Stephen Daily Susman (January 20, 1941 – July 14, 2020) was an American commercial plaintiffs attorney and founding and name partner of Susman Godfrey LLP. He won more than $2 billion in damages and settlements in just three cases, including a $1.1 billion settlement on behalf of
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globall ...
in ''Samsung Electronics v. Texas Instruments'', and a $536 million jury verdict in ''El Paso Natural Gas Co. v. GHR Energy Corp''.
In 2020, Susman was seriously injured in a biking accident which left him in a coma for more than a week. While rehabilitating from the injury, he contracted
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and died.
Early and personal life
Susman was born in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, Texas, and grew up in the
Riverside
Riverside may refer to:
Places Australia
* Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania
Canada
* Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon
* Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta
* Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...
neighborhood in the city, at a time when Jewish families such as his were barred by
deed restriction
A covenant, in its most general sense and historical sense, is a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action. Under historical English common law, a covenant was distinguished from an ordinary contract by the presence of a se ...
s from living in
River Oaks
River Oaks is a residential community located in the center of Houston, Texas, United States. Located within the 610 Loop and between Downtown and Uptown, the community spans .Archive Established in the 1920s by brothers Will Hogg and Michael ...
, the city's most desirable neighborhood. His father, Harry (1899-1949), son of Abraham and Hattie Susman from Russia, was a graduate of
Yale Law School
Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...
where he was Editor of the '' Yale Law Review'', and practiced law in Houston until his death of a
bleeding ulcer
Peptic ulcer disease (PUD) is a break in the inner lining of the stomach, the first part of the small intestine, or sometimes the lower esophagus. An ulcer in the stomach is called a gastric ulcer, while one in the first part of the intestines ...
at the age of 50.
His mother, Helene Daily Susman (1911-1978), was the daughter of Sam Daily (of Rosenberg, Texas, born in Russia; 1884–1960, son of Zelman Lubchansky and Rissa Berkman) and Mary Schiff Daily (born in Poland; 1891–1964; daughter of Boris Schiff and Helen Katzhandler). She was a 1934 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, and returned to her law practice and raised Susman and his brother after the death of their father when Susman was eight years old and his brother Tommy was six years old. His mother became the first woman from Texas admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States. Susman said: "My mother and father were both lawyers, so I never even thought about doing anything else."
He and his brother also attended the University of Texas School of Law, at the insistence of their mother. In addition, his son Harry attended the University of Texas School of Law. He was Editor-in-Chief of the '' Texas Law Review'' and clerked for a Supreme Court Justice.
His first wife, Karen Hyman Susman, from
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
, married Susman in 1965. She died in 1997 at age 55. Susman and Karen had two children; Stacy and Harry. He married Ellen Spencer Susman, at the time a television personality, in 1999. They had homes in Aspen, Colorado, Houston, and New York City.Terry Carter (February 1, 2008) "The G-Man" ''ABA Journal''; accessed July 15, 2020.
Education
Susman attended
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
, where he earned a B.A. ''
magna cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...
'' in English in 1962. While at Yale, to make ends meet he waited tables in the school's dining hall, acted as a travel agent for his classmates, ran a student laundry, and leased out caps and gowns to his graduating classmates.
Susman earned his J.D. at the University of Texas School of Law with highest honors in 1965. While attending law school, Susman was Editor-in-Chief of the '' Texas Law Review'', graduated first in his class with the highest
grade point average
Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...
in the school's history, was a member of the
Order of the Coif
The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap, whi ...
Hugo Black
Hugo Lafayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as a U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1927 to 1937 and as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971. A ...
at the
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
.
Legal career
Returning to Texas, Susman joined the law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski (now Norton Rose Fulbright), becoming one of its first Jewish partners. For the first eight years of his career he was a defense lawyer, before becoming a plaintiffs' lawyer. After taking a leave of absence and teaching antitrust law at the University of Texas Law School, and considering becoming a full-time law professor (a notion nixed by his then-wife), in 1976 he joined a small plaintiffs maritime firm, Mandell & Wright of Houston, that had a contingency practice, to start a new commercial litigation practice there.
Susman Godfrey
Susman founded Susman Godfrey LLP in 1980. The firm specializes in representing plaintiffs in
antitrust
Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...
class action
A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...
The American Lawyer
''The American Lawyer'' is a monthly legal magazine and website published by ALM Media. The periodical and its parent company, ALM (then American Lawyer Media), were founded in 1979 by Steven Brill.
He won some of the largest cases in U.S. history, including a $1.1 billion ($ in current dollar terms) settlement on behalf of
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globall ...
in the breach of contract case of ''Samsung Electronics v. Texas Instruments'' in 1996; and a $536 million ($ in current dollar terms) jury verdict on counterclaim in ''El Paso Natural Gas Co. v. GHR Energy Corp'' in 1988. Susman won a verdict for the plaintiffs in the ''Corrugated Container Antitrust'' case in 1979, at $550 million ($ in current dollar terms) the largest verdict in antitrust history at the time, and the case ultimately settled for $500 million (A lawyer who joined the firm in 1990 was given an office tour by Susman. A large, irregularly cut piece of cardboard was stuck to the wall in Susman's office, and the new hire asked if it was a memento from Susman's famous ''Corrugated Container'' case. Susman's quick explanation: “No, f—face, it’s a Rauschenberg.”). He won a $140 million California jury verdict for the plaintiff in the antitrust case ''Masimo v. Tyco Health Care Group''.
In 2010, Susman was among a team of attorneys that represented
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...
owner
Frank McCourt
Francis McCourt (August 19, 1930July 19, 2009) was an Irish-American teacher and writer. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his book ''Angela's Ashes'', a tragicomic memoir of the misery and squalor of his childhood.
