Talk:W. Mark Lanier

WP:BLP

Even laudatory or neutral material must be removed if it's unsourced, per WP:BLP, so I did remove that material. The subject appears to be notable. Pinging Jytdog, Edwardx, and Eggishorn. Bearian (talk) 15:37, 7 August 2017 (UTC)

Help with Edits

Hello, Sxg169, Smartse, Classicwiki, and any other interested parties. My name is James, and Mark Lanier is a client of mine. I understand this presents a COI which is why I'm reaching out. I would like to help improve the article along the lines of the suggestions in the banner at the top of the page. I want to make sure I'm following Wikipedia's best practices, and would appreciate any help you can offer, including reviewing my suggested edits (pasted below). I've edited this page before under the username Jimmy Bing. However, that account is no longer being used in a professional capacity. Please pardon formatting and I hope to hear back from you soon. Thanks..WriteJames (talk) 22:24, 14 October 2019 (UTC)

Extended content

William Mark Lanier (born October 20, 1960[1]) is an American trial lawyer.[2] He lives in Houston, Texas, and is the founder and CEO of The Lanier Law Firm, which maintains offices in New York, Houston, Los Angeles, and Oklahoma City. Lanier also writes about the Bible and teaches Biblical classes at Champion Forest Baptist Church, online and in print. He is the author of Christianity on Trial (2014), Psalms for Living (2016), and Torah for Living (2018). EDUCATION - After graduating from Coronado High School in Lubbock, Texas, Lanier attended Texas Tech University and David Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1984, Lanier attended the Texas Tech University School of Law, where he completed his J.D. Lanier was selected as Texas Tech's distinguished alumnus for 2005. He currently serves on the law school’s Foundation Board and contributes to the school financially.[3] In 2008, Texas Tech opened the Mark and Becky Lanier Professional Development Center. LEGAL CAREER - Lanier began his legal career working in Houston for Fulbright & Jaworski (now Norton Rose Fulbright) in 1984, in the appellate and trial divisions.[1] In 1990, Lanier founded The Lanier Law Firm, which specializes in civil trial work, personal injuries, products liability, corporate disputes, and asset recovery.[4] Verdicts have included $253 million in the first Vioxx verdict in America (Ernst v. Merck),[10] $480 million in a business fraud case (Rubicon v. Amoco),[8] $4.69 billion in the first trial linking baby powder, asbestos, and ovarian cancer, and a $9 billion verdict in a trial against the diabetes drug Actos. Some of Lanier's trials have been carried on the Court-TV website and have been the subject of various articles and books. Lanier was the principal subject of All the Justice Money Can Buy, by ex-NPR reporter Snigdha Prakash, in which the author was embedded in the Lanier trial team for the Vioxx lawsuit against Merck & Co.[11] Beyond Bullet Points by Cliff Atkinson describes the approach used by Lanier in the Ernst trial.[12] Texas Justice: The Legacy of Historical Courthouses details Lanier's involvement in the Rubicon trial.[13] In 2004 Lanier founded the Christian Trial Lawyers Association.[14] Lanier was elected president of The National Trial Lawyers for 2018.[15] PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION - In a survey of legal peers and from independent research conducted by Thomson Reuters, Lanier was selected to the list of "Texas Super Lawyer" from 2003 to 2019, and a "Top 10 Texas Super Lawyer" from 2007 to 2019.[16] In 2015, Lanier was named the 2015 Trial Lawyer of the Year by The National Trial Lawyers and The Trial Lawyer magazine. The Best Lawyers in America recognized Lanier by naming him to their Best Lawyers guide from 2006 to 2020.[17] Texas Lawyer newspaper called Lanier one of the twenty-five greatest attorneys of the past twenty-five years.[18] Lanier was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Association for Justice (AAJ) at the organization's annual convention.[19] In 2017, Lanier was inducted into The Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame by National Trial Lawyers.[20] In 2019, Lawdragon recognized him as one of the 500 Leading Lawyers in America.