Press Release
Womble Carlyle’s John Parker Sweeney Elected DRI Second VP at Annual Meeting
November 1, 2011
Public Relations contacts: Bruce Buchanan (336) 728-7027
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Womble Carlyle attorney John Parker Sweeney has been elected Second Vice President of DRI -- The Voice of the Defense Bar.
Election results were announced at DRI’s 2011 Annual Meeting. Former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia served as keynote speakers for the event. A large team of Womble Carlyle attorneys and staff members participated in the recent DRI Annual Meeting, which was held Oct. 26-30 in Washington, D.C.
Sweeney’s more than 30 years of experience defending major Product Liability, Environmental and Toxic Tort cases allows him to tailor a litigation response to meet high stakes, “bet the company” risks. He regularly serves as national counsel, creating and supervising comprehensive defense strategies in Class Action and Mass Tort cases across the country, with particular experience in state and federal courts in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Sweeney’s DRI experience includes currently serving on the DRI National Board of Directors and as Chair of the DRI Climate Change Litigation Task Force. He also is Past Chair of the DRI Toxic Tort and Environmental law Committee and DRI Industry-Wide Litigation Committee.
Also at the 2011 DRI Annual Meeting, Womble Carlyle attorney Sky Woodward was appointed Chair of the 2012 DRI Annual Meeting, to be held in New Orleans. A prominent defense lawyer in the Baltimore-Washington area, Woodward is past president of Maryland Defense Counsel, Inc., the association of Maryland lawyers defending business in court.
Both Sweeney and Woodward practice in Womble Carlyle’s Washington and Baltimore offices, representing manufacturers, multi-family and other real estate concerns, and financial institutions.
DRI is the largest international membership organization of attorneys defending the interests of business and individuals in civil litigation. The goals of DRI include:
- Education: To teach and educate and to improve the skills of the defense law practitioner
- Justice: To strive for improvement in the civil justice system
- Balance: To be a counterpoint to the plaintiff's bar and seek balance in the justice system in the minds of potential jurors and on all fields where disputes are resolved
- Economics: To assist members in dealing with the economic realities of the defense law practice, including the competitive legal marketplace
- Professionalism and Service: To urge members to practice ethically and responsibly, keeping in mind the lawyer's responsibilities that go beyond the interest of the client to the good of American society as a whole.
Womble Carlyle sponsored the well-attended annual Diversity Reception at the DRI Annual Meeting. Womble Carlyle attendees included John Sweeney, Sky Woodward, Debbie Israel, Brad De Vore, Sam Outten, James Weatherholtz, Louis Rouleau, Alison Ashe-Card, Kelly Clay, and Kevin Mattingly. In addition, the firm hosted a reception for International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) members at the DRI Annual Meeting, attended by IADC members John Sweeney, Sky Woodward and Sam Outten, and other Womble Carlyle lawyers
About Womble Carlyle
Womble Carlyle is a full-service business law firm with a focus on innovative solutions to client needs. The firm supports the Association of Corporate Counsel in the ACC Value Challenge, which seeks to better align legal services with the needs of corporate clients.
The firm serves clients nationally and globally with more than 550 attorneys in thirteen offices: Atlanta; Charleston and Greenville, S.C.; Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, and Winston-Salem, N.C.; Silicon Valley, Calif., Washington, D.C.; Tysons Corner, Va.; Baltimore; and Wilmington, Del.
In the community, the firm is the first law firm to receive the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Corporate Leadership Award as well as the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Freedom Award.