March 2005 Issue

Cover Story

The Med-Mal Divide

More physicians like Dan F. Kopen can expect to find themselves at the defense table as doctors and lawyers continue to wage a political, legal and cultural war over who to blame for the medical malpractice insurance crisis.

A general surgeon, Kopen is out the door and on his way to work by 5:30 a.m., with no chance to read the morning newspaper. On Sept. 15, 1997, it was no different for Kopen, who lives and practices in Wilkes Barre, Pa. So it’s little surprise that almost everyone in town seemed to know before Kopen did that a former patient had filed a malpractice lawsuit against him.

“I found out from a lawyer friend who read it in the paper,” Kopen recalls. “He said, ‘Oh, I see you’ve been sued.’ ”

Feature Section

Demanding Diversity

Sara Lee Corp. General Counsel Roderick Palmore halts a second when asked to come up with a fresh anecdote, some new concrete example of why diversity matters in the legal profession.

He's been making the business case for diversity for so long, these questions are irritating. So, switching gears, he answers with a story about an employee who dreamed up the innovative tagless T-shirt idea used by Sara Lee's Hanes clothing brand.

Through the Doors

Facing the U.S. Supreme Court last October, Wash­ing­ton, D.C., lawyer Donald Ayer was tossed a question by Justice Ruth Bader Gins­burg.