Answer the record, not the author. An op-ed by an expert retained by the defendant is a public statement about the case that the defendant did not have to make itself, and that is its purpose. The response is not a counter op-ed from your own expert, which turns a case into a debate between hired columnists. It is the public record: the expert’s disclosure as a paid witness, if it is on the docket, the studies the op-ed left out, and the complaint’s account, placed with the reporters who cover the case rather than the opinion page.
An op-ed appears when the defendant wants a credentialed voice to say what its own statement cannot: that the science is unsettled, that the plaintiffs are mistaken, that the case is an overreach. It usually lands before a bellwether, a hearing on the experts, or a settlement conference. The byline matters less than the timing. Note the date, and ask what is on the calendar in the next three weeks.
If the author is a retained defense expert and that retention is in the public record, the record says so, and a reporter covering the case can be pointed to it without a word of characterization. If the op-ed makes a scientific claim, the answer is the underlying studies and filings, with the caveats intact: “associated with an increased risk of” does not become “causes” because a plain version is punchier, and the plaintiff side holds itself to the same standard it holds the defense to. If the op-ed misstates the complaint, the complaint is public, and the misstatement is a sentence a reporter can check.
Do not attack the author. Do not have your expert write a reply column; it reads as the same move from the other side and invites a third. Do not respond on the opinion page at all unless counsel has a specific reason to; the reporters who cover the case are the audience, not the readers of the op-ed. And nothing about what any witness will say at trial, which is where the trial publicity rule and the temptation meet.
Add it to the file on who is running the defense’s communications, because an op-ed placement is a move with a record behind it, and the firm that placed this one has usually placed others. Then brief the reporters on the case, on background if counsel prefers, with the record the column left out. Simplifying the science without distorting it → The defendant built a website about your case →
Text your case name and the defendant. Same day, you know what the defense is running. Free.
Text Karen — 415.359.4454 or call or email Karen