Elizabeth Warren and the 'little guy'
Over at Legal Insurrection Professor Jacobson looks Elizabeth Warren's role in the Dow Corning bankruptcy. At the time Dow was facing thousands of lawsuits over complaints about a range of medical problems stemming from their business of manufacturing silicone breast implants. By declaring Dow Corning bankrupt the parent company halted all new lawsuits and placed the final say on settlement of existing litigation against Dow Corning in the hands of the bankruptcy court. It is certainly arguable that many of these claims were questionable. It is also risible if one of the architects of the way to legally avoid paying these claims now champions her status both as a consumer advocate and a leading defender in the so-called war against women.
Here is what Jacobson writes.
While Warren refuses to disclose what she did for Dow Chemical, it is pretty easy to surmise. Warren offered legal advice to the parent company of a company in or about to go into bankruptcy. That advice almost certainly concerned how to protect the parent company, Dow Chemical, from claims of women against Dow Corning. If Dow Corning did not have the assets to pay these women, Elizabeth Warren likely was helping make sure the women could not claim against the deep pocket, Dow Chemical.
There is nothing wrong with Elizabeth Warren representing a large chemical company to insulate it from the health claims of women. It's what lawyers do, and it was legal for a lawyer who held the necessary licenses.
What is wrong is for Elizabeth Warren to play the "War on Women" card and to pretend she is something she is not.