Lowell Bergman is the Sixty Minutes producer highlighted in the story played by Al Pacino.  It is a story about Bergman being contacted by a former employee of Brown & Williamson Tobacco corporation.  The former employee is a scientist and becomes the whistle blower who helped in the litigation states filed against the tobacco industry.  Russell Crowe plays the scientist.
     The scientist does the research that diagnoses the  connection of nicotine and the industry.  He claims the industry intentionally laces cigarettes with the addictive drug to secure a future for the corporations. Crowe's character is forced out of a job with a golden parachute of benefits. His conscious won't allow him to keep silent.  He faces possible incarceration in Kentucky for speaking out and more than veiled threats are leveled at him and the family.
     Sixty Minutes produces a tape for broadcasting to the nation regarding the issue.  Legal experts warn Mike Wallace and the crowd not to go forward.  The sum of the threat is that big tobacco could buy out the entire stock at CBS and do away with the news department....not to mention a long list of legal firms willing to take CBS to court.  CBS backs down but later admits they did not do the right thing.  
     The story is an alarming insight into the powerful tobacco industry and the use of lawyers to manipulate truth, even at the risk to public health.  I faintly recall Kenneth Starr mentioned in one scene.  Checking the Kirkland/Ellis law firm web site one finds Starr mentioned as one of its attorneys. They boast of his power and influential strategy.     He was listed as a member of the famous law firm form 1993-2004.
     This powerful Chicago based corporation is noted as an ally of big industry and knows how to fend off litigation.  Among court room boasting is promising to defend corporations against asbestos and breast implant claims.  It also is an expert on defending companies against lead paint litigation.  The firm is a backer of school vouchers desiring that public money be used for Christian academies which make up most of private schools.
     Former Attorney General and religious right leader John Aschroft teamed with President Bush to let big tobacco off the hook according to the site.  The site claims both Bush and Ashcroft both thought it was a bad idea for government to bring litigation against big industry.
     Connecting the dots, it appears it was big business barons that helped Starr land his job as president of Baylor University. Baylor has had a long history being associated with movements that frowned on the use of tobacco.  Baptist annuity boards refused to invest funds in industry that promoted the products.  
     The movie reveals how powerful industry giants can become armed with powerful legal experts.  It helps frame the drama Starr was engaged in with Bill Clinton.  Clinton's friends knew what they were up against and sacrificially gave millions for his defense.  A resource most of us don't have access to.