Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi

Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi is the law firm that served as counsel to the State of Minnesota and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota in a groundbreaking lawsuit against the tobacco industry that involved the state and BC/BS pursuing the industry for reimbursement for the costs of treating sick smokers. After four years of litigation -- including discovery of more than 30 million pages of internal documents, litigation of crime-fraud privilege issues, more than a dozen interlocutory appeals (including two to the U.S. Supreme Court), and four months of trial, the case was settled on May 8, 1998, on the eve of jury deliberations. The settlement provided for more than $6.6 billion in payments to the State of Minnesota and and Blue Cross.