[21] Also in 2019, Lanier appeared on the Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, receiving recognition as one of their "Leaders in Their Field" based on his work in product liability and mass tort cases.[22] JOHNSON & JOHNSON TALC LITIGATION - In 2018, Lanier led a trial team representing 22 women who had filed suit against Johnson & Johnson. The lawsuit alleged that the company's talcum powder products contained asbestos and that, after several years of use, had caused each of the women's ovarian cancer. The trial lasted six weeks and resulted in $550 million in compensatory damages and $4.14 billion in punitive damages being awarded to the plaintiffs.[31] The National Law Journal listed this as its Top Verdict of 2018. ARTIFICIAL HIP LITIGATION - Lanier has represented plaintiffs in several lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson and DePuy Synthes, which Johnson & Johnson acquired in 1998.[25] The lawsuits allege that DePuy marketed a faulty hip replacement system despite knowledge that the devices were defective and that the company failed to warn doctors and patients about the risks involved. This has led to several replacements being removed after failing prematurely.[26] In March 2016, five North Texas residents represented by Lanier were awarded $497.6 million for alleged complications arising from the hip implants.[27] In November, 2016, Lanier won a lawsuit in which Johnson & Johnson and DePuy were ordered to pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs affected by the implants.[28] In 2017, Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay $247 million in another suit in which six New York residents whose hips were replaced.[29] VIOXX LITIGATION - Lanier has represented plaintiffs in several lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson and DePuy Synthes, which Johnson & Johnson acquired in 1998.[25] The lawsuits allege that DePuy marketed a faulty hip replacement system despite knowledge that the devices were defective and that the company failed to warn doctors and patients about the risks involved. This has led to several replacements being removed after failing prematurely.[26] In March 2016, five North Texas residents represented by Lanier were awarded $497.6 million for alleged complications arising from the hip implants.[27] In November, 2016, Lanier won a lawsuit in which Johnson & Johnson and DePuy were ordered to pay more than $1 billion to six plaintiffs affected by the implants.[28] In 2017, Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay $247 million in another suit in which six New York residents whose hips were replaced.[29] PERSONAL LIFE - Lanier is married to Becky (Smith) and the two have five children.[4] Lanier has organized several events on behalf of Guatemala SANA, an organization which provides health and education services in Santa Maria de Jesus, a town near Antigua Guatemala. Performers featured at these events have included Faith Hill, Miley Cyrus, Bon Jovi, and others.[7] Lanier is the brother-in-law of former state representative and former congressional candidate, Kevin Roberts. Lanier contributed to an opposing super PAC which ran ads against Dan Crenshaw's candidacy for the nomination leading up to the Republican run-off election between Roberts and Crenshaw in the 2018 race to replace retiring Congressman Ted Poe.[6] Lanier appears as himself as a successful trial attorney in the 2011 film Puncture. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION - Lanier teaches regular classes on biblical literacy at Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. Lanier and his family built the Lanier Theological Library, one of the world's largest private religious studies libraries open for public usage. The library houses nearly 100,000 volumes in areas of Biblical Studies, Judaic Studies, Church History, Greek and Latin Classical Studies, Linguistics, and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, including the collections of a number of now deceased scholars.[32] The library has been featured on HGTV along with a replica 6th century chapel built onsite.[33] Lanier has published two books focused on integrating Christian faith into daily life, Christianity on Trial: A Lawyer Examines the Christian Faith (2014),[34] Psalms For Living (2016),[35] and Torah for Living (2018). In 2018, Psalms For Living won the Illumination Book Award in the Devotional category.[36]

