Page 18 - Dallas Vol 6 No 1

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THE EVOLUTION OF AN ATTORNEY
Sumner and his partner, David C. Schick, formed Sumner Schick in 1986 and the rm has grown to represent some of the most no- table persons and organizations in the nation, including Fortune 200 and Fortune 500 com- panies.
Sumner’s record as a Trial Lawyer includes being a member of the defense team in all three criminal capital murder and solicitation of capital murder trials of Cullen Davis, which resulted in acquittals for Davis. Sumner notes that “For three years, he learned his trade as a trial lawyer by working closely with his men- tor, Richard Racehorse Haynes.”
in the decision to dramatically shi direction and move into major commercial litigation representing large companies.
Today, the rm represents businesses of every size in complex commercial litigation nationwide. Focus areas include information technology disputes, false claims acts and Qui Tam matters (defense and prosecution), antitrust, corporate fraud, and unfair compe- tition. e rm also has deep experience in labor and employment litigation and white collar civil and criminal defense.
THE EVOLUTION OF A LAW FIRM
Not content to remain static or to rest on past successes, Sumner Schick continues to evolve and re-invent itself to meet the ever- changing needs of the legal community, in- cluding entry into one of the most demanding and most exciting legal arenas – Whistleblow- er litigation. e evolution began when the rm began representing some of the country’s largest companies in Qui Tam defense cases – representing Lockheed Martin, ACS, and Computer Sciences Corporation, for example.
As Sumner explains it, a Whistleblower, sometimes called a “Relator”, is someone who has uncovered government fraud – fraud on the government. “We thoroughly investigate and evaluate the case and then we le suit that is saying we’re standing in the shoes of the government,” Sumner says. e case is led under seal in federal district court and the government investigates to determine if it’s going to intervene in the case. If it chooses to intervene, it moves forward. If it doesn’t, the relator can go forward with the case.
“I don’t think there’s anybody in Texas who can compare to our machine in terms of Whistleblower representation. We have a very capable team of lawyers who handle those cases. We’ve been successful in every defense of the Qui Tam cases and we have recovered millions of dollars for our Whistle- blowers.” e rm receives a lot of referrals of Whistleblower claims from other lawyers who recognize that this is a complex and highly so- phisticated area of practice and is more cost e cient to refer clients to experienced lawyers to represent Whistleblowers than to attempt to represent these clients themselves.
Sumner has led the e orts to expand into another legal arena. Vern Clemons has re- cently joined the rm. Clemons has vast ex- perience working for health care providers and serving as General Counsel for health care providers. She has earned advanced de- grees in health care compliance and the rm has begun representing healthcare providers
anybody He was lead trial counsel for the World Boxing Council in a libel/slander civil lawsuit led against Howard Cosell and the New York
Post in Federal Court in New York City.
He successfully defended Ricky Kyle in Los Angeles against charges of murdering his fa- ther, a er two trials and een months in the courtroom. e book Ulterior Motives by Su- zanne Finstad was written about the case and the television series, Investigation Discovery, also featured the case in a 30-minute segment. It is natural to think of Sumner solely as a criminal trial lawyer a er such high-pro le cases, but Sumner disagrees. “I’ve tried lots of civil cases. I was a criminal trial lawyer, and I had great success in the criminal arena, but the truth of the matter is that ten years a er the Cullen Davis criminal trials, I successfully defended Cullen Davis as lead trial counsel in the wrongful death civil suit which was one of the biggest civil trials ever in the State of
Texas.” e Amanda Deely case Whistleblower was also a wrongful death civil trial that Sumner tried live on representation. National Television for over a month on the television show called “Court T.V.” e jury awarded his client with a multimillion-dollar verdict that was the largest verdict a rmed on
appeal that year.
e Barbara Piatrosky case was a very high-
pro le civil rights trial he tried in Houston and resulted in a very large verdict for his cli- ent.
“So, I was evolving out of the criminal arena into more civil cases, and then I started repre- senting Darwin Deason who I think played a huge part in my career. He was the founder of ACS – A liated Computer Services. I initially represented him in his personal work and then represented ACS and Xerox. I still repre- sent Darwin and his companies.” Representa- tion of Deason and ACS was a major factor
in Texas who can compare to our machine in
terms of
ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · DALLAS· VOL. 6 NO. 1 18