DALLAS — Russell Budd, president and managing shareholder of Dallas-based law firm Baron & Budd P.C., and fellow shareholder Scott Summy were named to the board of directors of Public Justice (http://www.publicjustice.net/) at the organization's annual meeting.

Public Justice is the principal project of the Public Justice Foundation, a nonprofit nationwide network of more than 3,500 attorneys and public interest advocates established to advance consumer and workers' rights, to protect people and the environment and to inspire lawyers and others to serve the public interest.

Budd has represented more than 100,000 victims of occupational exposures and served as the chair and member of several asbestos creditors' bankruptcy committees.

Summy recently achieved a national settlement with the bulk of the nation's oil refiners on behalf of more than 150 state and local entities seeking to recover cleanup costs for MTBE contamination of their water supplies.

Baron & Budd has been a longtime supporter of Public Justice, donating substantial attorney time to the cases spearheaded by the organization. For instance, a Baron & Budd team assisted in the representation of several environmental organizations seeking funds for environmental rehabilitation of the damage caused by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in the Prince William Sound of Alaska. The firm's efforts helped substantially increase the government's recovery for environmental damage, and Public Justice awarded the Baron & Budd team its 1993 Public Justice Award for "outstanding contribution to environmental protection and public interest."

In 2006, a Baron & Budd team of attorneys was named Public Justice's "Trial Attorneys of the Year" for their work on behalf of more than 1,600 Tucson area residents who were injured by exposure to the solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) in their drinking water. The solvent TCE migrated from an aircraft company and nearby airport into the groundwater, contaminating the neighborhood's water supply.

For more than 30 years, Baron & Budd has been among the nation's leading law firms in representing the public interest. In addition to its work on behalf of injured workers, Baron & Budd and its attorneys have contributed to numerous pro bono causes such as Project Exodus (to assist displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina) and Trial Lawyers Care (to help victims of the Sept. 11 attacks). The firm has also pledged $3 million over five years to the International Pleural Mesothelioma Program at Brigham & Women's Hospitals and serves on the IMP's Executive Advisory Board.

Since 1977, Baron & Budd has championed the rights of people and communities harmed by corporate misconduct. With 49 attorneys and offices in Texas, California and Louisiana, Baron & Budd enjoys a national reputation as a leader of the plaintiffs' bar. The firm represents individuals with mesothelioma and other diseases caused by asbestos; leukemia caused by benzene; injuries caused by other toxic substances and unsafe pharmaceuticals; water authorities seeking cleanup costs for drinking water contamination; securities investors defrauded by corporate wrongdoing; and consumers in class actions.