Bill Clark, political director, and Dan Snipes, president, Georgia Trial Lawyers Association. (Courtesy photos)

The political director for the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association announced his resignation last week in a letter warning the group's leaders that they were making "an all-but-fatal decision" in promoting the head of GTLA's political action committee to run the whole organization.

Addressing the GTLA's 48-member executive committee, Clark wrote that he disagreed with a decision to elevate Caroline McLean to a new CEO post that would, among other things, oversee Clark's running of the group's political and legislative operation. McLean has headed the GTLA's Civil Justice PAC since 2013. Clark has been at the organization since 2002.

Clark predicted in the letter that, under McLean's direction, the GTLA would abandon a bipartisan approach to advocating for its causes and support Democratic control of the state government.

McLean referred a call to Dan Snipes, the GTLA's president, who called Clark's belief "completely false."

In an interview, Snipes noted that he is a Republican and that, under McLean, "The PAC's contributions have mirrored the legislature," favoring Republicans over Democrats roughly by 60% to 40%.

A prepared statement by Snipes said, "GTLA remains a strong, single-issue organization that will advance a non-partisan message in a bi-partisan fashion. We will continue to strengthen our political team and grow our alliances with support for all those who protect the 7th Amendment, and we believe that Caroline McLean has the experience and the innovation to lead our association as the new CEO."

"As Bill and I discussed, all things eventually run their course," Snipes also said in the statement. "Bill has been a great advocate for our clients and our organization. Ultimately, he did not agree with our intention to restructure the organization with the creation of a CEO, but we remain thankful for his service. Accepting his resignation was not something that I wanted to do, but after speaking with him, I am convinced that it is what is best for him and best for GTLA at this time."

When reached by telephone, Clark said he was disappointed to learn that someone leaked what he expected to be a private communication between him and the executive committee. He declined to comment on the letter or his resignation.

Clark came to the GTLA in 2002 after four years as general counsel and director of government relations at the Medical Association of Georgia—which was battling trial lawyers over efforts to limit verdicts in medical malpractice cases. The American Medical Association had just described medical malpractice cases as "a litigation lottery in which a select few and their lawyers receive astronomical awards and the rest of us pay higher costs for health care and suffer access problems because of it."

Given his wife, Robin Frazer Clark, was a plaintiffs' lawyer whose practice included medical malpractice claims, Bill Clark said he could not in good conscience lead an effort against trial lawyers in Georgia.

After the Republicans in Georgia won the governorship in 2002 and took control of both chambers of the General Assembly in 2004, major changes to the state's tort laws were passed in 2005 that made it harder for plaintiffs to prevail. Some parts of the package were struck down as unconstitutional, but the legislation was a deep blow to plaintiffs' lawyers.

In his letter, Clark claimed that the GTLA pushed for Democrats to take back the Senate in 2004 and that this effort led to the 2005 Republican package. He said McLean's leadership of the GTLA "will become an all-out effort to expend GTLA political and financial resources to abandon our bipartisan approach in exchange for an effort—surreptitiously or not—to take power for one political party."

Snipes said any suggesting the GTLA was backing one party over another is inaccurate, and he insisted Clark's departure was amicable.

He said that, when Clark joined the GTLA, "we had very few friends in the majority party in the Capitol. Thanks to his hard work and the leadership of our members, GTLA has become a true bi-partisan organization."

Clark ended his letter with positive notes. "I will do everything in my power over the next several weeks to prepare our dedicated Lobbying Team for the fight that lies ahead," he wrote. "Thereafter, I will be cheering for all of you from the sidelines. In the meantime, I will thank you and all of your predecessors for allowing me to fight for the Constitutional Right to Trial by Jury these last 17 years and for all of the efforts you make in that battle today and in the days to come. It is among the most noble of causes I can think of. And I wish all of you nothing but the greatest success in the months and years to come."

Editor's note: Below is the full text of Clark's letter and Snipes' response on behalf of the GTLA.

August 23, 2019

Dear GTLA Executive Committee:

This letter will serve notice that I am hereby resigning my position as Political Director of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association.

