VIDEO: 5 Questions with … Joseph F. Rice

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By Rasmus Jorgensen

If you hear about a mind-blowing settlement, chances are that Mount Pleasant attorney Joseph F. Rice led the negotiations for the plaintiffs.

The Motley Rice co-founder has negotiated some of the bigger settlements in American history, both in terms of dollar amounts and public attention: Between $7.8 billion and $18 billion for BP‘s Deepwater Horizon oil spill, $15 billion in Volkswagen‘s diesel emissions scandal (the largest auto-related consumer class-action settlement in U.S. history) and $51 billion in settlements related to the opioid crisis.

Not to mention the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, which saw the nation’s biggest tobacco companies commit to paying settling states in perpetuity, including a minimum of $206 billion over the first 25 years of the agreement. The money helps pay for the treatment of people with smoking-related illnesses. The settlement also changed how the tobacco industry advertises and saw the industry create a fund to educate the public about the dangers of smoking.

A skillful negotiator who has secured billions for his clients, Rice shared a big chunk of the wealth he has built for himself in the process last year, donating $30 million to the law school at the University of South Carolina, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1976 and law degree in 1979. Now, law students at the university will graduate from the Joseph F. Rice School of Law.

South Carolina Lawyers Weekly asked the man who is arguably South Carolina’s most successful and influential attorney about how he became one of the better deal-makers around and what he hopes to accomplish with the gift to his alma mater.

1. In your career, what lessons that you learned at the University of South Carolina School of Law have proved most important?

A. Allowing others to help was a key lesson I took away from USC. I didn’t get accepted right away to law school. I participated in a unique summer trial program. I was one of the lucky ones who did end up getting selected. I learned from the start that it was OK to listen to what others suggested and use a helping hand. I made sure to ask professors for input, I made sure to ask my peers for feedback. Working together, we all learn more and produce a better product.

2. What do you hope that your $30 million gift to the law school will mean for the school and its students?

A. The decision to make this investment didn’t come overnight. A great deal of thought went into ensuring that the scholarship funds would directly impact the law students in a very direct way. The gift has established the Joseph F. Rice and Family Endowed Scholarship Fund, which will provide three-year full and partial scholarships, and the Lisa S. Rice and Ann E. Rice Ervin Advocacy Award Endowment — named for my wife and daughter, both USC alumnae — which will provide stipends for students completing a children’s law concentration. The gift also will support at least four endowed professorships as well as career and professional development opportunities and additional training, awards and support.

As I shared at the unveiling, my alma mater is a huge part of my family’s history and success. My hope is that this worthy cause will inspire and bring out the best in generations of future lawyers while laying the foundation they’ll need to achieve great things. I should add, since my family made this gift, we have heard from so many folks about things they are now doing, including my law partners adding a fund for trial advocacy.

3. In the past year, what has been the most interesting or meaningful case you have worked on, and why?

A. I am blessed that there are several that I am proud of, found interesting and devoted my time to. There are three things I will mention right now. I am still very busy as co-lead of the national opiate multidistrict litigation representing over 3,000 governmental entities to help recover needed funds to abate the opioid epidemic. We continue to work with many of the remaining pharmacy defendants to resolve matters and are aggressively pursuing the pharmacy benefit managers that feed off everyone else, just adding to health care cost in the United States. We are working in the justice system and watching Congress work the policy and regulation system. We are preparing for several trials. I am very proud of the injunctive relief we have accomplished, but we still have so much more to do in this matter.

In addition to the opioid litigation, I am a co-lead in the national PFAS/AFFF (firefighting foam) multidistrict litigation in front of federal District Judge Richard Gergel in Charleston. This litigation has three different phases. To date, the plaintiffs’ executive committee has been successful in bringing more than $12 billion worth of relief to water service providers from two defendants. However, there are dozens more defendants and multiple phases to come before the court. This matter impacts many firefighters, and that makes it extra important to me. Our firm has represented firefighters from Day One in asbestos litigation, again in 9/11-related litigations, after the Sofa Super Store tragedy and now in the fight to remove PFAS exposure from the bunker gear and firefighting foam they have to work with in order to do their job.

Lastly, I have been serving as a Resolution Committee member, under the leadership of Ed Bell, in the Camp Lejeune litigation. The Department of the Navy and Department of Justice have been collaborative, and the court has been moving swiftly, but this legislative remedy to finally help so many sickened by over 20 years of contaminated water is a very complex and multilayered mass tort.

4. You have been described by some defense lawyers as the smartest dealmaker they ever sat across the table from. What skills and strategies have you found to be most critical for reaching successful outcomes in negotiations?

A. Listening and being open-minded. Hearing what both sides need is very important in my line of work. Being open-minded has allowed for numerous creative paths to resolution to unfold during negotiations.

5. You have made a career of representing plaintiffs in what can be described as cause-driven litigation, going after the tobacco industry, the opioid supply chain, financiers of terrorism and now the social media industry. What do you find appealing about litigating these sorts of cases?

A. Over the past two decades, my partners and I have put our firm in a position to fund and appropriately work up and then take to trial complex, civil matters that others are unwilling to take a risk on. As a business, we have figured out what we do well and what we need to collaborate on. We have found loyal, reliable co-counsel to work alongside. Many times, a potential case is brought to us by like-minded friends who need our help to see the bigger picture and understand the road map to justice and really turn it into a cause. It is inspiring to help others. Additionally, I would say I also seem to surround myself with a lot of individuals who embrace “go big; be bold.”