PDI PRESIDENT LOU LONG INTERVIEWED BY THE LEGAL INTELLIGENCER

The August 17, 2016 edition of The Legal Intelligencer included an article written by Max Mitchell in which he interviewed PDI President Louis C. Long.  In the article, Mr. Long told The Legal Intelligencer that he has a number of goals that he wants to accomplish during his administration of PDI. Mr. Long indicated that the goals for the year include “to grow and diversify the membership of the organization, to develop the next generation of leaders in the defense bar, strengthen PDI’s relationship with the insurance industry and other defense organizations, revitalize the committee structure within the organization, maximize the use of technology and evolve to a better business model.”  In discussing the early initiatives, Mr. Long stressed the importance of the committees and identified the recent developments on which the Products Liability Committee has been focused.  He gave praise to the committee for its work on the Amicus Brief in the Tincher v. Omega Flex case and its ongoing activity in developing appropriate jury instructions to assure the pronouncements in Tincher are followed in future trials.  He further indicated that other committees such as the Workers’ Compensation Committee are strong and it is the goal to develop a structure in which other committees will become more active and that the Committees will become a “clearinghouse for ideas and approaches for handling legal issues and developing strategies.”   Finally, Mr. Long commented on the development of better associations with the insurance industry and other organizations related to the industry.  He commented on the recent roundtable discussion between industry personnel, attorneys, and leaders of PDI and Pennsylvania Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (PAMIC) at which the attendees addressed, discussed and shared information related to issues of common importance.