CHICAGO, Oct. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- DRI-the Voice of the Defense Bar chose
new leaders last week as the 22,500-member organization held its 13th Annual
Meeting in New Orleans.
New DRI officers include:
President -- Marc E. Williams, Partner, Huddleston Bolen LLP, Huntington,
W.Va.;
President-Elect -- Cary E. Hiltgen, Director and Shareholder, Hiltgen &
Brewer, P.C., Oklahoma City, Okla.;
First Vice President -- R. Matthew Cairns, Director and Shareholder,
Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell, Concord, N.H.;
Second Vice President -- Henry Sneath, Partner, Picadio Sneath Miller &
Norton, P.C., Pittsburgh, Pa.;
Immediate Past President -- John H. Martin, Partner, Thompson & Knight
LLP, Dallas, Tex.;
Secretary-Treasurer -- Kimberly D. Baker, Attorney, Williams Kastner,
Seattle, Wash.
"Every year at our Annual Meeting, DRI launches new initiatives and names
new leaders to identify and meet the evolving challenges that confront the
defense bar and its business clients," said John R. Kouris, Executive Director
of DRI. "This year we have again selected officers who represent the very best
in our profession and who will spearhead DRI's ongoing efforts to improve the
civil justice system and provide effective advocacy for the business
community."
Marc E. Williams, a veteran commercial and complex business litigation
defense attorney in Huntington, W.Va., has been named President of DRI-the
Voice of the Defense Bar. He has served on a number of DRI committees,
representing the organization at state and national levels. A partner at
Huddleston Bolen LLP, he has had primary responsibility for more than 50 jury
trials in both state and federal courts. Mr. Williams is listed in Best
Lawyers in America in five categories: Commercial Litigation, Personal Injury
Litigation, Legal Malpractice Law, Mass Tort Litigation, and Products
Liability Litigation. He is also listed by Chambers USA in Band One (highest
designation) in the area of commercial litigation and is designated as a West
Virginia Super Lawyer. He is rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell.
Cary E. Hiltgen, director and shareholder of the Oklahoma City-based law
firm Hiltgen & Brewer, P.C., has been named President-Elect of DRI-the Voice
of the Defense Bar. Mr. Hiltgen, an esteemed product liability and commercial
attorney, will serve a one-year term and become president of DRI for 2009-
2010. For more than 25 years, Mr. Hiltgen has focused his practice in the
areas of product liability, insurance defense, insurance coverage, commercial
litigation, and transportation law. His broad clientele includes numerous
consumer goods companies, manufacturers, and insurers. He has served as both
Vice Chair and Chair of DRI's Product Liability Committee, one of the largest
committees in the organization with more than 3,000 attorneys. He has also
served on DRI's Board of Directors and the Law Institute. Rated AV by
Martindale-Hubbell, Mr. Hiltgen has been an Oklahoma Super Lawyer since 2006.
R. Matthew Cairns, director and shareholder at the law firm Gallagher,
Callahan & Gartrell, has been named First Vice President of DRI-the Voice of
the Defense Bar. A New Hampshire attorney with more than 20 years of
litigation experience, he will serve a one-year term and become DRI's
president in 2010. Mr. Cairns currently focuses on product liability,
commercial litigation, defense of sexual torts, and general litigation
including trucking and construction. He has represented individuals,
businesses, and insurers in civil litigation matters in all New Hampshire
state and federal courts. He is also general counsel to several small
corporations. Mr. Cairns was previously DRI's Second Vice President and, prior
to that, Northeast Regional Director overseeing DRI initiatives in New
Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. He
was also the DRI State Representative for New Hampshire and received the
organization's State Leadership Award. Mr. Cairns was a Products Liability
Defense Super Lawyer in 2007 and 2008.
Henry M. Sneath, a leading intellectual property and complex business
litigation attorney, has been named Second Vice President of DRI-the Voice of
the Defense Bar. Mr. Sneath, name partner at Picadio Sneath Miller & Norton,
P.C. in Pittsburgh, Pa., has served on the Board of Directors of DRI and was
previously the Chair of its Commercial Litigation Committee. Most recently, he
served as Chair of the Public Policy Committee. As a result of his election,
he will become President of DRI in October, 2011. Mr. Sneath has tried over 90
cases to jury and non-jury verdict in federal and state court jurisdictions
and has helped clients resolve numerous disputes through alternative dispute
resolution. His extensive track record in federal and state courts encompasses
commercial disputes, intellectual property, construction claims, insurance
coverage, and insurance bad faith claims. Mr. Sneath has been listed in Best
Lawyers in America since 2006 and as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer since 2006.
John H. Martin, a leading mass tort and aviation litigation lawyer,
becomes the Immediate Past President of DRI-the Voice of the Defense Bar. Mr.
Martin is a partner in the Dallas office of Thompson & Knight LLP. He is
widely recognized for his legal work and public speaking on the subjects of
catastrophic injury, mass tort and aviation litigation. He is one of the
state's most distinguished attorneys in the civil defense field. He has
represented major commercial air carriers, aviation product manufacturers and
general aviation interests in accident litigation including federal and state
court cases arising out of accidents involving fatalities and other injuries.
He also practices extensively in the areas of professional liability,
healthcare, and general business and commercial litigation. He has served on a
number of committees within the organization, and has represented the
organization on the state and national level. Mr. Martin has been listed under
multiple categories in The Best Lawyers in America since 1995 and has been a
Texas Super Lawyer since 2003, also under several substantive law disciplines.
He was also named by D-Magazine to its Best Lawyers in Dallas List in 2001,
2003, and 2008 in addition to being listed in Who's Who Legal: Texas and
Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America since 2007.
Kimberly D. Baker, a Seattle-based member of the law firm Williams
Kastner, was named Secretary Treasurer of DRI-the Voice of the Defense Bar.
Ms. Baker has served on the Board of Directors of DRI and was the Board
liaison to the Diversity Committee. She is a member of DRI's Health Care,
Labor & Employment and Drug and Medical Device Sections, as well as Drug &
Medical Device Steering Committee. Previously, she was chair of the 2004
Medical Liability Seminar and, in 2003, she was appointed to the DRI Law
Institute. She is the 2008 recipient of DRI's Richard H. Krochuck award for
mentoring young lawyers. As an experienced litigator, Ms. Baker's practice
emphasizes service to business clients in a wide range of areas including
clients in the health care, pharmaceutical and manufacturing sectors. She has
experience providing advice and litigation support in areas such as employment
law, health care regulation, corporate governance and product liability. She
is AV rated in Martindale-Hubbell and was recognized most recently as a Super
Lawyer in 2008.
About DRI
DRI - The Voice of the Defense Bar is the international organization of
attorneys defending the interests of business and individuals in civil
litigation. DRI provides numerous educational and informational resources to
members and offers many opportunities for liaison among defense trial lawyers,
Corporate America, and state and local legal defense organizations. DRI also
has an international presence, seeking to enhance understanding of the law
among members of the defense community who have reason to be concerned with
the expanding globalization of litigation defense. The organization can be
reached at http://www.dri.org.
CONTACT: Julie Graceffa
202-973-5311
Jgraceffa@levick.com
