Aaron SiriGuest
Cedric YoungelmanHost
Um, I got a phone call [laughs] uh, from the, uh, doctor who was on the other side representing the mother who did-- wanted to continue not vaccinating a child in what was a custody, essentially a family law proceeding.

The mother wanted to continue what they had been doing, which is not vaccinating.

The father, uh, decided to change his mind, um, because his views changed, because he wanted the leverage, whatever.

Who knows? Um, th- so the, the, a doctor was, uh, brought in as an expert on behalf of the mother, and then, um, the other side brought in Dr.

Stanley Plotkin, who, you know, at the time, this case was getting national news attention, and, uh, uh, I guess there was a, a group out there, a big proponent of vaccines that thought, "Oh, this is an opportunity to educate the world about how amazing vaccines are." And who better to do that than the world's leading vaccinologist, Dr.

Um, and that's when Dr. Tony Bark called me and said, "Hey, um, you know, do you wanna depose Dr. Stanley Plotkin?" I had been doing some vaccine work up to that point, and so that's the genesis.
And I guess, um, did you ever think that this would become a primary focus of sort of your, and your career, uh, in terms of all the other kinds of class actions and lawsuits your firm handles?

I probably would've laughed and fallen out of my chair when I was, you know, in law school if, if you told me that, you know, while I was... [clears throat] When I was in Berkeley for law school, or when I clerked for a year after that, or when I was-- I, I clerked for the chief judge of the Supreme Court of Israel for a year after law school, and then, uh, uh, I would've laughed then.

I would've laughed during my first years working at Latham & Watkins, representing some of the biggest financial interests in the country.

I represented, for example, Goldman Sachs when I was there in, in a number of matters.

Um, uh, um, and, and so, uh, and other financial institutions and, you know, some of the, um, critical bet the company kind of litigation or, or, or otherwise critical, you know, litigations.

That's what I, uh, uh-- It's part of what my firm does, a big part of what my firm does.

But-- And, and, uh, we don't represent pharmaceutical companies, so as far as I know, we have the largest vaccine-related practice in the world that doesn't represent pharma companies.

Um, I got a phone call [laughs] uh, from the, uh, doctor who was on the other side representing the mother who did-- wanted to continue not vaccinating a child in what was a custody, essentially a family law proceeding.

The mother wanted to continue what they had been doing, which is not vaccinating.

The father, uh, decided to change his mind, um, because his views changed, because he wanted the leverage, whatever.

Who knows? Um, th- so the, the, a doctor was, uh, brought in as an expert on behalf of the mother, and then, um, the other side brought in Dr.

Stanley Plotkin, who, you know, at the time, this case was getting national news attention, and, uh, uh, I guess there was a, a group out there, a big proponent of vaccines that thought, "Oh, this is an opportunity to educate the world about how amazing vaccines are." And who better to do that than the world's leading vaccinologist, Dr.

Um, and that's when Dr. Tony Bark called me and said, "Hey, um, you know, do you wanna depose Dr. Stanley Plotkin?" I had been doing some vaccine work up to that point, and so that's the genesis.
And I guess, um, did you ever think that this would become a primary focus of sort of your, and your career, uh, in terms of all the other kinds of class actions and lawsuits your firm handles?

I probably would've laughed and fallen out of my chair when I was, you know, in law school if, if you told me that, you know, while I was... [clears throat] When I was in Berkeley for law school, or when I clerked for a year after that, or when I was-- I, I clerked for the chief judge of the Supreme Court of Israel for a year after law school, and then, uh, uh, I would've laughed then.

I would've laughed during my first years working at Latham & Watkins, representing some of the biggest financial interests in the country.

I represented, for example, Goldman Sachs when I was there in, in a number of matters.

Um, uh, um, and, and so, uh, and other financial institutions and, you know, some of the, um, critical bet the company kind of litigation or, or, or otherwise critical, you know, litigations.

That's what I, uh, uh-- It's part of what my firm does, a big part of what my firm does.

But-- And, and, uh, we don't represent pharmaceutical companies, so as far as I know, we have the largest vaccine-related practice in the world that doesn't represent pharma companies.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.