Fall 2002 Ahrens Tort Symposium: Genomic Torts
September 28, 2002
David W. Brooks
Roger Brownsword
Heidi Li Feldman
Stephen F. Fink
Dennis R. Honabach
Victoria M. Kumorowski
Kurt A. Level
Gerald L. Michaud
David F. Partlett
Thomas P. Redick
William J. Rich
Symposium organized by Professor Charlene L. Smith, Washburn University School of Law.
The Washburn Tort Seminar is made possible by the Ahrens Chair in Tort Law created by funds contributed to Washburn Law School in 1986 by the Wichita law firm of Michaud, Cordry, Michaud, Hutton and Hutton.
Science and law are forever intersecting. The mapping of the genome will create unique legal problems. Among the questions are: Which individuals, if any, will have a duty to inform others when they know particular genetic information about an individual? If they make disclosure, will they violate the privacy rights of the person from whom the genetic material was taken? Can an employer use genetic information to screen future employees? Can an insurance company refuse to insure a person with a certain genetic disposition? What are the ethical issues raised assuming such a disclosure? These are some of the questions that the Washburn University School of Law Ahrens Tort Symposium/CLE will explore.
Integrated with the Ahrens Tort Symposium is a unique law seminar. Traditional classes are taught by a single professor over the course of the seminar. However, in the Ahrens Advanced Tort Seminar, scholars and practitioners from around the world teach and interact with the law students. These visitors bring special expertise they share with the students both in and out of the classroom. Further, the students are introduced to the subject area underlying the tort focus by experts in the area. This year the Ahrens Advanced Tort Seminar will begin by explaining the science of the genome.
The exchange of thoughts and ideas does not take place solely in the classroom. Some of the most valuable learning experiences can occur at social occasions. The Ahrens Advanced Tort Seminar is premised on this assumption and provides seminar students with the opportunity to interact with scholars and practitioners outside the classroom. Social functions include dinners at the homes of the Dean of Washburn University School of Law and the President of Washburn University as well as a reception that includes justices and judges from the Kansas Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals.
Symposium Faculty
David W. Brooks (Washburn University School of Law '85), a partner at Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P. in Kansas City, Missouri, is a trial lawyer with over 15 years of experience focused primarily on the defense of pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers in product liability cases. He is regional counsel for Eli Lilly and Company in the DES litigation and has also been involved in national or regional counsel roles for the Upjohn Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb, American Home Products, and Merck.
Roger Brownsword, Professor of Law at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, acted as specialist legal adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee on Stem Cell Research, whose report was published in February 2002. Professor Brownsword has participated in a number of European bioethical projects, including that which led to the Barcelona Declaration proposing autonomy, dignity, integrity, and vulnerability as guiding values for bioethics. Among his recent coauthored books is Law and Human Genetics: Regulating a Revolution and Human Dignity in Bioethics and Biolaw, Oxford, 2002.
Heidi Li Feldman, Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, whose primary scholarly interest lies at the intersection of philosophy and tort law, has been a Senior Fellow at the Einstein Institute on Science, Health and the Courts, a private organization dedicated to judicial education. She has written numerous articles focusing on tort law, legal theory, ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of science, epistemology, and philosophy of mind.
Stephen F. Fink, a partner with Thompson & Knight LL.P, Dallas, Texas, specializes in trials and appeals of labor and employment law cases, representing management. Mr. Fink represented the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company in the action brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission challenging the railroad's genetic testing of certain employees. He is a certified specialist in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and was listed in The Best Lawyers in America under Labor Law in 2001-2002.
Dennis R. Honabach, Dean and Professor of Law at Washburn University School of Law and the designer and former director of the Entrepreneurial Law Center at Western State University College of Law, has written books and articles on corporate governance topics.
Victoria M. Kumorowski, M. Div. (Washburn University School of Law '75), Associate Director Pastoral Services, Trumbull Memorial Hospital, Warren, Ohio, recently presented “Ethical, Legal, Medical and Theological Issues Raised by Advances in Reproductive and Genetic Technology” to the Bioethics Committee at Northwest Medical Center in Springdale, Arkansas. She was a District Court Judge, Division 1 in Reno County, Kansas, from 1991 to 1995.
Kurt A. Level, Senior Counsel with the Employment Law Group at Koch Industries, Inc., Wichita, Kansas, specializes in the areas of employment, benefits, and corporate compliance. He has made numerous presentations on issues involving employment law and corporate compliance.
Gerald L. Michaud, of Counsel with Morris, Laing, Evans, Brock & Kennedy, Chtd., (Washburn University School of Law '51), has over the last 40 years practiced in the field of personal injury, with special interest in medical negligence, product liability, class actions, prescription drug, and other types of injury cases. Mr. Michaud has been a lecturer and instructor at the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American Trial Lawyers Association National College of Advocacy in Reno, Nevada, and at the Harvard Law School.
David F. Partlett, Dean and Professor of Law at Washington & Lee University School of Law, has practiced law in Sydney, Australia, and was on the faculty of the Australian National University Law School for a decade prior to his current position. He served on the Australian Law Reform Commission, where one of his responsibilities was to direct research on the protection of privacy. He has co-authored a variety of law texts including Torts: Cases and Materials, 10th Ed., Foundation Press 2000, as well as law review articles in the area.
Thomas P. Redick, a partner with Gallop, Johnson & Neuman, L.C. in St. Louis, Missouri, represents technology driven clients with an emphasis on high technology, chemical, and food biotechnology applications. He presented The New Paradigm in Toxic Torts: Beware the Genome Gnomes at a recent American Agricultural Law Association conference. Mr. Redick has acted as pro bono counsel to the American Genetic Resources Alliance.
William J. Rich, Professor of Law at Washburn University School of Law, was a Rockefeller Fellow at Yale Divinity School and has worked with Washburn Law Clinic students representing inmates in constitutional challenges to Kansas prison conditions. He co-authored the second edition of Modern Constitutional Law, West Group, 1998.
