Blank Rome partners Shannon E. McClure and Deborah Greenspan will serve as panelists at the Rabiej Litigation Law Center’s Mass-Tort MDL Bench-Bar leadership Summit 2026, being held Thursday, July 16, 2026, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in Chicago, Illinois.

About the Program

Ten to 15 federal judges will join 20 to 25 practicing lawyers and other experts on five panels and consider recommending guidance addressing identified issues related to mass-tort multidistrict litigations (“MDLs”).

About Shannon and Deborah’s Sessions

Major Barriers to AI in E-Discovery—Lessons from TAR Experience
10:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Panelists:

  • Moderator: Professor Adam Hoeflich, Northwestern University School of Law
  • Erica Zolner, Redgrave LLP
  • Bill Belt, CDS, Complete Discovery Source
  • Michael Zogby – Barnes & Thornburg LLP
  • Shannon McClure, Blank Rome LLP
  • William Monahan – Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
  • Rebecca Weinstein Bacon, Bartlit Beck LLP
  • Jacksy Bilsborrow, Weitz & Luxenberg PC
  • Hon. Iain Johnston, Northern District of Illinois
  • Hon. Hope Cannon – Northern District of Florida

“Docket Control” Order
2:00–3:45 p.m.

“Docket control” order issued after several years into the mass-tort MDL, which imposes deadlines to submit, after reasonable notice, medical records and documentation of injury; failure to submit records subject to automatic dismissal with prejudice without show-cause hearing.

Panelists:

  • Moderator: Professor Adam Hoeflich, Northwestern University School of Law
  • Alex Parkinson, Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, PLLC
  • Jennifer Greenblatt, Goldman Ismail Tomaselli Brennan & Baum LLP
  • Khaldoun Baghdadi, Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger
  • Peter Rotolo, Chaffe McCall LLP
  • Steve Huffaker, DLA Piper
  • Alyson Jones, Butler Snow LLP
  •  Ashlie Sletvold, Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise
  • Deborah Greenspan, Blank Rome LLP
  • Hon. Darrin Gayles, Southern District of Florida

Other sessions include:

  • Single Consolidated Pleadings; Setting and Holding Pilot (Test) Trials Early in the MDL
  • Judge Panel: Which Procedure That You Adopted in a Mass-Tort MDL Would You Have Changed in Hindsight?
  • Default 10% Common-Benefit Assessment and Allocation of More Money to More Individual Law Firms for Common-Benefit Work in Mass-Tort MDL

For more information, please visit the event webpage.