Early life and education
Frank McC ...
in his divorce trial.
Susman split his time between his firm's Houston and New York offices.
Professional recognition
In 1994, Susman was one of 14 lawyers featured in ''America's Top Trial Lawyers: Who They Are & Why They Win,'' by Don Vinson. He was named the top litigator in 1996 in a worldwide poll of attorneys. In 2006, the ''
National Law Journal
''The National Law Journal'' (NLJ) is an American legal periodical founded in 1978. The NLJ was created by Jerry Finkelstein, who envisioned it as a "sibling newspaper" of the ''New York Law Journal''.
Originally a tabloid-sized weekly newspape ...
'' featured him as one of the top ten litigators in the United States.
In 2015, the 50th anniversary of Susman's election as Editor-in-Chief of the '' Texas Law Review'', the Texas Law Review Association established a scholarship in his name.
In 2016, Susman was one of six lawyers recognized by the '' American Lawyer'' for his lifetime achievements as a trial lawyer. As of 2019, ''The Best Lawyers in America'' had listed him in each of its 20 years of publication. ''Who's Who Legal: The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers'' twice named him the Leading Commercial Litigator in the World. Susman was consistently among ''Super Lawyers''’ top 10 most-voted-for attorneys. In 2019, the legal media company ''Lawdragon'' inducted him into its Hall of Fame.
Related work
Susman developed trial agreements with the purpose of reducing litigation costs for both sides and bringing cases to trial more efficiently. As a result of Susman's belief in a contingency-fee model and the law firm efficiency necessary to make it work, in 2012 he launched "Trial by Agreement" as a repository of pre-trial and trial agreements that lawyers can use to reduce the expense of unwarranted
discovery
Discovery may refer to:
* Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown
* Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown
* Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence
Discovery, The Discovery ...
and associated motions.
Among his professional affiliations (2013–16) were
State Bar of Texas
The State Bar of Texas (the Texas Bar) is an agency of the judiciary under the administrative control of the Texas Supreme Court. It is responsible for assisting the Texas Supreme Court in overseeing all attorneys licensed to practice law in Te ...
(Chairman, Section on Antitrust and Trade Regulation, 1976–77); the American Board of Trial Advocates (co-Chair of its Jury Trial Committee);
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...
, member of the commission on the Impact of the Economic Crisis on the Profession and Legal Needs (Section of Antitrust Law); Director of Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists; University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Board of Visitors; and Charter Member of the Institute for Responsible Dispute Resolution.
Susman founded and was Executive Director of the Civil Jury Project, dedicated to studying civil jury trials and trying to stem their decline, at the
New York University School of Law
New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in New ...
, and an Adjunct Professor there, occasionally teaching the course, "How to Try a Jury Case Intelligently."
Charitable giving
In May 2010, the University of Texas announced a $5 million gift from alumnus Susman in support of the university's law school. In recognition of this gift, the Board of Regents, the governing body for The University of Texas System, established the Stephen D. Susman Academic Center, which opened in August of the same year, and which Dean Lawrence G. Sager described the center as "the heart of the UT Law Enterprise."
In December 2011, Yale University announced an $11 million gift from alumnus Susman in support of new exhibition space at the Yale University Art Gallery. The newly renovated art gallery re-opened on December 12, 2012.
Along with his wife
Ellen
Ellen is a female given name, a diminutive of Elizabeth, Eleanor, Elena and Helen. Ellen was the 609th most popular name in the U.S. and the 17th in Sweden in 2004.
People named Ellen include:
* Ellen Adarna (born 1988), Filipino actress
* Elle ...
, Stephen Susman sat on the boards of many arts organizations, including the 2015-2016 National Leadership Board of the
Blanton Museum of Art
The Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art (often referred to as the Blanton or the BMA) at the University of Texas at Austin is one of the largest university art museums in the U.S. with 189,340 square feet devoted to temporary exhibitions, permanent coll ...
in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
. Through the Susman Family Foundation, the couple has made financial gifts to The Aspen Institute, and other programs and non-profit organizations related to the arts, justice, and the environment. He endowed the Karen & Stephen Susman Hall, Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale University, the Harry Susman Summer Scholarship in Israel Scholarship at Yale, and founded the Helen D. Susman Woman of Prominence Award at the American Jewish Community.
Death
On April 22, 2020, Susman sustained serious head injuries in a bicycling accident in Houston's
Old Braeswood
Old Braeswood is a neighborhood of single family homes in Houston, Texas, United States. It is generally bounded by South Main, North Braeswood, Kirby Drive, and Holcombe. The Texas Medical Center, Rice University, Rice Village, and the NRG Center ...
neighborhood, and was admitted to
Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center
Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center is a nationally ranked hospital at the Texas Medical Center. It is the first hospital founded in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas (and its founding predates the Texas Medical Center). Founded in 19 ...
in Houston. He was in a
coma
A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...
for more than a week, and continued to be in a critical condition. After Susman came out of the coma, was moved to TIRR Memorial Hermann rehabilitation hospital, and was making progress in his rehabilitation, he contracted
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
on June 24, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas. He died on July 14, 2020.
Dick Sayles of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, who faced him at trial, said: "I've known a lot of lawyers and I've been around a long time, and Steve is a legend and he deserves to be known as a legend. He was a terrific lawyer, he was the most formidable adversary, and he was a terrific friend." Tom Melsheimer of Winston & Strawn described Susman as "almost indisputably the smartest trial lawyer who ever lived," and a "Shakespeare when it came to the use of the F-word."
See also
*
List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 1)
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...