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William G. Childs

Biography

Bill Childs is a product liability lawyer who focuses his practice in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device industries. He has extensive experience in mass pharmaceutical tort, patent, commercial and other litigation.

Bill graduated with high honors from the University of Texas School of Law, where he was Chief Articles Editor for the Texas Law Review. While at Texas, he was also a member of the research staff for Michael Tigar, lead counsel for Terry Nichols, defendant in the Oklahoma City bombing case. Upon graduation, Bill clerked for Judge James M. Rosenbaum, United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. His subsequent practice, at Williams & Connolly LLP, was principally in pharmaceutical mass tort and intellectual property litigation.

Bill then joined Western New England University School of Law, where he taught for eight years (earning tenure) and served as Associate Dean for External Affairs for three years. He taught Torts, Products Liability, Experts and Scientific Evidence, and other courses. His scholarship while in academia focused on mass tort litigation, amusement ride safety, and the intersection of law and science.

Education

University of Texas Law School, J.D., 1998

With High Honors

Order of the Coif

Chief Articles Editor, Texas Law Review, 1997-98
Macalester College, B.A., 1994

Major: Political Science

Pi Sigma Alpha National Academic Political Science Honor Society

Bar Admissions

Washington, D.C., 2001

Memberships and Affiliations

Defense Research Institute

Producer and host, “Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child” radio show (music for kids), since August 2005

Co-founder, KindieFest (annual family music conference)

Classes and Seminars Taught

History in the Making. Presented at the Defense Research Institutes Toxic Torts Conference, February 2012, Miami, Florida.

Law and Pharmaceutical Development. Presented to chemistry, biology, and other undergraduates at the University of Arkansas, February 2011, February 2008, March 2007, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The Intersection of Law and Science: The Unintended Consequences of Judicial Standards for Expert Evidence. Presented (with Robert Scott) at the Defense Research Institute’s National Annual Meeting, October 2007, Washington, D.C.

Invited Participant, Coronado Conference, “Conventions in Science and the Law,” Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy (SKAPP). One of forty invited participants to this conference addressing difficulties and opportunities created by forcing one discipline’s conventions to be used outside its usual environment (e.g., scientists testifying in court). May 2007, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.

MySpace and Torts. Discussion of social networking websites’ potential liability for third-party torts, presented to first-year Torts students at the University of Arkansas, March 2007, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Can Law Corrupt Science? Can Science Corrupt Law? What Occurs When Lawyers and Scientists Interact? Presented at the Defense Research Institute Toxic Torts Conference, March 2007, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Discussion of Recent Case Law, Emerging Tort Theories, Recent Legal Developments, and Key Legal Challenges Facing the Amusement and Leisure Industry. Presented at the 2006 International Amusement & Leisure Defense Association symposium.

Basic Torts. Presented to twenty state trial judges at the 2006 “Civil Jury Practice in the District Court” conference, Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Criminal Prosecutions in the Amusement Industry – Is There a Trend?, available at http://masstort.org/Downloads/Prosecutions.pdf. Presented at the 2005 International Amusement & Leisure Defense Association symposium. The essay was published, in abbreviated form, in the WNEC law alumni magazine, Perspectives.

Published Works

When the Bell Can’t Be Unrung: Document Leaks and Protective Orders in Mass Tort Litigation, 27 Rev. Litig. 565 (2008).

The Overlapping Magisteria of Law and Science: When Litigation and Science Collide, 85 Neb. L. Rev. 643 (2007).

When Criminal and Tort Law Incentives Run Into Tight Budgets and Regulatory Discretion, 34 Cap. U.L. Rev. 581 (2006).

The Implementation of FDA Determinations in Litigation – Why Do We Defer to the PTO but Not to the FDA?, 5 Minn. Intell. Prop. Rev. 155 (2004).

The Intersection of Peremptory Challenges, Challenges for Cause, and Harmless Error, 27 Am. J. Crim. L. 49 (1999).