@WriteJames: It's not clear what changes you are suggesting be made. Please follow the instructions at Template:Request_edit#How_to_use to request an edit i.e. write "change this to that per this source". SmartSE (talk) 23:41, 14 October 2019 (UTC)

Some proposed changes

Smartse, I've edited the page in Word to add some updated information, add clarity, and hopefully remove the promotional language. I'll place my changes below. Because some of these edits are smaller than others, it may be easier for me to edit a section and have you review for potential problems. I've placed the top half of my edits below. If this works for you, I'll add the rest. Thanks. WriteJames (talk) 15:37, 17 October 2019 (UTC)

Extended content

INTRODUCTION Information to be added or removed: 1) Add “is the founder and CEO of The Lanier Law Firm” 2) Add “and Oklahoma City” to offices. 3) Add “and Torah for Living (2018).” to list of authored books Explanation of issue: 1) Differentiate between Lanier and the Lanier Law Firm 2) Add unlisted office 3) Add additional book authored by Lanier. EDUCATION Information to be added or removed: Change last two sentences. “He currently serves on the law school’s Foundation Board and contributes to the school financially.[3] In 2008, Texas Tech opened the Mark and Becky Lanier Professional Development Center.” Explanation of issue: More accurate explanation of his current role. Additional information regarding his contribution to the school. References supporting change: https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/buildings/campus-architecture-database-markbecky-lanier-professional-development-center/20754 PERSONAL LIFE Information to be added or removed: 1) Move entire section down, just above Religious Education. 2) Delete second sentence of first paragraph (info moved to Education section). 3) Replace “funded” with “contributed” in sentence regarding Super PAC. 4) Add sentence, “Lanier appears as himself in the 2011 film Puncture” (moved from Legal Career. Explanation of issue: 1) Lanier is notable for his work as an attorney, so it makes sense to have that information come first in the article. 2) Info moved. 3) “Contributed” is more accurate, as “funded” makes it sound as if Lanier was the sole donor. 4) Film appearance wasn’t part of his practice. LEGAL CAREER Information to be added or removed: 1) Add “products liability” to practice areas in last sentence. 2) Replace second paragraph with the following text. “Verdicts have included $253 million in the first Vioxx verdict in America (Ernst v. Merck),[10] $480 million in a business fraud case (Rubicon v. Amoco),[8] $4.69 billion in the first trial linking baby powder, asbestos, and ovarian cancer, and a $9 billion verdict in a trial against the diabetes drug Actos. 3) Third paragraph, combine second and third sentences to, “Lanier was the principal subject of All the Justice Money Can Buy, by ex-NPR reporter Snigdha Prakash, in which the author was embedded in the Lanier trial team for the Vioxx lawsuit against Merck & Co.” 4) Remove fourth paragraph, place in Personal Life section. 5) Fifth paragraph, change last sentence to “Lanier was elected president of The National Trial Lawyers for 2018.”[15] Explanation of issue: 1) Provide fuller explanation of work the Lanier Law Firm does. 2) Give additional information on verdicts 3) Edited sentence for clarity 4) Move information to more appropriate section. 5) Update and give additional information. References supporting change: 2) Vioxx verdict: https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/19/business/jury-finds-merck-liable-in-vioxx-death-and-awards-253-million.html, Baby powder verdict: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/12/business/johnson-johnson-talcum-powder.html, Actos verdict: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/actos-verdict-9-billion-in-damages_n_5108656 VIOXX LAWSUIT Information to be added or removed: Replace “Lanier securing” in first sentence of second paragraph with “a jury awarding her” Explanation of issue: Remove promotional language ARTIFICIAL HIP LITIGATION Information to be added or removed: 1) Replace “taken on” with “represented plaintffs in” 2) Delete “being” from first sentence of second paragraph. 3) Replace “On November 29” with “In November” in second paragraph. 4) Delete sentence “On Thursday, November 16, Lanier won another suit.” 5) Replace “Here” with “In 2017” in next sentence. 6) Replace “to” with “in another suit in which” 7) Replace “removed” with “replaced” at end of sentence. 8) Delete “Industry analysts believe these lawsuits, of which more than 11,000 have been filed, will ultimately cost Johnson & Johnson billions of dollars.” Explanation of issue: 1) Less promotional. 2) Clarity. 3) More neutral language. 4) Less promotional. 5) Clarity due to previous edit. 6) Clarity. 7) Clarity. 8) Remove promotional language. RECOGNITION Information to be added or removed: 1) Delete first sentence of first paragraph. 2) Replace “published” with “and from independent research conducted” 3) Replace “Texas Monthly” with “Thomson Reuters” 4) Replace “as a” with “to the list of” 5) Update 2018 dates in first paragraph to 2019. 6) Change “U.S. News and World Report’s Best Lawyers” with “The Best Lawyers in America” 7) Replace “list” with “guide” and “2018” with “2020.” 8) Add newspaper after Texas Lawyer in next sentence. 9) Add “by National Trial Lawyers” after “Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame” 10) Remove “500” from after Lawdragon and place it before “Leading Lawyers in America” 11) Change name to “Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business” 12) Update 2018 dates in third paragraph to 2019. Explanation of issue: 1) Remove promotional language 2) Clarity 3) Thomas Reuters conducts the survey, not Texas Monthly. 4) Clearer language 5) Most recent information. 6) Accurate name 7) More accurate and current information 8) Accurate title. 9) Accurate name 10) Accurate name of publication and list 11) Accurate name 12) Updated information RELIGIOUS EDUCATION Information to be added or removed: Add Torah For Living (2018) to list of authored books in final paragraph. Explanation of issue: Update list of authored books.

WriteJames (talk) 17:45, 17 October 2019 (UTC)

Reply 17-OCT-2019

Below you will see where proposals from your request have been quoted with reviewer decisions and feedback inserted underneath, either accepting, declining or otherwise commenting upon your proposal(s). Please read the enclosed notes within the proposal review section below for information on each request.  Spintendo  21:47, 17 October 2019 (UTC)

