The American Association for Justice is holding its winter convention in Maui at the end of January. The AAJ semi-annual gathering was in San Francisco last summer and attracted many national political figure amid the congressional debate on health care legislation, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. It's hard to imagine a similar roster of high-level political speakers for the winter confab: What elected official dares the elitist political imagery of hanging out in Maui?

We assume the Senate and House Democrats will be still working out a "compromise" version of the health care bill even as the trial lawyers meet in Hawaii. Expanding medical liability is definitely on the AAJ's agenda for the convention. (See the convention brochure and CLE listings.) The track we found interesting -- the pharmaceutical industry remains a target despite the congressional protection it negotiated? -- and amusing for its seminar-ese was the February 2nd session, "Pharmaceutical Litigation":

Allegories and Analogies of Corporate Greed (ethics credit)

* Ethically pointing out the corporation's lack of ethics

Homemade Technology: Doing It on the Cheap (ethics credit)

* The three Cs of visuals ethics (Copyright, ClipArt, and Cartoons)

Panel: Litigation Update

* Avandia * Byetta * Gardasil * Hydroxycut * Reglan and Fen-Phen * Yaz/Yasmin * Zicam