For toxic tort lawyers, a new interview of Gary Marchant provides notable insight into the major changes ahead for the future of toxic tort litigation. Gary’s background is as a Kirkland trained lawyer with a PhD in genetics and a Master’s degree in public policy. Today, Gary thrives in and leads the way in the multi-disciplinary approach as a leader at the Center for Law, Science and Innovation at the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law.
For years, Gary has foreseen and written about the ongoing revolution in molecular biology and its implications for toxic tort litigation; his 2009 “Ghost in the Genes” article (with others) is a must read. See The Ghost in Our Genes: Legal and Ethical Implication of Epigenetics (2009). The new interview is titled “Genomics is Changing Causation Evidence in the Courtroom Forever.” The interview brings Gary’s overview analysis forward to last week.
Kudos to David Schwartz of Innovative Science Solutions for putting very good questions to someone who really can foresee the answers. You can read the interview at Innovative Science or at ASU’s always interesting blog, Bits, Bots and Biomarkers.
Disclosure: Both Gary and David are professional friends of mine, and I’m on an outside advisory committee for the LSI Center at the ASU law school.