4/20/01--Boston College Law School is proud to announce that it will be hosting attorney Jan R. Schlictmann as a speaker in the upcoming lecture "What happened? The one that got away (or did it?)- A Civil Action in Woburn" on April 26th at 3pm in East Wing Room 120. The discussion is sponsored by the BCLS Environmental Law Society.

Schilctmann has earned international notoriety after taking on a protracted legal battle against W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods in a civil lawsuit that would later be portrayed in Jonathan Harr's bestseller A Civil Action, and Touchstone's recent movie of the same name staring John Travolta.

Schlictmann represented eight families in 1996 who had been afflicted with various health problems including leukemia due to the contamination of Woburn's water supply. This nine-year long landmark environmental case left him in debt from the enormous costs of the case, but has given him wide recognition and praise for his intensity and persistence in fighting for his tort victim clients in a scientifically and legally complex case.

"Boston College's Environmental Law Society played a significant role in the Woburn case," said BCLS Professor Zygmunt Plater. "Our students were involved in research and drafting on three of the neighborhood's briefs, and even filed their own brief in the Supreme Court of the United States trying to get a re-trial for the victims when it turned out that significant evidence had been withheld during discovery."

After graduating from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1973, Schlictmann went on to earn his law degree from Cornell University and then joined the staff of the United State House of Representatives Special Select Committee on Assassination as special counsel. Later, Schlictmann opened a private practice and began taking on civil and personal injury litigation, before representing communities that have been affected by environmental contamination. Along with the families in Woburn, Schlictmann has also represented communities in Toms River, New Jersey; Brookhaven, New York; and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He is now back in the Boston area, focusing on environmental actions, and toxic substances.

Schlictmann will be speaking about the Woburn case in his upcoming lecture on April 26th, which is open to the public and will include refreshments before the speech.