Bell to speak at national conference

CHARLESTON – A Charleston attorney will be speaking at the next HarrisMartin MDL conference in Dallas.

Harry F. Bell Jr., of the Bell Law Firm, will be speaking about transvaginal mesh devices Nov. 28 at the Palomar Hotel.

Bell said he is flattered and honored Harris Martin thought of him when planning the conference.

“This is an extremely nice conference with an amazing panel of speakers,” Bell said. “It’s a great opportunity for attorneys to really learn what is going on in this field.”

Bell said this will be the third time he has spoken at a HarrisMartin conference, which often are held the day before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation hearings.

HarrisMartin has provided the opportunity for attorneys to learn from and network with colleagues the day before the JPML hearings for more than three years.

The JPML hearing session will be held Nov. 29 at Southern Methodist University School of Law in Dallas.

Bell said the conference gives attorneys the opportunity to discuss and learn about hot topics.

“This conference is full of remarkable people who will be discussing cutting-edge topics,” Bell said. “It’s a significant honor for me to be included with these speakers.”

The conference will have discussions on DePuy ASR and Pinnacle; Actos; Bard IVC Filter; Biomet/Stryker; transvaginal mesh and Zoloft MDL updates; Pradaxa; Meningitis litigation; Special Master’s role in MDLs; Mirena IUD; artificial intelligence, predictive coding, concept searching and new frontiers for electronically stored information; primer on privilege logs; and making persuasive MDL arguments.

Bell is one of 28 speakers at the conference. Others include Keynote Speaker Kenneth Starr; Keynote Speaker W. Mark Lanier of the Lanier Law Firm in Houston; U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas-Dallas Judge Ed Kinkeade; Richard J. Arsenault of Neblett, Beard & Arsenault in Louisiana; and Karen Barth Menzies of Robinson Calcagnie Shapiro Davis in California, whom Bell will be speaking with during his presentation.

Bell said there currently are five transvaginal mesh MDLs formed in West Virginia, the most recent being the Coloplast transvaginal mesh, which was added this past summer.

“The JPML centralizes MDLs and wants them to be put in front of someone who knows and understands the complex litigation and who can get it done,” Bell said. “Some judges can go their whole careers without seeing an MDL, and here in West Virginia, Judge Joseph Goodwin now has five.”

Bell said it is a wonderful thing for West Virginia to be recognized as a judicial system that is able to handle complex litigation and it shows that the federal judicial system is impressed with what West Virginia has done with its judicial system.

For more information about the HarrisMartin conference, go to www.harismartin.com.