Defense Counsel Journal

Committee Chair Letter - Volume 87, Number 2

April 29, 2020

William L. Anderson

William L. Anderson

William Anderson is a partner with Crowell & Moring LLP in Washington, DC in the mass torts and product liability group. His matters typically involve the intersection of science and the law, and he has litigated birth defect, environmental, crop protection, and other matters involving national dockets. Bill is the current Chair of the Product Liability Committee and IADC member since 2015. Bill is not a reckless skier; he just falls a lot.

At the beginning of this association year, the IADC Product Liability Committee was asked to assume responsibility for one full volume of the Defense Counsel Journal. We picked April and set about soliciting articles. Curtis Ott, Vice Chair of Journal, and Jaimmé Collins, Vice Chair of Special Projects, have jointly led the effort. As an organizing theme, we decided to play off the 100th anniversary of the IADC. But instead of looking backward, we decided to look forward. Where are we going in the world of product liability litigation? And who is driving the ship?

The collection of articles in this edition is superb. We are grateful to the distinguished authors who stepped up and contributed articles on several important directions of our practice area. The “100 year” target for predictive purposes is, of course, out of reach, but perhaps we can capture the next two decades at least. The companion introduction by Defense Counsel Journal Editor Ken Meyer describes the approach of each article – take a look to see if something catches your eye.

In addition to the key articles, I asked a number of the Committee’s most distinguished and long-standing practitioners to predict some trends in the direction of product liability litigation. These short pieces are pure opinion and thus do not look like traditional law review articles. However, we thought that the views of these contributors, including several past chairs of the Product Liability Committee, would provide valuable insight for our members into the areas of law and other developments we can expect to dominate our practices in at least the near future. My thanks to each of these authors who stepped up on short notice and contributed to this edition.

William L. Anderson
Chair, IADC Product Liability Committee

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