Product Liability
Original Program Date :
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program chair: |
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Franklin P. Brannen, Jr., Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, Atlanta, GA |
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8:30 |
Greeting |
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Julia D. Neighbors, ICLE Director, State Bar of Georgia, Atlanta, GA |
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8:35 |
Welcome and Program Overview |
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Franklin P. Brannen, Jr. |
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8:45 |
USE OF EXPERT TESTIMONY IN PRODUCT LIABILITY CASES |
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Cameron Mobley, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, Atlanta, GA |
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9:30 |
APPORTIONMENT OF FAULT IN PRODUCT LIABILITY CASES |
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Harold E. Franklin, Jr., King & Spalding LLP, Atlanta, GA |
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Katelyn Evaline Marshall, King & Spalding LLP, Atlanta, GA |
10:20 |
Break |
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10:30 |
THE FUTURE OF AUTO PRODUCTS LIABILITY FROM PLAINTIFF'S PERSPECTIVE- WE AREN'T SHADE TREE MECHANICS ANYMORE |
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Alyssa Baskam, Beasley Allen Law Firm, Atlanta, GA |
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11:20 |
OSHA INVESTIGATIONS IN PRODUCT LIABILITY CASES |
Yvonne S. Godfrey, Harris Lowry Manton LLP, Atlanta, GA | |
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12:10 |
BREAK |
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12:55 |
Professionalism in Product liability lawsuits (Professionalism and trial practice credit) |
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Franklin Brannen, Jr. |
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1:55 |
PRODUCT SELLERS V. MANUFACTURERS UNDER GEORGIA PRODUCT LIABILITY LAW |
Sean P. Robinson, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, Atlanta , GA |
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2:40 |
BREAK |
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2:55 |
ETHICS UPDATE 2023 (Ethics Credit) |
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Paula J. Frederick, State Bar of Georgia, Atlanta, GA |
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3:55 |
Adjourn |
Yvonne Godfrey is a partner at Harris Lowry Manton LLP. She joined the firm in May 2013, after working for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit as a staff attorney. She practices in the areas of product liability, catastrophic injury, medical malpractice, business litigation, and whistleblower litigation and excels at trial work.
Yvonne was honored as an On the Rise attorney by the Daily Report at the 2020 Georgia Legal Awards, has been recognized by Georgia Super Lawyers every year since 2019, and earned a GenerationNEXT Award in 2018. She serves as the host of the Great Trials Podcast, which features in-depth weekly interviews with America's top trial lawyers.
Active in the legal community, Yvonne has served on the Executive Committee of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association (GTLA) since 2015 and currently serves on the Verdict editorial board as well as the Young Alumni/Alumnae Committee for the University of Georgia School of Law. She previously served as Co-Chair of the GTLA LEAD Program -- which identifies and trains young, promising trial lawyers for future leadership roles in GTLA and their communities -- and was a member of the 2014-2015 GTLA LEAD class.
Yvonne graduated cum laude from the University of Georgia School of Law, where she served as notes editor on the Georgia Law Review and as research assistant to Dean Peter B. Rutledge. Actively involved in UGA’s nationally recognized moot court program, Yvonne placed first in the Georgia Intrastate Moot Court Competition and received the award for best brief.
Prior to attending law school, Yvonne graduated cum laude from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, where she received a B.A. in English literature.
Paula Frederick retired from her role as General Counsel of the State Bar of Georgia in January 2025. She served in the Office of the General Counsel for a total of 36 years, rising through the ranks as an Assistant General Counsel handling lawyer disciplinary cases, as Deputy General Counsel with management and supervisory responsibility, and, beginning in 2009, as General Counsel for the organization. The State Bar of Georgia is a unified bar organization with over 55,000 members. As General Counsel Ms. Frederick led an 11-lawyer office responsible for interpreting the ethics rules for lawyers, prosecuting lawyer discipline cases, and providing legal advice to the officers and directors of the Bar. She authored over 100 ethics articles for the Georgia Bar Journal and has presented hundreds of continuing legal education programs on issues of lawyer ethics and professionalism.
A native of Riverside, California, Ms. Frederick attended Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in May 1979. She is a 1982 graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law, where she served as Associate Articles Editor for the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. Prior to her work at the State Bar of Georgia, Ms. Frederick spent six years as a lawyer with the Atlanta Legal Aid Society handling civil legal matters for low-income people.
Ms. Frederick was the first African American president of the Atlanta Bar Association, which reached 6,000 members during her presidency and is the largest voluntary bar association in the southeast. Her focus as president was on pro bono projects and programs to benefit the Atlanta community. She was president of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys in 1998 and is also an active member of the Gate City Bar Association.
Ms. Frederick is actively involved with the American Bar Association, where she chairs the Coordinating Council of the Center for Professional Responsibility. She has an extensive history of service within the ABA, and in the past chaired the Standing Committee on Professional Regulation, the Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, and the ABA Diversity Center. She currently serves as co-chair of the Decennial Review Commission and is Secretary of the Government/Public Sector Lawyers Division. She has been a delegate in the ABA House of Delegates for more than 25 years.
In Atlanta, Ms. Frederick sits on the Board of Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice. In the past she has served on the Boards of the Atlanta Bar Foundation, the Grant Park Conservancy, Vox Teen Communications, the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, the Georgia Legal Services Foundation, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia. She served on the City of Atlanta Board of Ethics from 1997 through 1999.
Ms. Frederick is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell®. Upon her retirement the Supreme Court of Georgia presented her with its Amicus Curiae award in recognition of her service “as a guiding hand in upholding the integrity of the practice of law in Georgia.” In 2025 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the State Bar of Georgia Young Lawyers Division. In 2014 the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys awarded her the Leah Ward Sears Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession. She was a 2004 inductee into the Gate City Bar Association Hall of Fame, and a recipient of the Charles Watkins Award for distinguished and sustained service to the Atlanta Bar Association. She was the 2002 recipient of the Kessler Award from the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers. In 2001 she was honored with a leadership award from the Emory Law School Public Interest Committee and a community service award from the Black American Law Students Association at the Georgia State University School of Law. In 1995 she was State Bar of Georgia Employee of the Year.
Alyssa Baskam is a trial attorney and principal in Beasley Allen’s Atlanta office. She represents individuals injured and families whose loved ones were killed by no fault of their own. Alyssa has helped hold numerous automakers responsible for the negligent or wanton design of their vehicles, including by securing over $345 million in verdicts and settlements. In her career, Alyssa also has represented individuals who were victims of nursing home or other inpatient facility abuse or neglect, and victims of rape and sexual assault.
Alyssa has been named to the Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” (Georgia) list annually since 2019. She was selected to the Best Lawyers in America for 2022. Alyssa was also selected to the Best Lawyers 2022 Women in the Law list for her accomplishments in Personal Injury Litigation and Product Liability Litigation.
Alyssa is a member of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association (GTLA) where she serves as an Executive Committee member and Co-Chair of the Community Outreach Committee. She is also a member of the GTLA Women’s Caucus, an alumna of GTLA’s LEAD program, and a regular contributor to GTLA’s “The Verdict” publication.
Alyssa grew up in Cumming, Georgia, where she attended South Forsyth High School. Alyssa attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill for her undergraduate degree, and Emory University for law school. She graduated from both with honors. She is licensed to practice law in Georgia and South Carolina, as well as the U.S. District Court for the Middle and Northern Districts of Georgia. Alyssa now lives in Atlanta, where she enjoys playing tennis, cooking, and painting. She is also an avid hiker and conservationist volunteer. In her spare time, she enjoys volunteering with local Atlanta organizations such as the Atlanta Community Food Bank and Covenant House.