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September 16, 2004
By JANNETTE PIPPIN
Daily News of Jacksonville, NC

BEAUFORT—As a roll of those killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks was read during recent memorial events, Beaufort attorney Jeff Newton recalled the victims whose names were not heard.

Along with the 3,000 killed, there were survivors left with physical injuries and emotional scars, Newton said.

"One of the things that people don't realize is that there were more injuries than there were deaths," he said.

Newton is well acquainted with the stories of two survivors. He handled their injury claims as part of the largest pro bono project in the nation's history.

One of his clients was working for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the other for an engineering firm when the World Trade Center towers were toppled.

Both were inside at the time - one on the 69th floor of One World Trade Center, the other on the 91st floor of Two World Trade Center.

Both survived but suffered smoke inhalation and lasting orthopedic conditions. And there is the pain of their memories.

Newton didn't know his clients on the day the reality of terrorism hit home. But like many Americans who watched the images of the day unfold on television, he knew he wanted to help.

He saw his chance to do so with the creation of Trial Lawyers Care Inc., a nonprofit set up after 9/11 to provide free legal services to victims or their families.

"I knew it was something I could do to try to help," said Newton, who operates his own law practice from his hometown of Beaufort and signed up with TLC soon after he heard about it.

Newton was one of about 1,100 attorneys nationwide and about 60 in North Carolina who volunteered their time and expertise to assist victims of the 9/11 attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon.

TLC President Richard Bieder of Connecticut said it was a massive undertaking by attorneys across the country who essentially came together as the "largest law firm in the world" to represent 1,745 claimants before the federal Victim Compensation Fund set up after 9/11.

Bieder estimates TLC attorneys put in an average of 150 to 200 hours of their time per case, and he knows from the many calls he made to recruit help that they did so with no questions asked.

"If I was putting together a baseball team, I'd make them all shortstop. They are stars," Bieder said.

The Victim Compensation Fund closed June 30, and settlements have been reached in the cases by TLC's troop of lawyers.

But the experience is one that Newton will long carry with him.

"It's personal to me whenever any discussion comes up about Sept. 11. There's a connection now that I would not have had otherwise," he said.