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Troubled waters

12 September 2025 / Mark Pawlowski
Issue: 8130 / Categories: Features , Media , Other practice areas
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Mark Pawlowski dips into two classic films depicting good lawyering in class actions involving river pollution

In the film Erin Brockovich (2000), based on a true story, the heroine (played by Julia Roberts) is involved in a car accident from which her lawyer, Ed Masry (played by Albert Finney), fails to win her any kind of settlement. With no money, she manages to persuade Ed to give her a job as a legal clerk in his law firm as compensation for her loss.

During her work, she discovers a suspicious cover-up involving contaminated water in a local community (the small Californian town of Hinkley) causing life-threatening illnesses among its residents. Erin and Ed take the case on against a large corporation and attempt to achieve compensation for the toxic tort victims. Erin, in particular, is responsible for assembling sufficient medical and physical evidence to launch a civil action against the corporation, Pacific Gas and Electric. The film was critically acclaimed, receiving a number of Oscar nominations, namely best picture, best director, best actress,

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Hugh James—Phil Edwards

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Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

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NEWS
Ceri Morgan, knowledge counsel at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP, analyses the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Johnson v FirstRand Bank Ltd, which reshapes the law of fiduciary relationships and common law bribery
The boundaries of media access in family law are scrutinised by Nicholas Dobson in NLJ this week
Reflecting on personal experience, Professor Graham Zellick KC, Senior Master of the Bench and former Reader of the Middle Temple, questions the unchecked power of parliamentary privilege
Geoff Dover, managing director at Heirloom Fair Legal, sets out a blueprint for ethical litigation funding in the wake of high-profile law firm collapses
James Grice, head of innovation and AI at Lawfront, explores how artificial intelligence is transforming the legal sector
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