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Committee Leadership
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 Committee Chair
Anthony R. Zelle
Zelle McDonough & Cohen
(617) 742-6520
tzelle@zelmcd.com
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 Committee Vice Chair
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 Publications Chair
 Co-Editor
Jonathan L. Schwartz
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP
 Co-Editor
Bryan M. Weiss
Murchison & Cumming
bweiss@murchisonlaw.com
Associate Editors
 Suzanne Young
Zelle McDonough & Cohen
(617) 742-6250
Plunkett Cooney
(248) 901-4000
 Roger Williams
Rivkin Radler
(516) 357-3227
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Seminars
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March 14-16, 2012
Las Vegas, Nevada
DRI Publications
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| The Chair's Corner |
YLC Survey Says: The Best Way to Build Your Practice Is To Attend the YL Seminar in June
by Cynthia Arends
 Thanks to all of you who took the time to answer the survey we sent out last month. The response was great, particularly at a busy time of year. I'll weave the information we learned throughout my upcoming columns, but the first one I'll mention relates to referrals to other members of DRI.
Over 50 percent of Young Lawyers who attend the YL Seminar have referred a case to another DRI member.
This is a great statistic – for many reasons. The most obvious is right on its face. If you want to build your own national referral network the place to start is at the YL Seminar in June. That is a selling point for both young lawyers looking to advance their careers and for the senior lawyers who control the purse strings.
[FULL STORY]
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| Featured Articles |
Who Cares About Congressional Intent? Federal Preemption For Generic Drug Manufacturers Gets Thrown Out The Window
by Lauren Fajoni Bartlett
The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) was enacted in 1938 to regulate, among other things, the drug and medical device industry in order to ensure the safe and effective design, manufacture, sale, and labeling of such products. Due in large part to the growing cost of health care, in 1984 Congress passed the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act, commonly referred to as the Hatch-Waxman Act, which was instrumental in bringing generic drugs into mainstream production.
One of the main goals of the Hatch-Waxman Act is to provide individuals with ready access to more affordable generic drugs. Further, the government's interest in providing affordable health care to the majority of Americans remains a top priority as evidenced by the Obama Administration's recent hard push for health care reform. Generic drugs play a key role in accomplishing these important goals. Notably, "seven in ten prescriptions filled in this country are now for generic drugs." Mensing v. Wyeth, 588 F.3d 603, 607 (8th Cir. 2009).
[FULL STORY]
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Does an Employer Have a Right to Review its Employee's Personal Text Messages?
by Erin D. Schilling
Personal use of company or law firm-issued Blackberries or other PDAs (personal digital assistants) is commonplace. In fact, you may have sent a personal text or email today. Do you have an expectation that your personal texts and emails are private?
[FULL STORY]
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| Substantive Committee Article |
An Alternative to the Alternative - How Outside Counsel Can Help Clients Reduce Litigation Costs within the Traditional Hourly Fee Model
by Bryan P. Couch
 In these challenging economic times, hardly a day goes by where we do not encounter an article or blog about rate freezes, alternative fee arrangements, and other efforts to curb a company's legal spending. Thus, this is the perfect environment for outside counsel to demonstrate commitment to providing high quality and cost-effective service to clients. This commitment should not be limited to alternative fee models. There are many ways outside counsel can reduce clients' litigation costs under the traditional hourly fee structure. A firm's initiative and creativity in this regard demonstrate a commitment to the relationship and an understanding of the current economic climate. There is nothing more pleasing to an in-house litigation manager than an outside counsel who implements measures to decrease costs without being asked to do so. A client may even be more receptive to an hourly rate increase where the client sees the firm demonstrating efforts to reduce overall legal spending in other ways.
[FULL STORY]
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| Leadership Profile |
 Christy Mennen
Christy is in her eighth year of practice at Halleland Lewis Nilan & Johnson, P.A. in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was recently elected shareholder at the firm. Christy practices primarily in the areas of products liability and commercial litigation and has key industry experience with heaters and boilers, recreational products and industrial machinery. She is licensed to practice in Minnesota and Wisconsin and regularly serves as both national and local counsel.
[FULL STORY]
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| Upcoming |
Young Lawyers Seminar
DRI's Young Lawyers Committee is proud to present its annual seminar for defense trial lawyers and corporate counsel, which will be held June 16-18, 2010, at the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. This program is designed to develop the critical skills that defense lawyers and in-house counsel need in order to successfully defend their corporate clients. This seminar boasts distinguished faculty from around the country, including in-house lawyers from some of the most recognized companies in America, experienced and successful trial lawyers, a state bar investigator, and some of the best speakers from DRI's Young Lawyers Committee.
[FULL STORY]
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Product Liability Conference
Don't gamble when it comes to Product Liability! This year's DRI Product Liability Conference - The Masters of Products: The Stars Come Out to Shine is a sure bet. The conference will take place April 7-9, 2010 at The Venetian in beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada.