Proposal review 17-OCT-2019

Is the founder and CEO of The Lanier Law Firm  Approved. and Oklahoma City  Declined. and Torah for Living (2018).  Partly-approved. He currently serves on the law school’s Foundation Board and contributes to the school financially. Clarification needed. In 2008, Texas Tech opened the Mark and Becky Lanier Professional Development Center.  Unable to implement. products liability Clarification needed. Verdicts have included $253 million in the first Vioxx verdict in America (Ernst v. Merck), $480 million in a business fraud case (Rubicon v. Amoco), $4.69 billion in the first trial linking baby powder, asbestos, and ovarian cancer, and a $9 billion verdict in a trial against the diabetes drug Actos. Lanier was the principal subject of All the Justice Money Can Buy, by ex-NPR reporter Snigdha Prakash, in which the author was embedded in the Lanier trial team for the Vioxx lawsuit against Merck & Co. Clarification needed. Remove fourth paragraph, place in Personal Life section. Clarification needed. Lanier was elected president of The National Trial Lawyers for 2018.  Approved. a jury awarding her; represented plaintffs  Approved. Delete "being" from first sentence of second paragraph; In November Clarification needed. Delete: On Thursday, November 16, Lanier won another suit.  Approved. Replace “Here” with “In 2017” in next sentence. 6) Replace “to” with “in another suit in which” 7) Replace “removed” with “replaced” at end of sentence. Clarification needed. Delete “Industry analysts believe these lawsuits, of which more than 11,000 have been filed, will ultimately cost Johnson & Johnson billions of dollars.”  Approved. Delete first sentence of first paragraph. Replace “published” with “and from independent research conducted” Clarification needed. Replace “Texas Monthly” with “Thomson Reuters” Clarification needed. Replace “as a” with “to the list of” Clarification needed. Change “U.S. News and World Report’s Best Lawyers” with “The Best Lawyers in America”. Replace “list” with “guide” and “2018” with “2020.” Add newspaper after Texas Lawyer in next sentence. 9) Add “by National Trial Lawyers” after “Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame”. Remove “500” from after Lawdragon and place it before “Leading Lawyers in America”. Change name to “Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business”. Update 2018 dates in third paragraph to 2019.  Unable to implement. Torah For Living (2018) to list of authored books in final paragraph.  Already done. ___________

Spintendo, thanks for your help! Will address your notes soon.WriteJames (talk) 21:33, 18 October 2019 (UTC)

COI

Looking through the article history this content has almost exclusively originated from COI editors at one time or another and there's no evidence of others looking for coverage. Sure we've deleted promotional crap, but as this shows that does not mean that the content meets WP:NPOV. Some of the coverage is less than complementary e.g.

• in relation to the hip case:The 5th Circuit panel – Judges Jerry Smith, Rhesa Barksdale and Stephen Higginson – reamed Lanier repeatedly and by name, accusing him of inflammatory tactics and outright deception. Lanier ran afoul of the Rules of Civil Procedure at least twice in his closing arguments, the 5th Circuit said. The appeals court said those violations, on their own, would have warranted a new trial. But that’s not all the famed trial lawyer did wrong, according to Judge Smith’s outrage-fueled opinion. Lanier told jurors several times that two key medical witnesses for his side were unpaid, drawing a contrast with DePuy’s expert witnesses. But Lanier’s witnesses, in fact, had either received or expected to receive compensation. Lanier had “manufactured” a “false” choice for jurors between his side’s unpaid experts and the other side’s hired guns, the 5th Circuit said.
• in relation to the talc case (note this is a rare exception where forbes.com/sites is reliable):One thing Lanier didn’t want the jury to see, J&J complains in its motion for retrial, was a sentence on his own law firm’s website stating asbestos-contaminated talc “is not used in modern consumer products.” The language disappeared midway through the trial, the company says, then in closing arguments Lanier told the jury he “looked at the web address” and it wasn’t there. All of the samples tested by the plaintiffs’ expert were supplied by law firms involved in the litigation, J&J says, and the only ones that the expert found contained asbestos fibers came from Lanier. Defense lawyers complained during trial that the plaintiff expert couldn’t identify his samples as having come from J&J and suggested they may have been tampered with.
• again about hips: This sort of behavior has gotten Lanier in trouble before. In April the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals threw out a $151 million verdict he won against DePuy Orthopaedics and Johnson & Johnson, saying Lanier misrepresented to the jury that his witnesses weren’t compensated and introduced “inflammatory character evidence,” such as unrelated allegations the defendants had bribed Saddam Hussein’s Iraq regime and engaged in racial discrimination. ^[ibid]

That's just from a few minutes of searching so I suspect there may be more. SmartSE (talk) 22:37, 24 October 2019 (UTC)

Dec. 2020 edit request

Spintendo, regarding an edit made to Mark's article on 12/18, in the Personal Life section. The edit lists Freddrick Lanier, a convicted sex offender, as one of Mark's children. This is false. If you follow the citation listed, you can see that Freddrick Lanier is 65 years old. Mark was born in 1960, making him five years younger than Freddrick. Can you have this edit removed? Thanks for your help.