Professor Janssen joined the Law School faculty after a lengthy practice with the
mid-Atlantic AmLaw-200 law firm of Saul Ewing LLP. At his Firm, he was a litigation
partner, Chair of the Firm's interdisciplinary Life Sciences Practice Group, and a
member of the Firm's seven-member governing Executive Committee. He helped design
and launch the Firm’s "We're All In!" full-participation attorney pro bono
initiative. Professor Janssen concentrated his practice in pharmaceutical, medical
device, and mass torts defense, risk management, and counseling. Widely quoted on
pharmaceutical and medical device issues in legal journals, industry materials, and
newspapers, Professor Janssen was involved in several national drug and device cases,
including the diet drug ("fen-phen") and DES litigations. He is a member of the
Food & Drug Law Institute and the International Association of Defense Counsel. He
was selected as a “Key Author” by Thomson/West Publishing, named a Pennsylvania
"SuperLawyer" in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, and holds an "AV" rating
from Martindale-Hubbell.
Professor Janssen is an original and continuing co-author of three nationally-distributed
texts on federal practice and procedure published by Thomson/West. The first,
"Federal Civil Rules Handbook", was originally published in 1993 and is updated
annually (presently in its 20th Edition as of November 2012). The second, "A
Student's Guide to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure", is in its 16th
Edition, published Spring 2013 for law students. The author-written content from these
publications was reprinted to serve as Volume 12B of the national federal practice
treatise, "Federal Practice & Procedure", created by Professors Wright and
Miller. Most recently, he is the author of "Federal Civil Procedure Logic
Maps", a collection of full-color graphical descriptions of the leading concepts in
federal civil procedure, now in its 2d Edition (West 2012).
Professor Janssen received his law degree from The American University, Washington
College of Law. During law school, he was the executive editor of the American University
Law Review, a member of the Moot Court Board, the first-year Moot Court Competition
Champion, a "best-brief" author in interschool Moot Court competition, and a
Dean's Fellow. Professor Janssen received his bachelor's degree in
International Relations (major - highest honors) and History (minor) from Saint
Joseph's University in Philadelphia. Professor Janssen taught as an adjunct
instructor at Temple University School of Law for five academic terms, and as an adjunct
instructor in law at Saint Joseph's University. After law school, he served as a law
clerk to United States District Court Judge James McGirr Kelly (E.D. Pa.) and, later, to
United States Court of Appeals Judge Joseph F. Weis, Jr. (3d Cir.).
Professor Janssen teaches civil procedure, products liability litigation, and church /
state law.
Civil Procedure
The Odd State of Twiqbal Plausibility in Pleading Affirmative Defenses, Washington & Lee Law Review (2013)
After its opinion in Ashcroft v. Iqbal, the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that...
Federal Civil Rules Handbook (2012)
Now in its 19th Edition, the Federal Civil Rules Handbook dissects each of the Federal...
A Student's Guide to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (2012)
Gathering principal text from the practitioner's/judicial publication (Federal Civil Rules Handbook), the Student's Guide assembles...
Personal Jurisdiction after Goodyear and McIntyre, Food and Drug Law Institute Annual Meeting (2012)
Drug & Device Law
Personal Jurisdiction after Goodyear and McIntyre, Food and Drug Law Institute Annual Meeting (2012)
Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S.A. v. Brown (and J. McIntyre Machinery, Ltd. v. Nicastro), Top 20 Food and Drug Cases, 2011 & Cases to Watch, 2012 (2012)
This chapter discusses the U.S. Supreme Court's two personal jurisdiction decisions from June 2011, and...
Matrixx Initiatives v. Siracusano - The Supreme Court Tackles the Meaning of ADEs in Pharmaceutical Securities Litigation, Food and Drug Law Institute Annual Meeting (2011)
Iqbal Plausibility in Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Litigation, Louisiana Law Review (2011)
This Article studied the actual effect of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Ashcroft...
Law Teaching
Plotting A Teacher's Journey: From Courtrooms to Classrooms, Update (Food and Drug Law Institute) (2011)
This article discusses the path of shifting from a career in the active practice of...
Religion and the Law
Led Blindly: One Circuit's Struggle to Faithfully Apply the U.S. Supreme Court's Religious Symbols Constitutional Analysis, West Virginia Law Review (2013)
The United States Supreme Court is a teaching court. Its primary role, once explained Justice...