Relatives of crash victims mourn at the scene in Ethiopia where an Ethiopian Airlines' Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed shortly after takeoff in March 2019, killing all 157 people on board. (Photo: Mulugeta Ayene / AP)

Three lawyers with extensive experience in airline crash lawsuits will lead nearly 100 cases brought over the Ethiopian Airlines crash earlier this year that led The Boeing Co. to ground its 737 Max 8 aircraft.

At a hearing on Tuesday, Judge Jorge Alonso of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said he would grant a plaintiffs' motion to appoint Bob Clifford of Chicago's Clifford Law Offices as lead counsel, according to Clifford. He also said he would approve two other lawyers, Steven Marks of Podhurst Orseck and Justin Green of Kreindler & Kreindler as co-leads of an executive committee.

Clifford, whose previous cases include negotiating a $1.2 billion settlement for those with property damages from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, said the leadership team is considering adding more law firms in the coming days to the executive committee, as well as a planned plaintiffs' steering committee.

"That is under discussion as we speak," Clifford said. "Anyone who steps up and is worthy and willing to serve and has something to add to the effort and discussion would likely be put on the steering committee."

The leadership appointments set the stage for discovery to go forward, even as Boeing has agreed to mediate lawsuits brought over last year's crash of Lion Air, which killed 189 people on another 737 Max 8 aircraft over Indonesia.

Boeing has predicted that the Max 8 could be flying again during the fourth quarter, but regulators across the globe have given no timetable. Over the summer, Boeing announced it would pay $100 million to local community groups and nonprofits to assist families of the victims of both Max 8 crashes.

The March 10 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 killed 157 people, but the lawsuits are moving forward toward discovery, because they focus on what Boeing knew following the Lion Air crash, Clifford said. He said the lawyers are working with Boeing on a protective order, followed by depositions of its executives.

Green, who is in New York, will be in charge of discovery. His previous cases include representing victims of the Asiana Airlines crash in 2013 at San Francisco International Airport and the families of passengers of the Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared in 2014 over the Indian Ocean.

"The first order of business is to examine the many thousands of pages of documents Boeing will produce during the coming weeks," he wrote in an email. "These will be internal Boeing documents, including safety analyses and communications."

Marks, in Miami, did not respond to a request for comment. He brought a motion on Friday to appoint the leadership team, as well as 10 other attorneys from their three firms who would serve as members of the executive committee. One of them, Clifford Law Offices associate Tracy Brammeier, also would serve as liaison counsel.

Marks, who will be in charge of legal issues, also handled lawsuits over the Malaysia Airlines disappearance and the 2015 crash of a Germanwings aircraft over France.

Alonso set the next hearing for Nov. 21.