Robert B Leflar

Ben J. Altheimer Professor of Legal Advocacy, Professor, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

A.B., J.D., M.P.H.

Assistant for Prof. Leflar

Professor Rob Leflar's teaching and research focus on torts, health law, and related fields. He teaches first-year torts and upper-level courses and seminars in products liability, health law and policy, comparative law, and defamation and privacy. He writes on the topics of health law and comparative law, particularly regarding Japan.

A native of Fayetteville, Leflar earned his bachelor's, J.D., and master's in public health from Harvard University. Prior to teaching law, he clerked for Judge George Edwards on the U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, and was a staff attorney for Public Citizen Health Research Group in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the bars of Arkansas, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Supreme Court. A devoted baseball fan, he is active in various public interest organizations, such as the Arkansas chapter of the Sierra Club.

Professor Leflar has been awarded several fellowships for study in Japan, including a Fulbright grant, Japan Foundation fellowship, and grants from the Center for Global Partnership and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. His current research project compares medical quality control and injury compensation in Japan and the United States.

He has lectured, often in Japanese, at Tokyo University and other universities in Japan and at Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and several international conferences. He has published articles about Japan in American, Japanese, and European journals. His book (in Japanese) on the development of informed consent in Japanese medicine and law was published in 2002.

In Print

Book Chapters

• "Iryo jiko chosa to hoteki sekinin: Beikoku to Nihon no hikaku no shiten kara [Medical Accident Review and Legal Liability: A U.S.-Japan Comparative Perspective]," in IRYO ANZEN KOTO HAJIME [FOUNDATIONS OF HEALTH CARE SAFETY] 257-281 (Nakajima & Kodama eds. 2010).
• "Medical Error, Deception, Self-Critical Analysis, and Law's Impact: A Comparative Examination," in LAW IN JAPAN: A TURNING POINT 404-432 (Daniel H. Foote ed., 2008).
• "Law and Health Care in Japan: The Renaissance of Informed Consent," in TIMOTHY S. JOST, READINGS IN COMPARATIVE HEALTH LAW AND BIOETHICS 154-160 (2d ed. 2007).

Law Review & Peer Reviewed Articles

• "Human Flotsam, Legal Fallout: Japan's Tsunami and Nuclear Meltdown," 27 J. Environmental Law & Litigation ___ (forthcoming 2012) (with A. Hirata, M. Murayama & S. Ota).
• "The Law of Medical Misadventure in Japan," 87 Chicago-Kent L. Rev. 79-110 (2012).
• "Public and Private Justice: Redressing Health Care Harm in Japan," 4 Drexel L. Rev. 243-264 (2011).
• "'Unnatural Deaths,' Criminal Sanctions, and Medical Quality Improvement in Japan," 9 Yale J. Health Policy, Law & Ethics 1-51 (2009)
• "The Regulation of Medical Malpractice in Japan," 467 Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 443-449 (2009)
• "The Civil Justice Reform Act and the Empty Chair," 2003 Ark. Law Notes 67-77.
• "The Preemption Pentad: Federal Preemption of Products Liability Claims After Medtronic" [v. Lohr], 64 Tenn. L. Rev. 691-748 (1997) (with Robert S. Adler).
• "Informed Consent and Patients' Rights in Japan," 33 Houston L. Rev. 1-112 (1996).
• "Public Accountability and Medical Device Regulation,"" 2 Harvard J. L. & Technology 1-84 (1989).

Noteworthy Presentations, 2009-2012

• "Provider-Protective American Med Mal Rules: Comparing the U.S., Japan, and France," Health Law Professors Conference, Arizona St. U. School of Law, Tempe AZ, June 8, 2012.
• "Selected Features of the Law of Medical Misadventure: Japan, Taiwan, U.S. and France Compared," Law & Society Ass'n annual meeting, Honolulu, June 6, 2012.
• "Medical Misadventure Law: Japan, Comparatively," St. Louis U. School of Law, Feb. 29, 2012.
• "Legal and Institutional Responses to Manmade Public Health Disasters: Medical and Nuclear Accidents Compared," East Asian Law & Society Conference, Seoul, Korea, Oct. 1, 2011.
• Comment at Japan Medical Association Research Institute Symposium, Tokyo, on the significance of acquittals in criminal malpractice cases, July 24, 2011.
• "Reform of the American Health Care System (Part III)," Univ. of Tokyo Faculty of Law, Medicine & Law Research Group, July 19, 2011.
• "Error, Crime, Tort, Apology: Medical Malpractice Disputes in Japan," Conference on Medical Malpractice and Compensation in Global Perspective, Vienna, Austria, Dec. 3, 2010.
• "Medical Device Product Liability Litigation in the United States," Univ. of Tokyo Policy Alternatives Research Institute, July 22, 2010.
• "Reform of the American Health Care System (Part II)," Univ. of Tokyo Faculty of Law, Medicine & Law Research Group, July 15, 2010.
• "Health Care Reform in the United States: Medical Malpractice Proposals," National Taiwan University College of Law, Taipei, July 6, 2010.
• "'Unnatural Deaths' Inquest System, the 'Model Project,' and the Proposed National Peer Review System in Japan," National Taiwan University Medical Faculty, Dept. of Forensic Medicine, Taipei, July 7, 2010.
• "Ramseyer on Quality (and Litigation) in Japanese Health Care," Cohen Conference on Chinese History and Japanese Law, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., June 18, 2010.
• "Health Courts: Lessons from Japan? A Preliminary Assessment," Health Law Professors Conference, June 5, 2010, Austin, Texas.
• "Reform of the American Health Care System," Arkansas Bar Association, Hot Springs, June 12, 2009
• "The Story of Akika's Heart: System Error and Institutional Response through Exemplary Narrative," Health Law Professors Conference, Cleveland OH, June 6, 2009
• "Law and Patient Safety in the United States and Japan," Univ. of Arkansas School of Law Visiting Committee, March 6, 2009

Links

• Malpractice varies in Japan and U.S.
• Obstacles to Reducing Human Injury
• Medical News Today

In The News

• Health Reform: Arkansas Impacts Northwest Arkansas Times March 01, 2010