Attorneys

Margaret Moses Branch is married to Turner W. Branch, senior partner of the Branch Law Firm. Ms. Branch has two stepchildren, both attorneys, and nine nephews and nieces. She is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and International Women's Forum. She serves on the Board of Directors of the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association, and the Board of Directors of the Center for Civic Values (Interest on Legal Trust Accounts). She was Chair of the Association of Trial Lawyers Women's Law Caucus, and was founding President of the New Mexico Women's Bar Association. She is a frequent lecturer on Continuing Legal Education programs for attorneys. Ms. Branch currently serves as Vice Chair of the Association of Trial Lawyers of the America Tobacco Litigation Group.

In her practice, Margaret Moses Branch has been particularly interested in women's health issues. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Failure to Diagnose Breast Cancer ATLA Litigation Group. She was moderator for the National College of Advocacy, Medical-Legal Update Seminar, for the section entitled "Medicine and the Law: Special Issues Facing Women." Ms. Branch served as a moderator of the ATLA National College of Advocacy, "Litigating Women's Health Issues" in October 1992.

She has served as counsel in cases which involved failure to diagnose breast cancer, colon cancer, uterine cancer, pancreatitis, leukoplakia, peritonitis, appendicitis, compartment syndrome, aneurysms, pneumonia, meningitis, abruptio placenta, kernicterus and other illnesses and diseases. She has been involved in cases that addressed issues of surgical negligence, i.e., laminectomies, cholecystectomies, colonoscopies, hernia repairs and hip replacements. Additionally, she has been involved in cases that dealt with obstetrical issues, i.e., failure to perform timely Caesarean sections, inappropriate radiological procedures, unnecessary hysterectomies and incomplete abortions.

In July of 1992, Ms. Branch was appointed to the Plaintiffs' Multi-District Litigation Plaintiffs' Steering Committee which is responsible for representing all women nationwide who file breast implant cases in the federal court system. She also served as chair of the Mentor Committee which negotiated a 23b(1)(B) limited fund class settlement of *$25.8 million. Ms. Branch served on the five-member team that negotiated an opt-out Rule 23 class settlement in the amount of *$4.75 billion. In March of 1994, she was appointed settlement class counsel in the Breast Implant Global Settlement. Most recently, Ms. Branch was appointed to the Tort Claimants' Committee to protect the interests of Dow Corning claimants and assist in formulating a bankruptcy plan.

Ms. Branch has also been involved in toxic tort cases involving hydrogen sulfide, natural gas, hydrochloric acid and pesticides; and she is particularly interested in environmental issues and legal resolutions.

Ms. Branch was actively involved in the L-Tryptophan Multi-District Litigation. L-Tryptophan is an amino acid that was marketed as a therapeutic aid for insomnia, premenstrual syndrome and depression. It was a product (primarily used by women) which required no governmental safety testing until the product was associated with Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome, an autoimmune disease that causes scleroderma, pulmonary hypertension and brain lesions.

She has been actively involved in women's health issues, including defective pharmaceuticals and medical devices. She has written articles for the American Trial Lawyers Association, New Mexico Bar Association, New York Bar Journal, Texas Bar Association, New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association and Lawyers Education Institute.

*Past successes cannot be an assurance of future successes because each case must be decided on its own merits.