Articles Posted in Commentary

Most of us pay our bills on time. If we break a neighbor’s rake, we promptly purchase a replacement. If our child dumps fruit punch on a friend’s carpet, we pay to have it cleaned. In fact, we don’t really think about these unwritten rules often; it’s just the right thing to do, so most…

I’ve been writing about dangerous medical devices on this site for four years. Over that time I’ve reached thousands and thousands of people injured by these harmful implanted medical products. John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight, picked up the subject this week, and I am grateful to him and to HBO because he reached…

Let me see if I have this straight: There is a huge medical device manufacturer that earns over $75 billion dollars each year. This corporation decides to market and sell a new medical device. The corporation refuses to do extensive testing on the device because that would take too long and cost too much money.…

This is the question I get most often from people who have hired a lawyer but are not happy with the legal representation. Above almost everything else, good communication is the key to a healthy attorney-client relationship. I try not to be the kind of lawyer who doesn’t return phone calls. I don’t want any…

You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Favors are often exchanged among friends and family. But what most people don’t know, or don’t want to know, is that questionable “favors” are also exchanged in professional and business relationships. Over the years, there have been reports that favors, or benefits, are too often exchanged between drug…

Dr. Robert Califf is a cardiologist and the departing Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. He resigned his post last Friday, on Inauguration Day. Recently he gave a speech regarding his thoughts on the future of prescription drug testing, and he urged lawmakers to respect the value of science in approving and marketing prescription…

I get the impulse to “do it yourself.” Prior to attending law school, I sued my landlord in small claims court for the return of my security deposit (I won). I also tried to replace the steering box in my 1974 Ford Bronco (that didn’t turn out so well). These phone calls from pro se…

If you’ve kept up with politics even a little bit, you know how much gridlock exists in Congress. It’s amazing that anything can get done in Washington. However, a new law called the 21st Century Cures Act just passed with tremendous bipartisan support; this law must be really good, right? 21st Century Cures Act: The…

I see this on many lawyers’ websites or print advertisements: Free Consultation! It sounds great. Something is free! It’s a free con-sul-TA-tion, from an actual lawyer (although this last part is often not true; instead you likely get an “intake specialist,” a person gently trained to take down your story and type it up, usually…

I don’t drink the Kool-Aid. I distrust simple answers, group-think, zealotry. I can’t stand when people make sweeping generalizations about the absolute evil of one side and the unconditional good of the other side. I don’t usually spend much time with plaintiffs’ attorneys who think every corporate decision is an act of violence and malfeasance.…