Letter From The Chair
Charles Eppolito, III (Chuck)
Letter from the Chair
As Chair of the Medicine and Law Committee of the ABA’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS), I welcome you to our website. This promises to be an exciting and busy year for our Committee and our members. There are numerous opportunities for everyone to be involved and all are encouraged to participate! Our goal is to be relevant and helpful to you and your practice this year and beyond. This welcome message will highlight some of the things we plan to do this year and how you can be a part of the Medicine and Law Committee’s activities.
By way of introduction, the Medicine and Law Committee provides a forum for attorneys, health care professionals, claimants and insurers to learn and exchange ideas relating to the laws governing medical malpractice, medical device and pharmaceutical litigation and risk management; health care regulation (accreditation, licensure and disciplinary actions, peer review and certification, alternate dispute resolution, federal and state legislation updates, fraud and abuse); electronic communications and privacy; bioethics; managed care; on-line health care; and other issues relating to the practice of medicine and the law. Our Committee focuses on the substantive law associated with this broad practice area as well as pre-trial litigation and trial tactics and strategy.
We welcome and encourage practitioners in those fields and professions involving these issues to join – and actively participate in – the Medicine and Law Committee. As a member, you will advance your career, grow your client base, develop the skills essential to succeed in your practice, enhance your leadership skills, further your networking opportunities, and have access to the latest legal developments – from diverse perspectives. Our members include lawyers who represent plaintiffs and defendants, health care professionals, members of the insurance industry, health care in-house counsel, and others. Our more than 1,200 members are located all over the United States and represent numerous groups, ages, practice areas, and levels of experience. We are constantly striving to grow our membership and increase the diversity of our Committee
We will meet every month by telephone conference call. The first telephone conference call will be held on September 14, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. ET and will be open to ALL members! To participate, please dial ¬800-926-5093. During this teleconference, we will introduce current leadership and discuss plans for the year, upcoming meetings and events, opportunities for involvement for members, and will recap our recent business meeting and a terrific CLE program!
Our last business meeting was held at the ABA’s Annual Meeting in Chicago on August 1, 2009, and the minutes from that meeting are now available on our website. Our next business meeting will be at the TIPS Fall Conference in San Diego on October 9, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. PT. We will also hold business meetings at the ABA Midyear Meeting in Orlando in February 2010 and the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco in August 2010.
With regard to CLE programs, we held an outstanding program at the Annual Meeting in Chicago, entitled “Winning Your Case Through Medical Experts.” Presenters included a plaintiff’s lawyer, a defense lawyer, a trial judge and an experienced physician/medical expert. This spectacular panel shared their perspectives, experiences and strategies for identifying, recruiting, preparing, presenting and cross-examining medical experts during depositions and at trial. The panelists explained how to effectively use medical experts to prepare a case for trial and to persuade a jury or judge and win your case. The program included an interactive panel discussion with audience participation. This year, we plan to conduct more CLE programs (either telephonic or webinars), and welcome your topic suggestions. We will also continue to partner with other TIPS Committees to co-sponsor or support their CLE programs as well as Joint Enterprise Projects.
The Medicine and Law Committee is constantly striving to enhance our communication to our members, potential members, and other constituencies. As you can see, we are in the process of revamping our website so as to be more accessible and provide more substantive content. We have only just begun this process. Continue to log on to our website throughout the year and see the changes and improvements as you keep in touch with our Committee and our activities and events. Look for our Newsletters, as we intend to publish multiple issues this year – for the first time in many years. They will contain articles relating to a diverse array of legal issues, developments, information, and practical advice. You will also see a variety of articles from the Medicine and Law Committee in the various other TIPS publications, including The Brief, Tortsource (in the Winter 2010 edition), and The Journal (in which we will include a Survey of the law on hot topics affecting our areas of practice).
The Medicine and Law Committee will also be more proactive in terms of identifying and/or responding to pending legislation, potential legislation, and resolutions/recommendations which are either before the ABA House of Delegates or which need to be presented. This represents another way we are endeavoring to improve the practices of our members, their clients, and the justice system.
Obviously, this will be a very active year for the Medicine and Law Committee. These activities will provide an opportunity for members throughout TIPS and the ABA, as well as others, to participate in a meaningful way. We will also provide our members with opportunities to develop and enhance their leadership skills and to assume leadership roles.
We invite you to join, become active, and be a part of the dynamic work of the Medicine and Law Committee. To do so, please contact Linda Wiley, TIPS Membership Specialist, at (312) 988-5673 or
lmwiley@staff.abanet.org. You may also contact me, Chuck Eppolito, directly with any questions or suggestions, at
eppolitoc@whiteandwilliams.com. Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you!
Charles Eppolito, III (Chuck), Chair of the TIPS Medicine and Law Committee, is a partner in the Healthcare Practice Group and Litigation Department at White and Williams LLP, in the Philadelphia, PA office. He specializes in medical malpractice and represents hospitals, clinics, physicians and other healthcare providers throughout Pennsylvania
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