Editorial Board Member: Seth L. Laver

• Pages: 6-7
• Date: 01 January 2025

6THE BRIEF❭ Winte r 2025

Proles

PUBLISHED IN

THE BRIEF,

VOLUME 54, NUMBER 2, WINTER 2025. © 2025 BY THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION. REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS INFORMATION OR ANY PORTION THEREOF MAY

NOT BE COPIED OR DISSEMINATED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS OR STORED IN AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE OR RETRIEVAL SYSTEM WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION.

PUBLISHED IN

THE BRIEF,

VOLUME 54, NUMBER 2, WINTER 2025. © 2025 BY THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION. REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS INFORMATION OR ANY PORTION THEREOF MAY

NOT BE COPIED OR DISSEMINATED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS OR STORED IN AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE OR RETRIEVAL SYSTEM WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION.

Editorial Board Member:

Deborah E. Greenspan

Editorial Board Member:

Seth L. Laver

Deborah E. Greenspan, a new member of The Brief

editorial board, grew up in Detroit, Michigan. She

received a bachelor of science from the University of

Michigan (biological science major, Phi Beta Kappa). After

debating whether to go on to a PhD program, she elected to

go to law school and received her JD from the University of

Michigan Law School, where she served on the law review

and was elected to the Order of the Coif. (Go Blue!)

After law school, Deborah clerked for United States District

Judge Horace Gilmore (Eastern District of Michigan) and

United States Circuit Judge Edward A. Tamm (D.C. Circuit).

She highly recommends the clerkship experience: “At the trial

court level, you see everything. There is never a dull moment,

and you can learn so much from the judges and from the law-

yers who appear every day in the court. At the appellate court

level, you have the opportunity to delve into legal intricacies

and policies and learn appellate advocacy and the art of devel-

oping persuasive, well-crafted arguments.”

After completing her clerkship on the D.C. Circuit,

Deborah remained in Washington, D.C., and started work as

an associate at Kaye Scholer (which subsequently merged with

Arnold & Porter). Deborah left Kaye Scholer with the man-

aging partner (Kenneth Feinberg) to form a small boutique

rm. At that rm, Deborah focused on mass torts, class actions,

and mass tort bankruptcy cases, with a focus on developing

creative resolutions. During her tenure at the Feinberg rm,

Deborah had the opportunity to serve as the deputy special

“By my late teens, I had blown out nearly 200

candles with the birthday wish that I’d play

professional baseball,” says Seth L. Laver, a new

member of The Brief editorial board. His career went in a dif-

ferent direction, however. Rather than the baseball diamond,

Seth has enjoyed over 20 years as a litigator representing pro-

fessionals in malpractice disputes. Yet he still relies on lessons

learned on the eld. He recounts that most kids probably

move on from a baseball fantasy much earlier, but he was

unwavering, at least initially.While Seth took a lot of swings

master of the September

11th Victim Compensation

Fund. Deborah later moved

to another D.C.-based litiga-

tion rm, where she was the

primary lawyer responsible

for litigating a very signicant

insurance coverage case

(involving $1.5 billion in

coverage) for a policyholder

client. Deborah joined her

current rm, Blank Rome,

in 2016.

At Blank Rome, Deborah has continued to focus her

practice on mass tort actions, both as a litigator and as a neutral.

Deborah has been appointed as a special master under Federal

Rule of Civil Procedure 53 multiple times, and she currently

serves as the special master in the Flint water cases in Michigan—

an appointment that is both rewarding and challenging. Deborah

joined the ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS)

several years ago and served as the chair of the TIPS Dispute

Resolution Committee for three years.

Deborah observes: “Insurance issues touch nearly every type

of case and transaction. Mass tort claims in particular—whether

arising from a disaster, allegedly faulty products, or negligence

(including abuse cases)—generate challenging insurance issues.

One need only look to the various mass tort bankruptcies to

appreciate the importance of insurance and the signicant legal

and practical issues that arise.”

Deborah is pleased to be part of the editorial board of The

Brief, and she looks forward to helping curate interesting

and valuable content for our readers. She may be reached at

deborah.greenspan@blankrome.com.Z

in Little League, and nearly

as many in high school, the

number had dwindled to

virtually none when he was

in college. Just like that, it was

time to make new birthday

wishes. Realizing he still

managed to nd his true

calling, Seth notes,“The ball

sure took a friendly hop.”

An active and aggressive

advocate on behalf of his

clients, Seth devotes his

practice almost entirely

to defending professionals, with an emphasis on legal and

accounting malpractice. He handles everything from nonparty