Profile: Jack B McCowan Jr

Product Liability

Biography: Product Liability

A litigation partner in the San Francisco office of Gordon & Rees, Jack McCowan specialises in product liability cases, including the defence of manufacturers of medical devices and pharmaceuticals. Mr McCowan has expertise in products such as oral and implantable contraceptives, analgesics, diet drugs, corticosteroids, decongestants, silicone gel breast implants, latex gloves, temporal mandibular joint implants, aortic aneurism grafts, and orthopaedic implants, he was the first chair of the firm's drug and medical device practice group. His trial practice also included the defence of a wide variety of other products not related to pharmaceuticals or medical devices, including automotive products, power tools and products used in a number of different industries, as well as complex business disputes, trade secrets, false advertising, antitrust claims and consumer legal remedies claims under Sections 17200 and 17500 of the California Business and Professions code.

With extensive experience in both state and federal courts, Mr McCowan has acted as regional coordinating and trial counsel for a leading manufacturer in the California coordinated breast implant litigation for which he has responsibility for over 3,500 cases. Mr McCowan has also served as trial counsel in California for a manufacturer of latex gloves and as trial counsel for a manufacturer of diet drugs in cases involving idiopathic primary arterial hypertension.

Mr McCowan has been a member of the executive committee of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC). He has participated in numerous trial practice continuing programmes. He was on the faculty of the IADC's nationally recognised Trial Academy in Boulder, Colorado. Mr McCowan was the programme chair of the Defense Research Institue Drug & Medical Steering Committee. He is also a member of the Drug & Medical Device Steering Committee, and is the vice chair of the committee. Mr McCowan has been a member of the Development Committee of the National Foundation of Judicial Excellence. From 1985 to 1987, he was on the board of directors of the Northern California Association of Defense Counsel. Mr McCowan is the chair of the firm's diversity committee.

Mr McCowan received his JD from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1974. He received a BA degree with high honours from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1970 and studied during his junior year at the University of Madrid.