Edward P. (Ed) Abbot is a partner in the New York City office of Hawkins Parnell Thackston & Young LLP. Mr. Abbot is a trial lawyer and litigator who concentrates on a wide range of product liability, general commercial and mass liability toxic tort litigation. He has substantial experience in representing major corporations involved in asbestos litigation, as well as in environmental toxic torts, premises liability, pharmaceutical matters and other complex cases in multiple jurisdications.

Robert F. Bettler, Jr. Senior Consultant and head of the Atlanta office of DecisionQuest, has 20 years' experience in trial consulting, along with experience in the military, engineering, business, education, and neuropsychology. This diverse background has benefitted a variety of clients in hundreds of focus groups, mock trials, juror profiling surveys, change of venue studies, and post-trial juror interviews. As an expert statistician, he has introduced innovations in juror profiling that have contributed to the success of numerous cases.

Bruce T. Bishop is a member of Willcox & Savage P.C. in Norfolk, Virginia. Mr. Bishop has extensive experience since 1977 in toxic tort and environmental litigation. Mr. Bishop has developed a nationwide reputation in the medical and state-of-the-art issues associated with toxic tort litigation, appearing at numerous national seminars on the topic and trying cases throughout the country involving such issues. Mr. Bishop received his B.S. from Old Dominion University and his J.D. from the University of Virginia. Bruce is the co-vice program chair for this program.

Kyle E. Bjornlund practices in the Toxic Tort Litigation Group of Cetrulo LLP. He is part of a team that represents Fortune 100 companies as local, regional, and national coordinating counsel in toxic tort litigation. Kyle has successfully defended clients in the state and federal courts of Massachusetts, Maine, Missouri, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont in multi-party, multi-jurisdictional, mass tort litigation alleging injuries from exposure to asbestos lead pigment, benzene, talc, and radiation. He has also been retained by prospective buyers to perform risk management assessments of the toxic tort liabilities of acquisition "target" companies.

Michael J. (Mike) Cahalane is a partner at Cetrulo LLP in Boston, Massachusetts. He concentrates his practice in products liability, toxic torts, and pharmaceutical litigation. Mike is licensed to practice law in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine and regularly defends his clients in both state and federal courts. He also represents several companies as National Coordinating Counsel. In that capacity Mike manages all aspects of the client's defense, including development and implementation of litigation strategies to reduce indemnity and defense costs.

Jennifer A. Cormieris a partner in the San Francisco office of MG+M. Her practice focuses on environmental litigation with an emphasis on representing asbestos defendants. Throughout her career, she has successfully represented manufacturers, distributors, contractors and premises owners in multiple-party litigation involving exposure to a variety of toxins. She has extensive experience in overseeing and managing nationally recognized companies as both national coordinating counsel and local counsel. A significant part of Jennifer's practice is devoted to the strategic negotiation of settlements for clients in the areas of asbestos and toxic torts. In this role, she has successfully negotiated more than a thousand favorable resolutions for her clients for over 20 years.

Sharla J. Frost defends corporate clients in state and federal courts throughout the country. Licensed in five states and admitted pro hac vice in 15 others, she has been first-chair trial counsel in over 60 jury trials and serves on national trial teams in pharmaceutical, mass tort, and other product liability litigation. Sharla's victory in a high-profile talc/mesothelioma lawsuit was ranked #1 in Courtroom View Network's Top 10 Most Im-pressive Defense Verdicts of 2017, and she is ranked in Chambers USA.

S. Shayne Gardner is a partner in the Dallas office of DeHay & Elliston. He joined the firm in 2000 and practices in the areas of general civil and commercial litigation, as well as toxic tort defense. Mr. Gardner has more than 15 years of experience defending some of the nation's most prominent petrochemical and manufacturing companies. He has particular experience in defending premises owners in a variety of chemical exposure cases and asbestos-related cases. He has also defended numerous product liability claims against manufacturing companies. Mr. Gardner graduated from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 1998 and is admitted to practice law in Texas, Arkansas and Illinois. He is also admitted to practice before the United States Federal District Court for the Southern and Northern Districts of Texas.

Jennifer Green joined DeHay & Elliston, L.L.P. in December 2006 as an Associate, and became a Partner in January 2011. She has been practicing law since 2000, and is currently licensed to practice law in Texas, Mississippi, California, Illinois and New York. Ms. Green received her Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science, with honors, from Texas A&M University and received her Juris Doctorate, with honors, from Texas Tech University School of Law. She was a Texas Tech University Regents Scholar and was Vice Chair of Client Counseling for the Texas Tech University School of Law Board of Barristers. Ms. Green's practice focuses primarily on products liability litigation and corporate defense. She is an adjunct professor at Tarrant County College, and has served as a guest lecturer at the University of Texas at Arlington, College of Engineering, Senior Design Seminar "Products Liability and the Design Engineer."

Elizabeth (Betsy) Kelly focuses her practice on defending manufacturers, distributors, premises owners, and their insurers involved in product liability, toxic tort, environmental, and general liability litigation. She has experience in all stages of litigation from pleadings through appeals including initial responses, factual investigations, discovery, development of product-line specific defenses and witnesses, motion practice, trial work-up, as well as post-trial motions and briefing. She is also experienced in advising and implementing strategy to assist clients with managing their risks arising in multi-jurisdictional, high-volume litigation. During law school, Betsy served as a judicial extern for The Honorable Neil P. Olack, United States Bankruptcy Court for The Southern District of Mississippi. Prior to entering private practice, she served as a law clerk for The Honorable Jess H. Dickinson, Presiding Justice, Mississippi Supreme Court.

