Fears Nachawati co-founder Majed Nachawati and firm attorney Michael Gorwitz give an expert analysis for Law360 on fostering diversity in multidistrict litigation leadership positions.
“MDL leadership positions are important because they have the ability to shape crucial litigation across the entire country. Unlike a class action, which involves the resolution of a large number of distinct claims in a single action, an MDL ties together potentially thousands of separate cases filed in courts throughout the country for coordinated pretrial proceedings, before being remanded to individual trials on the merits.
This is why diversity in MDL is so important. Nothing says “business as usual” like seeing a large number of cases removed from their initial jurisdiction, transferred to a single court and then handed off to a familiar set of firms – largely owned by white men – for resolution of crucial pretrial discovery and motion practice issues.”