Principal John Guttmann (Washington, DC) was elected to a three-year term as National Director on the Board of Directors of the Defense Research Institute (DRI) - Voice of the Defense Bar. Elections were conducted at the 2018 DRI Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA, on October 20, 2018.

For more than 50 years, DRI has been the international membership organization of all lawyers involved in the defense of civil litigation. It has more than 20,000 members and is host to 29 substantive committees whose focus is to develop an ongoing and critical dialogue about areas of practice. John has a longstanding history with DRI and was named Chairman of their Toxic Torts and Environmental Law Committee in 2016.

"Given the ever-increasing stakes in litigation, DRI serves as a key resource for our clients and our firm. DRI’s work on policy and justice issues, its educational offerings, and its role as a forum for interacting with peers who face similar concerns are of value for all inside and outside counsel," John stated. "I am honored to serve as a National Director of this amazing organization."

Megan Brillault, co-chair of the firm's Litigation practice group, added, “John has dedicated significant time and energies on behalf of the firm and its clients in DRI over the past several years. We all benefit from his leadership and investment in making DRI a resource for the defense bar, and we congratulate him on his selection to this new leadership role.”

At Beveridge & Diamond John represents companies in complex, high-stakes toxic tort, product liability, and environmental litigation.