Mark A. Maddaloni, DrPH, DABT is a Senior Managing Health Scientist with Cardno ChemRisk, Mark has over 35 years of experience in the areas of environmental health, toxicology, and human health risk assessment. Prior to joining Cardno ChemRisk, he served as a senior toxicologist and the Regional Risk Assessment Coordinator in the Office of the Regional Administrator for EPA - Region 2. Mark has served on numerous EPA National Work Groups including: metals, asbestos, chemical mixtures, PCBs, perfluoroalkyl sub-stances, and bioavailability. Mark is a Diplomat of the American Board of Toxicology and a member of the Society of Toxicology.

Christopher (Kip) Makuc is a Managing Director at PACE Claims Services, LLC in Washington, DC. Mr. Makuc has significant experience providing accounting, financial, and litigation support services to clients involved in mass torts, particularly asbestos bodily injury claims. Since joining the firm in 1995, Mr. Makuc has assisted policyholders, insurers, reinsurers, financial institutions, bankruptcy trusts, and their legal counsel on a variety of asbestos environmental, and other product liability and insurance matters, including claim file reviews, claim data analysis, document production reviews, claim categorization, insurance and reinsurance recovery, future liability estimation, coverage analysis and disputes, bankruptcy analyses, and claim cost allocation and insurer billing. In 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, Mr. Makuc was recognized by Who's Who Legal as one of the leading insurance and reinsurance expert witnesses in the United States and United Kingdom. Mr. Makuc has prepared expert reports and testified on behalf of both insurers and policyholders on claim data analytics, insurance claim valuation, and allocation matters. He prepares estimations of future claim liability for dozens of entities involved in the asbestos litigation.

Anissa M. Mediger is a shareholder at the law firm of Briggs and Morgan in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Anissa has worked in the areas of toxic tort, construction defect, product liability and environmental law for over 16 years. During that time she has served as both National Coordinating Counsel, Regional and Local Counsel for a variety of clients facing such claims. Her work includes securing a defense verdict in a unique asbestos take-home exposure two week trial where her client conceded causation. Anissa has defended entities facing talc-related litigation and with a degree in geology, takes a keen interest in the scientific defense.

Albert H. (Al) Parnell is a nationally recognized trial attorney. He has spent his entire career preparing, managing, and trying product liability, environmental and toxic tort cases. Mr. Parnell has tried more than 300 cases in 32 states. Mr. Parnell, an authority on asbestos medicine, is frequently requested to speak on medical, state of-the-art, firm management, and ethics issues. He is a founding member of DRI's Law Institute and a former member of the DRI Board of Directors. Retired from Hawkins Parnell & Young LLP, he currently serves on Boards and performs independent consulting work.

Kurt L. Rasmussen has practiced law for over thirty years and has tried well in excess of fifty cases. In addition to asbestos products, he has defended actions involving fireworks, scaffolding, nail guns, trailer hitches, printing presses, exercise equipment, gas valves, and combustible drums. In addition to products liability cases, Kurt is experienced in employment law, nursing home litigation, commercial litigation, and class actions. Kurt serves as the managing member of the firm's Los Angeles office.

Thomas W. Tardy, III has a diverse background of litigation experience. Tom has tried First Amendment cases, oil and gas cases, and personal injury cases for both plaintiffs and defendants. However, he has achieved national acclaim for his representation of clients in mass tort cases. For over 35 years, he has successfully litigated mass tort claims nationally, regionally, and locally on behalf of dozens of defendants, including manufacturers and suppliers of products and equipment such as brakes, pumps, compressors, boilers, electrical equipment, and others. He has served as national coordinating counsel for a variety of companies' asbestos and silica litigation portfolios, and currently manages the defense of over 50,000 toxic tort claims nationwide. Tom served as counsel of record for a number of defendants in MDL 875, and obtained several notable victories, including landmark decisions on the "bare metal defense". He also served as lead counsel in multiple matters before the Mississippi Supreme Court and obtained favorable defense decisions that led to substantive tort reform. Tom previously served as national counsel for a high-target defendant involved in hearing loss and hand-arm vibration syndrome litigation, which was successfully concluded. He has been certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and for more than 25 years has been a prolific author and speaker on toxic tort litigation. Tom served in the U.S. Army where he was an Instructor, Officer's Candidate School, Fort Benning, Georgia and Reconnaissance Platoon Leader, Vietnam. He is perennially listed as one of the top lawyers in Mississippi by a variety of publications.

David Weill, MD, is the former Director of the Center for Advanced Lung Disease at Stanford University Medical Center and a Principal in the Weill Consulting Group. In addition to his own practice specializing in end-stage lung diseases, Dr. Weill has testified before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee and the Environment and Public Works Committee and the Texas State Legislature regarding legislation addressing the handling of asbestos and silica claims. He is also am currently the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board for the National Sand, Stone, and Gravel Association, a role that involves evaluating the health risk posed by a variety of exposures. Dr. Weill has also been the author of book chapters discussing the asbestos related diseases and was the lead researcher of a study involving asbestos exposure, radiographic analysis, and pulmonary function evaluation of members of the Libby, MT community.

Jennifer A. Whelan is a partner in MG+M's Boston office. She is a proven litigator whose practice focuses on defense of asbestos, mass tort, products liability, and general liability matters. Jennifer also has experience in areas such as construction liability, premises liability, vehicle liability, medical malpractice, environmental pollution, dram shop, and consumer protection.