Defense Counsel Journal

Editor's Page - Volume 91, Number 3

October 10, 2024

Peter J. Pizzi

Peter J. Pizzi

Peter J. Pizzi is a founding member of Walsh Pizzi O’Reilly Falanga LLP, a 33-lawyer majority women-owned firm with offices in Newark, New York City, and Philadelphia. Peter is a trial lawyer with decades of experience in commercial litigation, business valuation and close corporation disputes, the defense of class actions, and healthcare and information law. He holds the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Certified Civil Trial Lawyer designation and the CIPP/US certification. Currently the Defense Counsel Journal’s Editor-Elect, Peter has served in various leadership positions within the IADC and the New York State Bar Association, and regularly participates in CLE programs and writes on information privacy, data security, and eDiscovery topics. Awarded the Best Lawyer® recognition, Peter was the recipient of the IADC’s 2022 Yancey Award for excellence in the Defense Counsel Journal writing for his article “Social Media Immunity in 2021 and Beyond: Will Platforms Continue to Avoid Litigation Exposure Faced by Offline Counterparts.” He is a graduate of Bowdoin College and Fordham Law School.

After a year as Editor-Elect, this issue marks my first as Editor. With input from IADC President Donna Lamontagne, Past President Michele Smith, and the stellar IADC Board of Editors, the DCJ has implemented a publication schedule calling for three issues each year. An issue will arrive shortly before the Annual and Midyear Meetings, and one issue will be published this time of year.

The topics in this inaugural fall issue reflect the broad subject matter expertise of IADC members. Two articles serve as primers on areas that might not be in the trial lawyer’s everyday lexicon: Article III Standing to Appeal, co-authored by IADC Amicus Committee member Robert Brundage, and U.S. federal product safety regulation, co-authored by Dana Baiocco, former Chair of the Consumer Products Safety Commission.

Member Byron Shaw provides an insightful analysis of judicial opinions from two Canadian courts rejecting claims based upon nitrosamine (NDMA) in pharmaceutical products.

This DCJ issue also offers an analysis of the phenomenon known as “safetyism” among jurors along with ideas about how to deal with it.

Finally, a legal ethics professor explains the issues surrounding the use of Generative AI in law firms, a topic that each of us must keep front of mind as that technology advances and, perhaps sooner rather than later, becomes part of the everyday practice of law.

As you browse through this issue, please remember that the DCJ welcomes article submissions from IADC members and non-members alike, with the range of topics as broad as the legal imagination.

Best,
Peter J. Pizzi
Defense Counsel Journal Editor

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