When a bipartisan group of Maryland lawmakers introduced a bill last week requiring companies that bid on commuter rail contracts to disclose whether they once transported victims to Nazi concentration camps, it was a small victory for survivors who for more than a decade have tried to hold a French railway accountable for its role in the Holocaust.

It was also a victory for a group of attorneys and policy professionals at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, which for five years has represented more than 600 survivors and their family members in the courts, state legislatures and on Capitol Hill. As many as 30 people at the firm have been involved in the case, putting in roughly 1,300 hours in 2010 alone. (The Baltimore law offices of Duane Morris have also offered assistance.)

The scope of the case required Akim Gump to pull in attorneys from its litigation, appellate, corporate and public policy practices, said Steven H. Schulman, the partner at the firm who coordinates such efforts.