Gerry Spence: The Lawyer Who Never Lost a Jury Trial
Gerry Spence is a semi-retired American trial lawyer with a net worth of $20 million. He established himself as a successful lawyer who has never lost a jury trial or civil case since 1969.
Spence graduated from the University of Wyoming Law School in 1952 and started his career as a defense attorney, mainly representing insurance companies. But it was the Karen Silkwood case that put Spence on the map, attracting international attention. Spence represented Karen Silkwood’s family, who accused the plant where she worked of exposing her to dangerous levels of plutonium. The family won $10.5 million dollars.
Spence quickly landed other high-profile cases, including a $52 million dollar verdict against McDonald’s in favor of a small ice-cream factory. He established himself as a lawyer who defends “the poor and the forgotten” against what he dubbed “the new slave master,” a term he would use to describe a combination of huge corporations and government.
In addition to his wins at court, Spence has given several lectures at major universities and conducted seminars at several legal organizations. He is also the founder of “Trial Lawyers College,” a non-profit organization that forms lawyers and judges for the defense of the “poor and forgotten” against corporations and governments.
Spence has authored over a dozen legal books and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree in May 1990 by the university he graduated from. He is happily married to his longtime wife, Imaging, and is the father of six children and grandfather of thirteen grandchildren. He retired before turning 80 after his last case, the Fiegeraquital, in 2008.