In addition to all that Vegas has to offer, the seminar promises 18.5 hours of outstanding CLE, including 2 hours of ethics credit. The main program features presentations by Inez Moore Tenenbaum, Chair of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission; Steven Gensler, Professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Law; Honorable Lee H. Rosenthal, United States District Court, Southern District of Texas; outside and in-house counsel experienced in managing global product liability litigation, trial of difficult cases including wrongful death and class actions, the use of demonstrative evidence and other trial tactics in product liability litigation, the new CPSIA and the reporting database, and the art of storytelling as a trial lawyer.
[FULL STORY]
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Insurance Coverage and Claims Institute Seminar
Calling all insurance defense attorneys! If your practice involves defending insurance companies on coverage issues, then the Insurance Coverage and Claims Institute seminar is a "must attend" event for you. At this year's seminar, you will be able to expand your knowledge of topics such as the duty to defend, new trends in employment related claims, the pervasive effect of the Medicare Secondary Payor Act, and other hot topics affecting insurance companies in today's economy.
[FULL STORY]
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Trial Tactics' Damages Seminar
Trial Tactics' Damages seminar is being held March 17-19 at the brand new Vdara Hotel in Las Vegas. This seminar provides great educational and networking opportunities and is a great way to get more involved in the Trial Tactics Committee.
[FULL STORY]
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| Legal News |
Current Projected Economical Impact of Medical Malpractice Tort Reform
by Joseph W. Ballard
 In his recent State of the State address, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger laid out an aggressive agenda covering his final year in office. Along with the typical goals of creating jobs and protecting education, Gov. Schwarzenegger listed tort reform near the top of his to-do list.
Tort reform can be pursued under many divergent theories, and many states have enacted some type of reform in efforts to regulate the otherwise unbridled arena of tort litigation. In an October 9, 2009 letter to Senator Orrin G. Hatch, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that one-third of the states have implemented caps on non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, in tort litigation and two-thirds of the states have enacted rules regarding joint and several liability. California, for example, has enacted the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act, which limits non-economic damages to $250,000. The Governor, however, believes that more reform can and should happen.
[FULL STORY]
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| Help Wanted |
The Technology Committee is seeking articles for publication in its upcoming newsletter. The Technology Committee is dedicated to keeping its members apprised of the most current state of legal technology from client development to case management, as well as providing a substantive law discussion in the areas of cyber-regulation, cyber-crimes and law enforcement, e-commerce and other rapidly developing areas of legal practice.
[FULL STORY]
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| Members in the News |
Joseph Hanna wins 2010 Outstanding Young Lawyer Award: Attorney honored for diversity efforts and community service leadership
by Brandon J. Vogel
 On January 28, 2010 Joseph Hanna was awarded the New York State Bar's Outstanding Young Lawyers Award. The article by Brandon J. Vogel, below, is being reprinted with permission of State Bar News.
At six years old, Joseph M. Hanna of Amherst discovered that his life's goal was to become the President of the United States of America.
In the 23 years since, Hanna has made partner at his law firm, Goldberg Segalla LLP, chaired diversity networking events that are being replicated nationwide, and founded a non-profit organization dedicated to providing golf equipment for soldiers serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and Wounded Warriors throughout the United States for recreational and rehabilitative purposes.
[FULL STORY]
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 W. Rick Griffin of Martin, Pringle, Oliver, Wallace & Bauer, LLP has been elected to his firm's partnership. Congratulations Rick!
[FULL STORY]
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| Subcommittee Updates |
Legislative Liaison Subcommittee
 The Legislative Liaison Subcommittee continues its high level of activity in service to DRI and its members. Chair Paul A. Wilhelm of Dykema in Detroit leads this Subcommittee, along with Vice-Chairs Joseph W. Ballard of Lewis, King in Knoxville, and Marie A. Trimble of Gordon & Rees in San Francisco. The Legislative Liaison Subcommittee includes 78 active DRI Young Lawyers, plus occasional other contributors, who monitor legislation of interest to the Defense Bar and our clients. DRI relies weekly on this Subcommittee's legislative tracking, and reports the summaries in The Voice -- the e-publication of DRI. Young Lawyers who draft these reports are given credit by name (and firm name) in The Voice for each contribution. A team of 68 appointed Young Lawyer liaisons monitors all 50 states (with some sharing duties). These state liaisons draft bi-weekly reports for the duration of their state's legislative session, and monitor any special sessions.
[FULL STORY]
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The Whisper Subcommittee
.jpg) It's a New Year and a new The Whisper. Well, so maybe the new changes started to trickle in during late 2009, but we are excited to have rolled out a new format for our monthly newsletter, which even includes a new masthead. During 2010, also be on the lookout for occasional updates from our European counterpart, DRI Europe's Young Lawyer chair Cecile Derycke.
[FULL STORY]
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Webconference Subcommittee
 The Webconference Subcommittee is chaired by Hope Cannon and vice-chaired by Heather Ritch. The Subcommittee recently hosted a webconference, Handling a Trial as a First Chair—Advice, Tips and a Few War Stories for a Successful Trial as Lead Counsel on November 11, 2009 featuring advice from seasoned trial attorneys on skills and practical tips for lawyers with minimal trial experience on how to handle a trial from start to finish.
[FULL STORY]
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Elaine Murphy Pohl
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