KENNETH ROSS

Of Counsel

Kenneth Ross is Of Counsel to Bowman and Brooke LLP. He practices in the areas of product safety, preventive law, general corporate counseling, corporate and regulatory compliance, business ethics, ADR and litigation. He advises U.S. and foreign manufacturers, product sellers, insurance brokers and insurance companies on ways to minimize the risk of all kinds of liability, especially product liability and contractual liability.

Mr. Ross' entire 26-year career has been devoted primarily to product liability, preventive law, and related areas. Previously, he was Assistant General Counsel for Emerson Electric Co., where he was in charge of product liability and environmental matters, and counsel at Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Pittsburgh.

Mr. Ross is a frequent writer and lecturer on product liability, product safety, contracts, risk management, and ethics and compliance. He has lectured for over 23 years to lawyers, engineers and business people in the U.S., England and Japan. In addition, he is a member of the American Law Institute and was active in the development of the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability.

Mr. Ross is an adjunct professor of law and recently served as Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at William Mitchell College of Law. He teaches product liability and business ethics at William Mitchell. He has also taught business ethics at the University of St. Thomas’ Management Center and co-chaired a Business Ethics Network for the Center for Ethical Business Cultures, which is affiliated with the University of St. Thomas.

Representative services to manufacturers and sellers of products such as electrical equipment, printing presses, farm equipment, medical devices and diagnostic equipment, gas and heating equipment, construction equipment, industrial equipment, sporting goods,

juvenile products, power tools, chemicals, all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles and consumer products include:

· Safety Management - policies, procedures, personnel, safety committees.

· Safety Communications - safety labels, instructions, ads, catalogs, safety videos.

· Design and Manufacture - hazard analysis, design decisions, documentation.

· Post-Sale - management systems, recalls, retrofits, safety improvements, government reports.

· Document Management - policies and procedures, implementation, education.

· Contracts - purchase and sales terms and conditions, contracting procedures, risk spreading techniques, dealer agreements.

· Regulatory Compliance – dealings with various agencies such as U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Food & Drug Administration.

· Legal Audits - pre-sale and post-sale legal audits, internal investigations, claims and litigation audits.

· Legal Risk Assessments and Risk Management - for manufacturers or insurance companies.

· Ethics and Compliance – codes of conduct, ethics and compliance policies and procedures, training, risk assessment.

· ADR, Claims and Litigation Management - policies and procedures, staffing, strategic planning, training.

· Seminars and Training – presented to manufacturers, product sellers, insurance companies, trade associations and insurance brokers on all above issues.

Representative services to the insurance industry include performing legal loss control audits for risk retention groups and insurance companies, giving seminars to and writing newsletters for underwriters and loss control personnel of insurance companies, giving seminars to and writing newsletters for policyholders of insurance companies, providing legal advice to policyholders at the request of insurance companies, and giving seminars, writing newsletters and providing legal advice to clients of insurance brokers.

Mr. Ross has written extensively in this area and had his articles published in legal and business publications in the U.S. and in foreign countries. The following is a list of recent selected articles:

· “Standards Ready for Safety Labels,” Product Liability Law and Strategy, September 1991

· “American Warning Label Standard is Finally Approved,” Product Liability International, October 1991

· “In Multilingual Markets, What is Adequate Warning?,” Product Liability Law and Strategy, June 1992

· “New MSDS Obligations Created by Proposed ANSI Standard,” Product Liability Law and Strategy, June 1992

· “Meeting the Duty to Warn for Hazardous Chemicals,” Product Liability International, April 1993

· “ALI Tinkering with Basic Product Liability Law,” Product Liability Law and Strategy, May 1993

· “U.S. Product Liability Law Undergoing Revision,” (with Hildy Bowbeer) BNA Product Safety & Liability Reporter, April 29, 1994

· “U.S. Product Liability Law Undergoing Revision,” (with Hildy Bowbeer) PL Worldwide (published in Japanese), 1994

· “Medical Device Labeling: A Comprehensive Approach,” Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry, January 1994

· “Medical Device Labeling: Evaluating the Adequacy of Warnings and Instructions,” Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry, May 1994

· “The Duty to Warn Illiterate and Non-English Reading Product Users,” Preventive Law Reporter, Fall 1994

· “Warnings are a Must,” Appliance Manufacturer, April 1995

· “The Duty to Warn Illiterate and Non-English-Reading Product Users,” BNA Product Safety & Liability Reporter, October 13, 1995

· “Post-Sale Duty to Warn: A Guide for Manufacturers,” BNA Product Safety and Liability Reporter, February 2, 1996

· “International Products Liability Law and Standards,” Managing for Products Liability Avoidance, CCH (1996)

· “American safety label standard gains acceptance worldwide,” International Journal for Consumer Safety, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 175-180, 1996

· “U.S. Product Liability Law Undergoing Revision,” (with Hildy Bowbeer) Australian Product Liability Reporter, June 1998

· “Documenting a Manufacturer’s Design Process,” Australian Product Liability Reporter, April/May 1998

· “Why Manufacturers Need to Document Their Design Processes,” Product Liability Law and Strategy, July 1998

· “Legally Adequate Warning Labels: A Conundrum for Every Manufacturer,” For the Defense, Defense Research Institute, Inc., October 1998

· “Post-Sale Duty to Warn: A Critical Cause of Action,” Northern Kentucky Law Review, Vol. 26:3, pp 574-595, July 1999)

· “The Importance of a Proactive Document Management System,” For the Defense, Defense Research Institute, Inc., October 1999

· “A Good Accident Reporting System Can Help In Defending Product Liability Cases,” Product Liability Law and Strategy, January 2000

· “Ethical Carrots and Ethical Sticks,” (with David A. Rodbourne and Lisa Dercks), Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 30, 2000