A scholarly take on risk management considerations around the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in law firms is among the articles featured in the latest issue of the Defense Counsel Journal (DCJ) published by the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC).
Other topics covered in 2024’s third edition of the DCJ include the phenomenon of “safetyism” among jurors, Article III standing to appeal in federal court, rejection of cancer risk claims in Canada, and U.S. federal product safety regulation. The articles are intended to serve as a resource to IADC members, trial attorneys, in-house counsel, and the judiciary.
The IADC’s third 2024 DCJ is available for free and without a subscription via the IADC’s website at www.iadclaw.org/documents/?CategoryId=4.
Compiled under the leadership of current IADC President Donna Lamontagne, a founding partner at Lamontagne, Spaulding & Hayes, LLP in Cranston, Rhode Island, and current DCJ editor Peter J. Pizzi, a partner and founding member of Newark, New Jersey-based Walsh Pizzi O’Reilly Falanga LLP, the DCJ articles are written by members of the IADC, which is a 2,500-member, invitation-only, worldwide legal industry organization.
Following are brief summaries of all articles included in the third 2024 issue of the DCJ:
• “Emerging Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Considerations for Law Firms” by Mark J. Fucile, a partner at Fucile & Reising LLP in Portland, Oregon – the article surveys law firm risk management considerations when using artificial intelligence tools in some of the more common areas that lawyers and their law firms are grappling with: competence under Model Rule 1.1, confidentiality under Model Rule 1.6, and billing under Model Rule 1.5.
• “A New Focus for Defense Voir Dire: Safetyism” by Zandra E. Foley, a partner, and Zachary Nye, a senior attorney, both at Thompson, Coe, Cousins & Irons, LLP, in Houston, Texas; and senior jury consultants Jennifer Cuculich and Nick Polavin, and senior jury consulting advisor Jill Leibold, all with IMS Legal Strategies – this article addresses how plaintiff attorneys are leveraging the spread of safetyism – a widespread expectation of 100% safe, 100% of the time – to obtain nuclear verdicts, as a strategy that targets jurors’ learned emotional thinking patterns more broadly.
• “Article III Standing to Appeal in Federal Court: What Business Lawyers Need to Know” by Robert A. Brundage, a San Jose, California-based partner, and Kimberley Parrish, a Detroit, Michigan-based associate, both at Bowman and Brooke LLP – this article looks at the obscure-but-useful area of standing to appeal, highlighting recurring scenarios where parties do or don’t have standing and the considerations at play, suggesting that knowing the Article III standing requirements can provide an attorney with an edge.
• “Canadian Claims for Cancer Risk Rejected in Valsartan and Ranitidine Litigation: A Welcome Development for Manufacturers Doing Business in Canada” by Byron Shaw, a partner at McCarthy Tétrault LLP in Toronto, Ontario, Canada – this article explores two Canadian court decisions over cancer risk claims that, according to the author, are a welcome development for manufacturers of pharmaceutical and other products doing business in Canada, and send a clear signal that claims based on weak science concerning the risk of future disease that may never materialize will not be certified and will be vulnerable to early dismissal.
• “Product Brief: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission” by Dana Baiocco, senior counsel at Clyde & Co. U.S. LLP in Washington, D.C., and Dwight W. Stone II, a principal at Miles & Stockbridge PC in Baltimore, Maryland – this article offers guidance for attorneys in the consumer product sector on the makeup, mission and jurisdiction/rules of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission that broadly impact the manufacturing, import, distribution, or sale of products.
For additional information about the IADC, visit www.iadclaw.org.
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