Defense Counsel Journal

President's Page - Volume 87, Number 3

July 21, 2020

Andrew S. Chamberlin

Andrew S. Chamberlin

Andrew Chamberlin is a trial attorney at Ellis & Winters in Greensboro with a broad national and international practice. Andrew has handled product liability, and catastrophic injury defense cases as well as the prosecution and defense of commercial, construction, and intellectual property disputes.

We are all facing a chaotic world roiled by numerous global issues. The spread of COVID-19 has changed how we live, how we work, and how we communicate. The quest for true equality under law continues with concomitant social unrest that is at times encouraging and at times worrying. Social media has disrupted and exploded the distribution of information in ways that are susceptible to misuse and that misuse has come to pass. Politics have never been more divisive. Representative democracies are facing critical choices about the future. Simultaneously, obscured from view by the series of global events described above, the rapid development of artificial intelligence and data analytics is bringing changes to the practice of law that offer our members new opportunities and new challenges.

The International Association of Defense Counsel exists to serve its membership. Like the rest of the world, we are adapting to face the global issues confronting us. We have developed a Virtual Value program to deliver on point educational, professional, and social opportunities for our members. Our Diversity and Inclusion Committee has been more active than ever before and has launched a series of educational opportunities to encourage frank discussion of longstanding equality issues. Further, our Think IADC First program has been expanded to include regular reporting of referral successes within the organization. Finally, in response to the on-going economic crisis created by COVID-19, the IADC has developed a program to retain in-house counsel members at no additional cost and to deliver free CLE programming to all members.

In the midst of all of this change, it is comforting to know that some things appropriately continue to remain true to long-held traditional standards and move forward without change. The Defense Counsel Journal has always been an exceptional resource for scholarly articles on important legal subjects delivered in a timely fashion. Through the years it has been a steady symbol and example of the quality and expertise of our members. That tradition continues forward with this edition of the DCJ. 

Andrew S. Chamberlin

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