I will be glad to stay on through the end of September to help you and the GTLA Lobbying Team continue to craft and implement a strategy that will best position the Association for success in the upcoming 2020 legislative session. However, because I do not believe it would be in the best interests of either GTLA or me, I will not participate in any further meetings with legislators or other elected officials on behalf of GTLA. After the end of September, though, I will be moving on to other horizons.

Succeeding as the Political Director of GTLA has required two things: It has required me to assume the daily burden of mentally strapping on a suit of armor to fight off the relentless attacks on our members and their clients and it has required that I have the unwavering support and backing of GTLA's leadership and their buy-in to my approach. Having lost the latter, I no longer have the necessary will to wear the former. Therefore, it is time for me to step down.

The decision to end my 17-year run as GTLA's Political Director is the most difficult professional decision I have ever had to make. Some of you have known since May that I strongly disagreed with your decision to bring in someone to oversee my running of GTLA's political and legislative operations and that I particularly opposed your putting Caroline McLean in that position. But, what neither you nor I knew then was that your decision would render me uninterested in fighting your decision.

It was only in the meeting between the GTLA Officers and GTLA Staff on August 8, 2019 that I realized I had, in fact, lost your support for my approach and that I no longer desired to continue the fight for GTLA that has been my life for the past 17 years. In that meeting, the Officers made it clear that GTLA's future political course needed Caroline McLean's direction. I believe that is an all-but-fatal decision for GTLA, its members and your clients because it will become an all-out effort to expend GTLA political and financial resources to abandon our bipartisan approach in exchange for an effort – surreptitiously or not – to take power for one political party. I have lived through a previous iteration of that kind of misguided, personal preference-driven effort. I am all too familiar with how that turns out and I am not willing to live through it again.

GTLA's effort to "take back the Senate" for the Democrats in 2004 led directly to the Republicans' passage in 2005 of one of the most draconian tort deform measures in the history of this country. Anyone who continues to deny the connection between those 2004 partisan efforts of GTLA and the results of 2005 is in mindless denial. And, I am unwilling to endure another such predictable, yet preventable, cause-and-effect scenario.

What is most painful to me about all of this is that your decision to reject my warnings about going down that road have left me … unwilling to fight for the soul of GTLA any longer. That fight has been decided and we all will live with the consequences. My consequences are that I will no longer be able to fight this fight with you.  And I regret that. But, that is where I am. So, you now need to have someone else lead your charge.

I will do everything in my power over the next several weeks to prepare our dedicated Lobbying Team for the fight that lies ahead. Thereafter, I will be cheering for all of you from the sidelines.

In the meantime, I will thank you and all of your predecessors for allowing me to fight for the Constitutional Right to Trial by Jury these last 17 years and for all of the efforts you make in that battle today and in the days to come. It is among the most noble of causes I can think of. And I wish all of you nothing but the greatest success in the months and years to come.

Respectfully,

William T. Clark

August 28, 2019 Official statement from GTLA President, Dan Snipes:

Bill Clark has been with GTLA for the past 17 years and has been a great leader and political director. He joined GTLA from the Medical Association of Georgia at a time when we had very few friends in the majority party in the Capitol. Thanks to his hard work and the leadership of our members, GTLA has become a true bi-partisan organization.

As Bill and I discussed, all things eventually run their course. The daily burden of representing our interests at the Capitol as the only organization with the mission to protect the 7th Amendment has a cumulative effect, but Bill has been a great advocate for our clients and our organization. Ultimately, he did not agree with our intention to restructure the organization with the creation of a CEO, but we remain thankful for his service. Accepting his resignation was not something that I wanted to do, but after speaking with him, I am convinced that it is what is best for him and best for GTLA at this time.

I assure you that GTLA remains a strong, single-issue organization that will advance a non-partisan message in a bi-partisan fashion. We will continue to strengthen our political team and grow our alliances with support for all those who protect the 7th Amendment, and we believe that Caroline McLean has the experience and the innovation to lead our association as the new CEO. We look forward to continued success with her at the helm, and wish Bill and his family nothing but the best in this season of transition.