Austin Co-Managing Partner Leslie Benitez has been named the Diversity Chair of the Steering Committee of DRI's Drug and Medical Device Committee.
The Drug and Medical Device Committee is the pre-eminent continuing legal education organization for trial counsel, corporate counsel and risk management professionals involved in the defense of drug and medical device litigation. Committee members explore a diverse selection of product areas, such as biologicals/vaccines, blood products, medical devices, over-the-counter and prescription drugs, and much more.
San Francisco partner Jack "Skip" McCowan, the immediate past chair of the committee, continues to serve on the committee. He also is a DRI national director.
Every year, the Drug and Medical Device Committee is part of several important and successful programs and initiatives, including planning and helping present DRI's Annual Drug and Medical Device Seminar.
The committee publishes its newsletter, Rx for the Defense, twice each year. The newsletter contains committee-coordinated articles relevant to drug and medical device litigation. Article topics include excluding regulatory violations from defect cases; defending cases involving pharmacovigilance; the latest on innovator liability; evaluating adverse causation in clinical trials; managing physician-company conflict of interest; implied conflict pre-emption defense; product liability biologics and biosimilars; and defending biopharmaceuticals.
The Drug and Medical Device Committee is one of DRI's largest committees.