Lawyers for families of victims of the Virginia Tech shootings say they have agreed to a settlement with the state to avoid lawsuits.

Peter Grenier and Douglas Fierberg, who represent 21 of the 57 families involved in negotiations, released a statement today saying they worked out an $11 million settlement with the state attorney general. The settlement includes "financial compensation, health benefits and non-monetary assistance for surviving family members and victims of the April 16, 2007, massacre at Virginia Tech."

Fierberg said he can't release details of the settlement because the agreement hasn’t been finalized. But he said that he is satisfied with it.

"We’re pleased because we know with certainty that our clients and many others will receive substantial compensation and other benefits," he said.

Fierberg, a partner with the Washington, D.C., law firm of Bode & Grenier, added that he does not expect the agreement to be finalized before Wednesday. That’s the one-year anniversary of shootings on Tech’s campus that resulted in the deaths of 32 students and faculty and the shooter, Seung-Hui Cho.

"To be candid, the families are more focused on more personal things at the moment," he said.

Wednesday is the deadline for families to file notice with the state that they may sue. The state attorney general’s office had received 32 notices of claim, from families of those killed and wounded, as of Tuesday.

The lawyers' statement says the settlement will reveal "previously undisclosed facts and information turned up by our firm’s investigation that will enable the public to better understand the events which caused this senseless tragedy."

The office of Gov. Tim Kaine also released a statement today about the agreement, saying the state’s proposal "has now been accepted by a substantial majority of the victims and victims’ families." The details of the agreement will remain confidential as it is finalized but "ultimately, the agreements will be public," it says.

An early copy of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press called for representatives of each of the 32 people killed by a student gunman last April 16 to receive $100,000. Another $800,000 would be available to the injured, with a cap of $100,000 per person. The injured will have health-care expenses covered, and they and the families of those killed could seek additional money from a $1.75 million hardship fund.

By accepting the proposal, families would give up the right to sue the state, Tech, Blacksburg, Montgomery County or the New River Valley Community Services Board.

Negotiations between the state and the families have been going on for months and news that the two sides were nearing an agreement leaked out in March. Deadlines for families to decide on the earlier proposal were pushed back twice as the two sides tried to come to an agreement before the anniversary.

Virginia’s legal maximum when suing the state in cases of simple negligence is $100,000.

Adam Scales, a law professor at Washington and Lee University, said it would have been difficult for shooting victims or their family members to prevail in a lawsuit against Tech, considering that the school would likely have been protected by sovereign immunity.

Sovereign immunity is a judicial doctrine that bars legal claims against the state under most circumstances. "The statute is going to be much more sympathetic to the state," Scales said.

"I would probably say this is a pretty good deal for the plaintiffs," Scales said of the settlement offer when it first became public several weeks ago.

However, some potential plaintiffs might still be inclined to sue — not just to hold the school accountable, but to have an official forum through which to raise their concerns about the way Tech reacted to the shootings.

"If it was just a question of litigation risk review, I would say take the money," Scales said. "But this is probably a case where some people have broader interests."