Lanier open's strong in Vioxx trials first week.

A nice summary of the action that occurred in the first week of the trial in today's NY Times.

I've had the chance to talk with a few trial lawyers who have personally been down in Texas to see a few days of the trial and their analysis is a little different then the Times reporter, who essentially feels that Merck with stood the first week pretty well, and that Attorney Lanier has taken a risk by not laying out his case in sequential order, but instead opting for a thematic approach to telling his story.  Having seen Attorney Lanier in action on other matters i'll trust his judgement on this one, as he is clearly one of the premier trial lawyers practicing in the US, and is almost with out parallel in reducing complex matters into understandable language that the typical jurist can understand.

This should be a crucial week at the plaintiffs medical expert, Dr. David Egilman, and his theory of causation. There is no question the biggest hurdle the plaintiffs need to jump here is the concept of clotting leading to arrhythmia, so this should be a pivotal week.