Profiles in Public Health Law: Interview with William “Bill” Marler

CDC Public Health Law News conducts an in-depth Q&A with Marler about his career trajectory and food safety philosophy. Asked about his route to foodborne illness litigation, Marler describes representing children in the 1993 Jack in the Box outbreak: "I set to work learning everything I could about E. coli and after a period knew more about the pathogen than some of the doctors treating my clients."Meeting Brianne Kiner in her hospital room proved transformative: "There is something very cruel about a child suffering so undeniably just because she ate a burger. It is because of faultless victims like Brianne and so many others since that I have not been able to see myself doing any other sort of litigation."Asked about changes over 20 years, Marler tells CDC: "Fifteen years ago, almost all the cases I had were E. coli linked to hamburger, and now I have maybe two or three. Ground beef has learned its lesson—but chicken is still, in many respects, unregulated." He credits USDA's decision to declare O157:H7 an adulterant as pivotal. In a lighter moment, he reveals that if not practicing law, "It's a toss-up between wanting to be President of Washington State University and a fly-fishing guide."