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When we are little, we are taught to play nice, play fair.  So why did that adage disappear when I became a lawyer?  It is said that the practice of law is about getting “justice” for our client.  But at what costs?  For the lawyer it's too often about winning.  We want to do right for the client in obtaining monetary damages, for that is all we can obtain when his/her loved one is taken from this earth because of needless malpractice by a physician, a greedy pharmaceutical company puts profits before the health of the public or a bar that improperly serves a minor or visibly intoxicated individual who then leaves and hurts or kills another individual.  But at what “cost” are these cases being defended, and are the defendants playing “nice” or “fair” simply just to win?

Last week, I had the pleasure of moderating an information session for other lawyers that sought to connect improvisation and the law. The goal was to show the attendees that they could implement the lessons of improvisational techniques to improve their legal careers.

Now we all know that the law is not about making things up on the fly. It takes careful preparation and research before I feel ready to make a legal argument. I will spend hours understanding the facts and the law completely before I step into a courtroom or begin a written submission to the court.

“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

When I meet with potential clients, I have a standard speech regarding social media:

No selfies.

Do you have Facebook? Stop posting.

Do you have Twitter? Stop posting.

Add Tumblr and Snapchat to that list.

An accident involving an Amtrak train left two dead and more than 30 wounded Sunday morning, becoming the third high-profile Amtrak accident in the last twelve months. The train was moving at high speed when it struck a backhoe on its track just outside of Philadelphia. The incident killed two construction workers and injured dozens of riders.

In March of 2016, a cross-country Amtrak train derailed in Kansas, sending 32 of its passengers to the hospital.

While most of the environmental contamination cases we have handled for decades involve representing the injured residents of a community against a polluter, more recently, the municipality itself has sought out representation for the harm brought upon the entire town due to the polluted site.

When a municipality allows industrial, commercial or retail uses within its borders it usually sees the new business as a potential creator of jobs, a stimulus to the local economy and a good tax ratable.  A municipality does not ask for, nor wish, its new business resident to foul its environment, destroy its natural resources, lower its tax base, interfere with the use and enjoyment of property and disrupt the daily activities of residents.  Many times the company will also move away, leaving behind a mess for the town.  However, by hiring private sector lawyers, the municipality now has a good chance of recovering what it has lost.

One of my many roles at Locks Law Firm is that of Human Resources Director.  Over the last 1-2 years, my responsibilities have grown in this department as I manage our benefits programs, launched a 401K and help manage day-to-day issues with our employees.  Prior taking on this role, I worked in a so-called “bubble,” dealing only with the limited issues in which I was involved and therefore only interacting, on a regular basis, with people also involved in those matters.  However, my day to day work now allows me to interact with and across all areas of our firm and I have had the chance to get to see how our firm “works,” while also getting to know our employees better.

With more than 230 Zofran lawsuits consolidated in MDL 2657, the Zofran litigation provides an opportunity to reflect upon the dangers of “off label” marketing by pharmaceutical companies. By definition, “off label” is defined as an unapproved use of a medication that has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A common example of “off label” use occurs when the medication is prescribed to treat a disease or medical condition that has not been approved by the FDA. Although medical professionals have the ability to prescribe medications for off-label uses, it is illegal for pharmaceutical companies to promote their drugs for off-label uses. The allegations in the Zofran litigation provide a prime example of the dangers of off-label promotions by pharmaceutical companies.

It is commonplace in products liability cases for defendants, generally large corporations, to seek confidentiality agreements and protective orders with regard to the production of documents they consider sensitive and do not want in the public domain.  Although there are valid reasons for corporations to protect the public disclosure of certain information, sometimes the purpose of obtaining a protective order is to prohibit the release of information that is damaging to the defendant in litigation, and that may help other litigants with similar complaints against the corporation prosecute their claims. Plaintiffs’ attorneys need to be very cautious when agreeing to a stipulated protective order, and should make every effort to limit the terms of such agreements and to contest, where appropriate, overly broad confidential designations.

As the New York Times reported on February 29, federal lawmakers are ready to deal one of our country’s largest corporate polluters a Golden Ticket, a Get of Jail Free card to rival all others. Congress is letting Monsanto, the former manufacturer of over 1 billion pounds of the now banned chemical family of PCBs go scot-free after poisoning American communities for decades.  It is estimated that this gift will potentially save Monsanto billions of dollars in legal judgments and litigation costs.

Leon Carelli, Chief Technology Officer at Locks Law Firm, was quoted this week in Forbes. Carelli contributed his expert advice on the best resources for dealing with tech problems.

The feature, "Seven Top Resources For Technology Troubleshooting," can be read in full here.