The Attorneys Handling The Lawsuits

One of the two lead attorneys in the lawsuit will be Will Aitchison, of Portland, Oregon. Aitchison, a 1976 graduate from the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., has been representing police unions for more than 20 years. Aitchison has handled numerous FLSA lawsuits on behalf of police officers around the country, recovering millions of dollars in damages.

In addition to acting as the day-to-day attorney for the police associations in Portland and Anchorage, Aitchison has written seven books on public safety labor relations issues, including The Fair Labor Standards Act — A User's Manual and The Rights of Law Enforcement Officers. Aitchison has taught classes on police officer rights to well over 10,000 police officers nationwide.

The second of the two lead attorneys will be Thomas Puccio. Puccio began his legal career in the United States Attorney's Office, playing a critical role in the prosecution of high-profile matters such as the French Connection drug conspiracy and the Abscam corruption investigation. Widely-recognized as one of the country's top trial attorneys, Puccio has handled a wide variety of civil and criminal ligation since entering private practice in the early-1980's. Puccio has represented the PBA on a project basis for several years.

The attorneys will be handling the lawsuit on a contingent fee basis, meaning employees joining the lawsuit will owe no attorney fees unless and until a recovery is made on their behalf. If the City is required to pay attorney fees as a result of a judgment in the case, the amounts paid by the City will be subtracted from the attorney fee obligations under the contingent fee agreement.