SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Brad Seligman made millions as a
class-action and employment attorney in his early career with a
small Oakland law firm so much money he says it made him
``uncomfortable.''
That discomfort has transformed the former hippie into one of
the country's most recognized class-action attorneys, taking on
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. in lawsuits
accusing them of discriminating against their female employees.
``I made a lot more money than I ever thought I would make,''
Seligman said of his dozen years in private practice before
founding The Impact Fund, a nonprofit legal services agency. ``It
made me feel uncomfortable. It was more money than I needed and
more money than I ever wanted ... I wanted to get rid of it as fast
as possible.''
The Wal-Mart and Costco cases, if proven or settled, promise to
generate millions in legal fees. But none of that would be used to
pad his $73,000 salary, a minuscule sum in the legal world of
class-action lawyers.
``I won't personally make any money from the cases,'' said
Seligman, who turns 53 Wednesday.
That's because any fees he generates in the cases, both of which
are being fought in federal court here, would go back into the
coffers of the Berkeley-based nonprofit, which he founded in 1992
with $1.25 million of his own money.
It took nearly another decade before Seligman began drawing a
salary and litigating his own cases again. When The Impact Fund
began, he spent much of his time coaching lawyers and doling out
more than $3 million to other public-interest lawyers representing
the environment, the poor, minorities and women.
Guy Saperstein, the retired Oakland civil rights attorney who
hired Seligman to join his small firm more than two decades ago,
said Seligman was among the sharpest lawyers he's ever known.
``He's going to do the biggest and most important things and not
be afraid or intimidated about it,'' Saperstein said. ``That's what
this guy wants to do is have an impact.''
Saperstein remembered a young Seligman long hair, scrubby
beard and shabby clothing and recalls warning clients that his
new associate, who would later become a partner, could handle the
job despite his unkempt appearance.
``He wasn't the best dresser,'' Saperstein said. ``During a
performance appraisal, I asked him: 'Would you be offended if I
took you to my tailor to buy a couple of suits?'''
Seligman grew up in Los Angeles and was a national debating
champion in high school. His dad died the day he graduated John
Marshall High School in 1969 and Seligman drifted for a while,
unsure of his future.
But he always thought he would be an attorney, like his father,
a one-time federal prosecutor at Nuremberg who finished his career
as an entertainment executive.
``I got swept into the ends of the 60s and was part of the
counter-culture for a while and spent a number of years dropping in
and out of schools and exploring a lot of other things like writing
music and Russian literature,'' he said.
But the bills began to mount. So he got serious, enrolling at
Sonoma State University where, in 1975, he graduated with an
English degree. Three years later, he finished at Hastings College
of the Law in San Francisco.
``I gave myself a long talking to,'' the father of three
recalled in a recent interview. ``That's when I decided I was gonna
give this law thing a chance, but it had to be consistent with my
political values.''
With Saperstein, Seligman sued big and small companies on behalf
of those wrongly fired or discriminated in the workplace. In 1992,
they hit the jackpot, earning millions in legal fees when they
settled a lawsuit with State Farm for $250 million. The giant
insurance company was accused of failing to hire female agents in
California.
That was about the time he was growing tired of the push to
generate legal fees. So, he opened The Impact Fund and immediately
began fund-raising, offering advice and doling out money to
public-interest causes.
In 2001, he took on Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart, the
nation's largest private employer. He filed a class-action suit
representing as many as 1.6 million current and former workers who
Seligman says were paid less than their male counterparts and were
denied promotions on account of their gender. The case is stalled
in a federal appeals court here.
The Costco case, in which the Issaquah, Wash.-based warehouse
chain is accused of passing over women for managerial roles, was
filed earlier this month in federal court here and has not yet had
a hearing.
Both firms deny a pattern of gender discrimination.
John Fox, chairman of employment practice at Fenwick & West in
Mountain View, said if Seligman is successful in those cases, he
expects to see him donate more money to more causes. For Fox, who
defends companies' employment practices, that means he could find
himself opposing Seligman or others funded by him in court.
``I should be careful for what I wish for,'' Fox quipped.
``There is a crusader spirit about him.''
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Editors: David Kravets has been covering state and federal
courts for more than a decade.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)