Associate Dustin Fire is featured this week in The American Lawyer in a profile highlighting her significant role in a recent $62 million trial victory on behalf of wildfire survivors pursuing claims against Oregon utility company PacifiCorp.
In an interview with Ross Todd titled “Trial by Fire: Susman Associate Takes Seven Witnesses During First Trial for Wildfire Survivors, Helps Bring Home $62M Verdict,” Fire reflects on her first trial experience, during which she examined seven witnesses and played a critical role in securing the winning verdict.
“I feel like I learned more in the last three months than I could have imagined learning on my whole road to partnership at a firm,” said Fire of the experience.
Fire also discussed the importance of building trust with her clients in the weeks leading up to trial and ensuring their experiences and trauma were conveyed effectively to the jury. She emphasized the responsibility of translating the depth of the survivors’ losses in a way that honored their experiences while remaining mindful of the emotional and physical demands of trial preparation. “When the verdicts were read, and people really got this feeling that, money aside, the jurors really understood and had listened to them and put like real value on their intangible harm, I think that was the moment where they kind of all realized that it had been worth it.”
Read the profile here.
