Litigation

In a slow week for it that was punctuated with its two stories about a "pillow fight" and the scandal concerning its staff reporter's credibility after discovering the "pin up" of the model's video on his personal blog, DealFlow Media has tried to spin the story about NSSTA's Executive director search and is sensationally claiming a role in the decision not to hire Diane Swenson.

It has been claimed that the NSSTA's trade association management firm, Smith Bucklin, made a premature announcement concerning the purported hiring of Diane Swenson. According to DealFlow Media,  "after reviewing the item that appeared on Deal Flow Media's The Structured Settlements Wire, association officials looked further into her background, which included years of advocacy for tort reform. Swenson was then pulled from the NSSTA position, they say according to the spokesperson". 

Upon learning that Swenson was to be hired from the January 31, 2008 premature news release and, after discovering material on the Internet concerning Ms. Swenson's tort reform activities, this author contacted and confronted two NSSTA board members, including President Henry L. Strong to discuss Ms. Swenson and to express his concerns about Ms. Swenson's background. In addition he made a very specific inquiry if the purported "decision to hire" Swenson was vetted. Mr. Strong related to his author that Smith Bucklin's announcement on a PR newswire had been premature and that the Board was discussing the concerns, which he indicated were also raised by others.  The DealFlow story appeared well after the PR newsire and after those converations. This author understands that other NSSTA members were outraged and expressed concerned upon learning of Ms. Swenson being associated with NSSTA.

The damage in the perception of NSSTA (and its members) with the trial lawyer community as a direct result of Smith Bucklin's actions with the premature news release on the one hand together with the time that elapsed before NSSTA's official announcement (that that she would not be hired) on the other hand, is yet to be known.

NSSTA is a diverse group comprised of individuals and companies with different business models, whose clients include ALL TYPES of participants in litigation. While it is no doubt a challenge, Boards of Directors of trade associations, like NSSTA, have the non delegable duty to make decisions that represent the best interests of ALL of their members. Members of trade associations, such as NSSTA, have a duty to stay on top of the issues, to speak up and very importantly, to hold the Board of Directors responsible for their decisions.

The search IS still underway for a new executive director of NSSTA.