For The Defense, December 2011 - DRI Today

Above left: The Fred H. Sievert Outstanding Defense Bar Leader Award goes to Bonnie Refinski- Knight, president of the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys.
Above right: Accepting the Rudolph A. Janata Outstanding Defense Bar Association Award are (from left) David Cole, Executive Director of Pennsylvania Defense
Institute (PDI); Craig Murphy, Immediate Past President of PDI, Matt Cairns and Patrick J. Sweeney, President-Elect of PDI and past member of the DRI Board of Directors.
encouraged and actively worked to
increase the profile and relevance of the
organization, both internally and externally.
She initiated a long range planning
program. The NCADA proactively
worked with the North Carolina Chamber
and other business groups on tort
reform recommendations for the legislative
session. Under her leadership, the
NCADA was more active in this legislative
session than ever before, and is now
recognized as a valuable resource to the
business community.
■ DRI honored the Pennsylvania
Defense Institute (PDI) with the Rudolph
A. Janata Outstanding Defense Bar Asso­
Proudly displaying the G. Duffield Smith Outstanding Publication Award
are this year’s recipients Daniel J. Cooper (from left), Loren H. Brown, and
Christopher Campbell.
ciation Award. The recipient of this award
is a state or local defense organization
that has undertaken an innovative or
unique program contributing to the goals
and objectives of the organized defense
bar. PDI was organized in December
1969 and now boasts an impressive membership
of approximately 1,000 lawyers,
executives of insurance companies, self-
insurers, and independent adjusters from
across the state.
PDI was a leader in the fight for tort
reform this year that resulted in passage
of the Fair Share Act as part of a coalition
of business and insurance industry
organizations committed to tort reform
in Pennsylvania.
Many PDI members
contributed
their time and
efforts to accomplishing
this
important legislative
reform. PDI
published a “white
paper” on the proposed
legislation
that served as the
formal position of
the coalition and
was well received
by the legislature.
Several PDI members
testified at
legislative hearings
on the legislation.
■ Finally, the G. Duffield Smith Outstanding
Publication Award was presented
to Loren H. Brown, co-chair of
DLA Piper’s product liability practice
and a partner in the firm’s New York City
office, Daniel J. Cooper, president of Lit-
Strat Inc., a jury research and litigation
consulting firm based in New York City,
and Christopher G. Campbell, a partner
in DLA Piper’s Atlanta office. The award
honors the author or authors of a feature
article published in For The Defense or
In-House Defense Quarterly of current
relevance to the practice interests of DRI
members. The winning article should
contain fresh, imaginative ideas that are
well researched and presented in a lively
writing style. Their article, “Sacking the
Monday Morning Quarterback: Tackling
Hindsight Bias in Failure- to- Warn
Cases,” was published in the October
2010 issue of For The Defense.
This article, published as a part of the
Drug and Medical Device Committee’s
annual FTD collection, served two purposes:
first, to examine hindsight bias
in pharmaceutical failure- to- warn cases
and other legal contexts; and second to
offer practical tips to mitigate the effects
of hindsight bias. It underscored how
crucial it is for defense lawyers to recognize
hindsight bias from the start, and to
formulate a strategy that places a company’s
decisions and actions in the appropriate
historical context to mitigate the
bias as much as possible.
For The Defense ■ December 2011 ■ 17