Defense Counsel Journal

Editor's Page - Volume 87, Number 1

February 12, 2020

Kenneth R. Meyer

Kenneth R. Meyer

Ken Meyer is with McCarter & English and is a former editor of the IADC Defense Counsel Journal. He is senior trial lawyer certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney and is primarily a commercial litigator who defends complex product liability, mass tort, and significant personal injury and property damage cases. He has litigated cases in state and federal courts in 27 States, has acted as defense liaison counsel for branded pharmaceutical companies, and serves as national coordinating, regional, and local counsel.

While I echo the comments in the President’s Page about the articles in this edition of the DCJ, I do so, unlike Amy, from my desk in downtown Newark, New Jersey. Despite that New Jersey is named for the English Channel Island of Jersey, in honor of Sir George Carteret (one of the two men to whom the land was originally given), and that Newark’s name comes from an original settler, Abraham Pierson, who had previously been a preacher in England's Newark-on-Trent, and adopted the name, I would, to paraphrase W.C. Field’s fictional epitaph cited in a 1925 edition of Vanity Fair magazine, “rather be in London.” Having gotten that off my chest, we do indeed have three tremendous articles to begin the IADC’s centennial year. Robert Simpson and Caycee Hampton have authored an excellent and helpful piece that confronts a difficult and significant evidence issue that faces many of us who handle medical device litigation-the admissibility of 510(k) evidence at trial. Joseph Stroble and Laura Welikson thoroughly examine third-party litigation and offer perspective that is invaluable to those who seek disclosure of such arrangements. And finally, Erik Gerstner examines the fascinating and futuristic topic of face-swapping and its privacy implications through the vehicle of the Nicolas Cage movie Face/Off. These articles reflect the talent, breadth of knowledge, and practical skills of the members of our organization.

I am also pleased to offer a preview of future centennial year publications. Our April edition will be dedicated to product liability related topics that are written by members of the Product Liability Committee, the largest Substantive Law Committee in the IADC. William Anderson, the Chair of that Committee, has rallied its members to author not only our typical law review type articles, but also several shorter articles, many by past Chairs of that Committee, that examine those experienced practitioners’ views on the future of the practice. I am very excited, as a member and past Chair of the Committee, about this publication.

The DCJ, in conjunction with the IADC Foundation, is also planning to publish a Sandra Day O’Connor Tribute Edition that will also include shorter articles discussing her life, her work, her contributions to the advancement of women in the profession, and her legacy. In addition there will be law review type articles that examine opinions that she wrote as the first female Justice on the Supreme Court and their current day implications and relevance. This edition has been in the works for some time and would not be possible without the able assistance of Wendy May, a past president of the IADC Foundation and Chair of the Governing Board of iCivics and the Honorable Robert Henry, former Chief Judge of the 10th Circuit, and good friend of Justice O’Connor. It was Judge Henry who accepted The IADC Foundation’s $100,000 contribution to Justice O’Connor’s Legacy Fund that helps support iCivics.

I am very proud to serve as Editor of the DCJ and give most of the credit for the excellence of this publication to our Managing Editor and IADC staff member Amy O’Maley McGuire, Deputy Editor Robert F. Greenlee, and Editor-Elect Christopher B. Parkerson.

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