A former articles editor of the Texas Law Review, Professor Tom McGarity is a leading scholar in the fields of both torts and environmental law. His most recent book, "Bending Science: How Special Interests Corrupt Public Health Research" (co-authored with his University of Texas colleague Wendy Wagner), was published in May 2008 by Harvard University Press. The Yale University Press will be publishing his next book, "The Preemption War: When Federal Bureaucracies Trump Local Juries," in October 2008. He is the founding president and a board member of the Center for Progressive Reform.

Stephanie Mencimer covers domestic policy and legal affairs for Mother Jones magazine and is the author of "Blocking the Courthouse Door: How the Republican Party and Its Corporate Allies are Taking Away Your Right to Sue" (Free Press, 2006). A native of Ogden, UT, Mencimer was nominated for a National Magazine Award for public service reporting in 2004 for a Washington Monthly article on the myth of the medical malpractice litigation crisis.

Jeffrey Feldman is the author of two books on politics and language, ("Framing the Debate," 2007; "Outright Barbarous," 2008) and editor in chief of the influential political blog Frameshop (http://frameshopisopen.com). Dr. Feldman has a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology, which he applies broadly to the analysis of media, politics and communication. He has been a frequent guest on the Thom Hartmann Program, Action Point with Cynthia Black, The Peter B. Collins Show, The Current (CBC Radio) and CBC Newsworld. He lives and teaches in New York City.

Michael Chandler is a producer/director of non-fiction and fiction films. He's produced investigative programs for Frontline and his independent films have won numerous awards and enthusiastic reviews. "Knee Deep," his and Sheila Canavan's latest feature-length documentary, has been called "a rural Rashomon" and won four Best Documentary Awards, including the prestigious Maysles Brothers Award. It will air on Independent Lens in November. Bill Moyers said of "Forgotten Fires,: on the burning of black churches, "If we wanted a real dialog about race in America, we'd start with this film." Michael earned an Academy Award nomination for editing "Amadeus."

Sheila Canavan is a documentary film producer and private attorney. She represents primarily elderly, minority and single women victims of predatory mortgage lending, financial fraud and abuse. Canavan believes that it has become increasingly difficult for her clients to obtain justice through the courts and, for that reason, she and Mike Chandler are producing a feature documentary on the 40-year long corporate and right-wing tort reform movement's war on the civil justice system which has decimated the civil justice system and made it extremely difficult for the elderly, single female and minorities to have their day in court.

David Arkush is the Director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch division, which champions consumer interests in Congress and regulatory agencies and serves as a government and corporate watchdog. Public Citizen is a national leader in litigation and legislative advocacy on access to the courts. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Arkush has litigated consumer, civil rights, and administrative law cases and has taught appellate litigation at Georgetown University Law Center.