Excluding Unreliable Expert Testimony: Impact of Amended FRE 702 in Renewing the Court's Gatekeeping Function

Mr. Castile is a trial attorney in Reed Smith’s Philadelphia office. His practice involves a wide range of commercial litigation matters, with a focus on defending pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers in products liability litigation.

Mr. Blake's practice involves a wide range of commercial litigation matters, including complex pharmaceutical and medical device litigation, products liability litigation, False Claims Act litigation, bankruptcy matters, preemption matters, and contract disputes. He was a key member of a trial team achieving a defense verdict in a pelvic mesh lawsuit. Mr. Blake is also experienced in numerous phases of pre-trial practice, including authoring and arguing dispositive and Rule 702 motions, drafting pleadings, managing voluminous discovery, including e-discovery, and taking depositions. Additionally, he has extensive experience working with expert witnesses, and preparing corporate witnesses.

Mr. Lasker is prized by clients and colleagues for his ability to quickly get to the heart of complex legal matters. He has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to collect, identify and distill vast amounts of technical information into strategic priorities and key substantive themes around which to develop and implement sophisticated medical causation and science-based defenses. Mission-focused and a quick study, Mr. Lasker is seasoned in all stages of litigation and is often hired by clients for his devotion to their broader business and legal interests, as much as for the technical experience he brings to the case. Recognized by Law360 as a Product Liability MVP, Mr. Lasker litigates a wide variety of complex civil matters with a focus on toxic torts, environmental litigation, and pharmaceutical products liability. He has successfully litigated bet-the-company disputes involving Daubert challenges, the federal preemption defense, and environmental natural resource damages claims. Mr. Lasker has represented his clients’ interests as lead counsel in multi-district litigation, mass torts, jury trials and bench proceedings, and in oral argument in multiple federal courts of appeal and state supreme courts. He represents clients in matters arising both in the United States and abroad, under both domestic and international law, in matters involving sensitive national security issues, and in meetings with both U.S. and foreign government officials.

Ms. Shimada has considerable experience in corporate defense and has helped prepare numerous corporate representatives for deposition and trial, as well as managed all aspects of the corporate document review and production process, and third-party discovery matters. As part of her practice, she has authored a wide variety of motions and briefs, including appellate briefs submitted in U.S. federal circuit courts. Prior to joining Hollingsworth LLP, Ms. Shimada served as a law clerk to The Honorable Thomas C. Wheeler of the United States Court of Federal Claims. While there, she worked on government contract (bid protests), patent, and military pay cases, as well as takings claims, including a six-week trial of Starr International v. United States.