| Alan Klein concentrates his practice in litigation and handles a wide variety of cases with a focus in recent years on products liability and toxic torts. He has served as national, regional and local counsel for Fortune 5 to 500 companies and other clients in a wide variety of cases, including class action antitrust and securities litigation and complex commercial cases. Among the products and toxic torts cases he has handled are those involving pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter drugs, ephedra, medical and dental devices and equipment, asbestos (personal injury and property damage), benzene and other chemicals, plastics, wood products, toxic mold, electronic controls, fire and burglar protection systems, construction materials, power mowers, lawn tractors and landscaping equipment, automobiles, lead-based paint, computers, and both fossil fuel and nuclear powered electrical generating equipment and facilities. Alan has actively litigated class action and mass tort cases in many MDL proceedings. He was appointed MDL liaison counsel for a pharmaceutical manufacturer in the diet drug litigation (fen-phen), and defended federal and state court litigation in phenylpropanolamine (PPA) cases. Mr. Klein is also currently representing clients in pharmaceuticals pricing litigation. He also counsels clients on electronic discovery and data security breach issues.
Mr. Klein was designated in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 as among Pennsylvania's "Super Lawyers" in a state-wide survey. Only 5 percent of all attorneys in the Commonwealth are eligible for this designation. A past member of the Board of Directors of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, Mr. Klein has served on its Advisory Board. He is the immediate past Board president of Oak Lane Day School in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Multi-Cultural Academy Charter School in Philadelphia, one of the most successful charter high schools in Pennsylvania. Mr. Klein is a member of the Defense Research Institute and its Drug and Medical Device Section and Professionalism and Ethics Committee, and is a member of the American, Pennsylvania and Philadelphia bar associations as well as the American, Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Associations. He has served as an arbitrator and mediator for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and as an arbitrator in state court cases in Philadelphia. Mr. Klein has also organized and participated in seminars sponsored by the American Conference Institute, the American Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and Mealey's.
Alan is a graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law and Drexel Institute of Technology (now Drexel University). Mr. Klein served as a law clerk to the Hon. George Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Alan's education consisted of
Vanderbilt University Law School, J.D., 1968,
Drexel Institute of Technology, B.S., 1965
Experience
Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Shareholder, 1995-2003
Cohen, Shapiro, Polisher, Shiekman and Cohen, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Partner, 1989-1995
Drinker, Biddle & Reath, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Partner, 1977-1988
- Associate, 1969-1971; 1972-1976
Office of the Philadelphia District Attorney
- Assistant District Attorney, Major Trials Division, 1971-1972
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- Judicial Clerk, Honorable George Edwards, 1968-1969
Duane Morris LLP, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Partner, 2003-present
-- Member, Diversity Committee
-- Member, Recruitment and Retention Committee
- Past Coordinating Partner, Current Member, Products Liability and Toxic Torts Practice Group
- Member, Life Sciences Group
- Member, China Group
- Member, Class Actions Group
Board Memberships
Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia
- Former Board Member
- Member, Advisory Board, 1990-2000
Oak Lane Day School, Blue Bell, Pennsylvania
- Board President, 1997-2005
Multi-Cultural Academy Charter School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Member, Board of Directors, 2003-present
Civic and Charitable Activities
Philadelphia Diversity Law Group
- Member, 2004-present
Community Legal Services, 1969-1989
Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, 1969-1985
Philadelphia Reads
- Reading Coach, 1998-present
Selected Publications
Co-author, "Courts Are Divided on Whether Failure-to-Warn Claims Against Generic Drug Manufacturers Can Be Preempted," article to be published in February 2009
Co-author, "Federal Preemption of Failure to Warn Claims Against Generic Drug Companies," Duane Morris Alert, October 7, 2008
Guest Column, "Key Pharma Preemption Ruling in Third Circuit," published online in Product Liability Law 360 and Health Law 360 by Portfolio Media, Inc., April 18, 2008
Co-author, "Drug Ads After a Decade: Are Direct-to-Consumer Messages Still a Good Idea?" a physician peer-reviewed article published online by the American Council on Science and Health, June 2007
Co-author, "What Are Your e-Discovery Obligations Under Revisions to the Federal Rules," Mealey's Publications, March 2006
Co-author, "The Shifting Landscape of e-Discovery," e-Discovery Law & Strategy, published in July 2006
Author, "The Impact of Direct To Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising on the Learned Intermediary Defense In Pennsylvania, and Its Influence on the Traditional Patient-Physician Relationship," published October 2005 in the Philadelphia Legal Intelligencer special litigation supplement
Co-author, "Toxic Tort Litigation: Theories of Liability and Damages," Environmental Litigation, Vol. 2, Chapter 6, American Bar Association, 1998 and 2000
Selected Speaking Engagements
Panelist, "Subclassing, Bifurcation and Avoiding Individualized Issues Preventing Certification," American Bar Association's "The Future of Class Action Litigation in America," Washington, D.C., October 2007
Seminar Presentation, "Hormone Replacement Therapy Litigation Update and Defenses," Mealey's Drug and Medical Device Litigation Conference, La Costa, California, May 2007
Panelist, "Confronting the Science Issues in Benzene, Welding Rod and Toxic Tort Cases," American Conference Institute's "Preventing and Defending Chemical Products Liability Litigation" Conference, Chicago, Illinois, October 2006
Seminar Presentation, "Privacy Laws and Their Impact on Colleges and Universities," University Risk Management and Insurance Association's "Risk, Recovery and Rewards" Conference, San Antonio, Texas, September 2006
Panelist, "Unconventional Wisdom on Products Liability Defense," Insurance Society of Philadelphia CLE Seminar, August 11, 2006
Seminar Presentation, "Establishing Lack of Causation," American Conference Institute's Annual Conference on "Preventing and Defending Chemical Products Liability Litigation," Chicago, November 2007
Seminar presentation, Mealey's Lexis/Nexis Conference "Defense Strategies in Pharmaceutical Litigation," on "New Age Handling of Mass Torts in the Electronic Era," Laguna Niguel, California, January 2006
National webcast on "Coast to Coast" about the Vioxx trials, November 2005. (Courtesy of Duane Morris LLP.) |
