mining was dismissed by an appeals court the same year.

AI CREDIT HOURS SPREAD FOR JUNIOR LAWYERS

Another U.S. law firm is allowing junior lawyers to receive billable hours credit for time spent on artificial intelligence education and training initiatives, as firms navigate how to best equip their teams in the AI era.

Washington, D.C.-based Holtzman Vogel, which has more than 60 lawyers, said this week that it will allow first-through-third-year associates to dedicate up to 100 of their targeted annual billable hours on gaining AI skills.

Law firms use annual billable hour targets to set performance expectations and allocate bonuses to associates and other salaried attorneys. A handful of firms have previously offered billable credit for innovation-related projects, but few have publicly announced programs specifically creating a category of AI credit. Ropes & Gray, a 1,500-lawyer firm, in November began allowing its first-year associates to devote up to 20% of their annual billing requirements – nearly 400 hours – to experimenting with AI.

Holtzman Vogel managing partner Jill Vogel said clients are asking their lawyers if they are using AI, wanting counsel who are technologically savvy. Partners at the firm also want junior lawyers to use AI for legal work and other tasks while also understanding the potential pitfalls.

"I need them to understand that I prioritize this equally with some of the other billable work that they would do, because this is critical,” Vogel said.

The firm, which does political, regulatory and litigation work, has a billable hour target of 1,800 hours, she said.

HAGENS BERMAN CAN'T SHAKE DOJ REFERRAL

– Plaintiffs law firm Hagens Berman failed to persuade a U.S. appeals court to stop a judge's referral of the law firm to the U.S. Justice Department for alleged litigation misconduct in cases it brought over alleged injuries from the drug thalidomide.

The Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled without comment on January 20, denying a petition from the firm and its managing partner Steve Berman contesting a December order by U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond in Philadelphia. Berman and a lawyer for the firm did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The U.S. attorney's office in Philadelphia declined to comment.

Diamond said in his order that a court-appointed official uncovered a decade of alleged wrongdoing in the thalidomide litigation by the firm. Diamond said the lawyers were found to have conducted "grossly inadequate" investigations into the strength of product liability claims against drugmakers.

Berman and his firm have denied any wrongdoing. Their outside counsel said last month that "there is no basis for sanctions, much less a criminal referral (which was not suggested or recommended by the discovery master)."

LOBBYING FEES SOAR UNDER TRUMP 2.0

– Several U.S. law and lobbying firms reported record-breaking federal lobbying revenues this week for 2025, buoyed by President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful" tax-and-spend legislation, a six-week federal government shutdown and executive actions on trade, healthcare and other policies.

It was an especially big year for Florida-founded lobbying firm Ballard Partners. The firm, which previously employed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, said on Wednesday that it grew its lobbying revenue by 300% in 2025 to $88.3 million. The previous single-year record for an individual firm was $67.8 million, according to nonprofit research group OpenSecrets.

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(Reporting by Mike Scarcella)

((Email: mike.scarcella@thomsonreuters.com; Phone: 202-985-8228.))