(Sept. 24) – DLA Piper recently bolstered its Dallas litigation practice by adding healthcare and life sciences expert Daniel Tobey.
Tobey, who also has an M.D. from UT Southwestern, practiced law for the last decade at Vinson & Elkins. He says DLA Piper’s global platform is a “perfect fit” for his practice.
“My pharma, med-tech, and hospital clients have complex corporate, investigation, and litigation needs across multiple jurisdictions,” Tobey explains. “DLA Piper’s global bench means I can support their missions in virtually any region and subject matter area, from FDA and health regulatory advice to complex products liability and investigations matters.”
In the past year, Tobey has worked with the US Food and Drug Administration on a clinical trial design, defended a Medicare Administrative Contractor before the US Department of Health and Human Services and handled an M&A purchase price dispute for a life sciences company.
Tobey points out that the purchase price dispute was “fascinating for its complex issues of contract interpretation,” where the controversy turned on a two-word phrase.
Artificial intelligence and deep learning – which cut across regulatory, contract and common-law frameworks – are the most pressing issues for Tobey’s clients. He says the key is helping companies capture the value of these new technologies while managing the risk.
“Adopters want to know how you incorporate black box and continuously learning systems into existing workflows, focusing on safety, risk assessment, and getting the right mix of human judgment and machine learning,” he says. “And producers want to know how you make AI reliable, trustworthy, and explainable to users and align safety incentives.
“It is an exciting and rapidly-changing environment, and everyone wants to help patients and get this right.”
Tobey says his sciences background and medical degree help him build trust with good witnesses and see through bad ones. One of his favorite career moments involved building rapport with a retired Italian doctor, whose life’s work was being used against Tobey’s client.
“I knew his paper – written in Italian – was being mistranslated and misused, and he agreed,” he says. “His statement on our behalf was a game-changer, and I never would have gotten him on the phone if I weren’t a fellow doctor trying to get the science right for the benefit of patients.”
Outside of his law practice, Tobey serves on the boards of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, the Parkland Foundation, the SPCA of Texas and the AT&T Performing Arts Center.