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In this writer's experience, the majority of medical malpractice cases involve a primary target defendant, usually a hospital or attending physician, often joined with multiple codefendants with less potential exposure. It is not uncommon to find three or more defense firms playing active roles in the discovery process, and, for purposes of this article, we shall refer to those defendants with lesser potential exposure as 'secondary defendants.'

Rough spots are common on the road of civil litigation, but it's not every day that a plaintiff's attorney sues his adversary for asking 'inhumane' questions during a deposition that allegedly inflict 'grievous emotional distress.' That's the thrust of a suit filed July 11 in Essex County, NJ.

Medical device products liability litigation and medical malpractice litigation have intersected for as long as physicians have been prescribing and implanting medical devices, but that overlap continues to increase and become even more intricate as medical devices become more sophisticated and more widely utilized by physicians and the public, and as plaintiffs increasingly seek to keep their cases in state court by including local diversity-destroying defendants in suits.

Many employers find it difficult to administer their leave of absence policies within the parameters of the Family and Medical Leave Act ('FMLA').

Jim Roethe, former General Counsel at Bank of America and litigation partner with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pitman LLP, and I recently taped a Recorder Roundtable CLE program titled 'Professional Relationship and Ethics.' We discussed some ethical issues that may arise between the client and the law firm in billing, staffing, litigation discovery, lawyers' financial interests, and backdating documents. Here is a brief summary of our discussion.

When my jury summons arrived in the mailbox, I decided that performing my civic duty could function as professional development for this legal-specific software trainer. The three previous times that I had served (one other time as foreperson), I viewed the experience with different eyes. After eight weeks of active, civil case jury duty, the time spent and lessons learned compel me to reflect on the experience and offer personal insight as it relates to law firm ethics and how a firm may benefit.