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American Eagle Flight 4184’s crash in a rainy soybean field in Roselawn, Indiana, on Halloween night, Oct. 31, 1994, was the culmination of years of ATR turboprop airplane icing incidents and deadly crashes. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into Flight 4184 and all the prior ATR icing incidents and crashes revealed an airplane manufacturer determined to outsell the competition via numerous aggressive design and marketing efforts, including a highly-leveraged, marginally stable lateral control…

Amidst the media reports accompanying the worldwide grounding of the 737 MAX, concluding with the reluctant Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounding, were mentions that the investigative team on the ground in Ethiopia had found “airplane configuration evidence” similar to the Lion Air Flight 610 accident. This evidence, along with the Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADSB) altitude data, were strong enough evidence to indicate the likelihood that the 737 MAX’s new Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS)…

On March 11, 2019, Boeing posted a news release in its online media room (which can be read here). Included were the following two sequential paragraphs: “Safety is a core value for everyone at Boeing and the safety of our airplanes, our customers’ passengers and their crews is always our top priority. The 737 MAX is a safe airplane that was designed, built and supported by our skilled employees who approach their work with the…

An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max8 crashed shortly after takeoff on March 10, 2019, killing all 157 aboard after the pilots reportedly lost control of the new jet on its first flight of the day. An experienced Ethiopian Airlines pilot was at the controls as the airplane took off from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, heading to Nairobi, Kenya. Shortly after takeoff, the crew contacted Air Traffic Control (ATC) to report a problem with the…

Robert A. Clifford was discussing his participation in representing the Father of Medicine in the recent mock trial, “Trial of Hippocrates,” on Channel 9, WGN-TV news, with the station’s political analyst Paul Lisnek, on March 7th at 5:30 p.m. Clifford, along with Winston & Strawn’s Dan Webb, represented Hippocrates in the style of ancient Athens with a modern twist where the Greek physician is accused of violating his oath in caring for the dying King of Thebes….

Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner at Clifford Law Offices, authored an article on lawyers’ wellness entitled, “Finding a Balance.” The column appeared in the February issue of the Chicago Lawyer and it described the need for lawyers to “find a balance” in one’s work life in order to be more productive and happier. Clifford wrote about the several studies that have been conducted recently on the issue and how bar associations are tackling…

Clifford Law Offices was recognized in five of the TopVerdict™ lists for 2018. According to TopVerdict.com, the organization “[recognizes] U.S. law firms and attorneys who have obtained one of the highest jury verdicts, court awards, or settlements, in the Nation or an individual State, in a particular area of law, and year.” Clifford Law Offices is listed in the following: Top 10 Premises Liability Verdicts in the United States in 2018 #10 Amount: $21,500,000.00 Attorneys:…

Clifford Law Offices sponsored a free continuing legal education seminar on Thursday, February 21, 2019 live at DePaul University College of Law, also broadcasted live via webcast to thousands, for professional responsibility credit. The two-hour program included an hour on wellness and an hour on diversity/inclusion, two hours of new credit that have to be reported starting this year. Part of the wellness hour included a lawyer, Karen Munoz, partner at Dolan Law and yoga…

In a resounding victory for the Father of Medicine, Hippocrates was found innocent of violating the Hippocratic oath in administering medical treatment to the dying King of Thebes in the mock “Trial of Hippocrates” on February 20th, 2019. Some of Chicago’s powerhouse lawyers, including Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices, and Dan Webb, co-executive chairman of Winston & Strawn, defended Hippocrates against the City of Thebes after treating the King…