Fidelma Fitzpatrick represents people and communities in toxic tort and environmental matters, including property damage and personal injury claims. Her experience with complex civil litigation has led her to represent other victims of corporate malfeasance, including thousands of women who suffered health problems after receiving medical devices such as Essure®, pelvic mesh/sling products and IUDs, as well as people harmed by consumer products such as chemical hair straighteners.
In addition to her toxic tort and medical casework, Fidelma also represents states, cities, counties and townships in litigation against opioid manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies in their claims the companies engaged in deceptive marketing and over-distribution of highly addictive opioids, creating and fueling the deadly opioid crisis.
In 2023, Honorable Mary Rowland appointed Fidelma as co-lead counsel for MDL 3060 In re: Hair Relaxer Marketing Sales Practices And Products Liability Litigation in the Northern District of Illinois. Plaintiffs in the MDL developed uterine cancer and other illnesses after using certain chemical hair relaxers. They assert defendant manufacturers failed to adequately test the products and warn customers about potential harms. Fidelma is also lead counsel of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee for the coordinated Essure® litigation in California against Bayer Corp., and she serves on the PEC for Paragard® IUD multidistrict litigation filed in the Northern District of Georgia for women who suffered severe effects linked to the birth control devices. She also serves as co-lead counsel of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee for a Philadelphia mass tort filed for farmers, railroad workers and others who developed Parkinson’s Disease after using Paraquat weed killer.
In 2012, Fidelma was appointed co-lead counsel of the pelvic mesh MDL In re American Medical Systems, Inc., Pelvic Repair Systems Products Liability Litigation in the Southern District of West Virginia. She also holds leadership roles in pelvic mesh state court litigations, including serving as liaison counsel in the American Medical Systems cases consolidated in Delaware and the Boston Scientific cases consolidated in Massachusetts. She continues to represent women who experienced complications after receiving pelvic mesh/sling products. Filed cases are against defendants including Boston Scientific, C.R. Bard, Inc., and Ethicon.
In addition to her leadership appointments in various mass tort actions, Fidelma regularly serves as trial counsel in varied product liability and medical device cases on behalf of Plaintiffs. She was co-lead trial counsel in the lead paint pigment case, The People of California v. Atlantic Richfield Company et al., in which Motley Rice represented 10 California cities and counties against national lead paint pigment manufacturers. In January 2014, the court ruled Sherwin-Williams Company, NL Industries, Inc., and ConAgra Grocery Products Company created a public nuisance by actively promoting lead for use in homes despite knowing that it was highly toxic. The parties subsequently reached a $305 million settlement that established an abatement fund to remove toxic lead paint from homes and protect the health and safety of thousands of California children.
Fidelma also held a central role in the state of Rhode Island's trial against former corporate manufacturers of lead paint pigment. She continues to litigate cases seeking to hold the lead paint pigment industry accountable for the childhood lead poisoning crisis and provide restitution and compensation to affected children and families. As a result of her work for lead poisoning victims, the Wisconsin State Supreme Court became the first to recognize the legal rights of poisoned children to sue lead paint pigment manufacturers.
Fidelma began working with Motley Rice attorneys in 1997 on the Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island lawsuits against the tobacco industry. She serves on the Board of Regents at Canisius College and frequently speaks on environmental and mass tort topics at conferences for federal and state court judges, attorneys, academic professionals and law students.
Please remember that every case is different. Although it endorses this lawyer, The Legal 500 United States is not a Motley Rice client. Any result we achieve for one client in one matter does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.
William Hamilton is an electronic discovery expert. Prior to joining the faculty, he served as the electronic discovery partner for his national law firm. Professor Hamilton has taught electronic discovery at the University of Florida for the past decade and is the co-author of the LexisNexis Practice Guide Florida e-Discovery and Evidence and A Student Electronic Discovery Primer: An Essential Companion for Civil Procedure Courses. Professor Hamilton currently teaches, among other courses, E-Discovery and Evidence, Complex Civil Litigation, and Professional Responsibility, which are relevant in today’s contemporary crisis created by voluminous data collection, privacy failures, and artificial generative intelligence.
He is also a neutral arbitrator and mediator for the World Intellectual Property Organization and the author of over a hundred domain name dispute decisions. Professor Hamilton has been recognized in Chambers USA, Florida Legal Elite, Best Lawyers in America, and Florida Super Lawyers.
A founding partner of Seeger Weiss, Christopher A. Seeger is widely recognized as a highly innovative and accomplished plaintiff attorney. Chiefly known for multidistrict mass torts and class actions involving drug injury, toxic injury, and personal injury, Chris’ versatile practice also includes product liability, property damage, antitrust, and third-party payer litigation, as well as consumer, insurance, and securities fraud. Chris has led some of the most complex, groundbreaking, and high-profile litigations in the U.S. at the state and federal levels. He has received more multidistrict litigation (MDL) appointments than any other lawyer between 2016 and 2019, according to a 2020 ALM study.
Chris served as co-lead counsel in the 3M Combat Arms Earplug Litigation, having been chosen by Judge M. Casey Rodgers from a pool of nearly 200 other applicants to represent more than 250,000 service members and veterans who suffered hearing injuries while using 3M earplugs. After more than four years of litigation, Chris secured a landmark settlement worth over $6 billion in August 2023, successfully resolving the largest mass tort in American history.
Appointed by Judge Joy Flowers Conti to lead the Philips Recalled CPAP, Bi-Level Pap, and Mechanical Ventilator Litigation, Chris represented patients impacted by the company’s recall of more than 10.8 million devices. He was the lead negotiator for an uncapped class action settlement worth a minimum of $479 million that was announced in September 2023, resolving economic loss claims of users and payers impacted by the recall. After receiving final approval for the economic loss settlement, Chris negotiated additional agreements in April 2024 to resolve plaintiffs' personal injury claims for $1.075 billion and medical monitoring claims for $25 million, providing compensation to patients who suffered significant physical injuries caused by the recalled machines.
In the National Prescription Opiate litigation, Chris was appointed to the Executive and Settlement Committees by Judge Dan A. Polster. In 2022, he played an instrumental role in securing settlements worth more than $15 billion with Walgreens, Walmart, CVS, and Kroger. Also, in 2022, a $6.6 billion settlement was reached with pharmaceutical manufacturers Teva and Allergan (AbbVie). Previously, in July 2021, the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the federal opioid litigation formally announced the terms for a $26 billion global settlement agreement with opioid manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and the “Big Three” drug distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson. To date, Chris has been involved in over $50 billion in settlements through the National Prescription Opioid Litigation.
Chris serves as co-lead counsel in the Proton-Pump Inhibitor Litigation on behalf of patients who suffered kidney injuries while using proton-pump inhibitor drugs. On October 3, 2023, he announced a $425 million settlement with AstraZeneca and additional agreements with GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, and Takeda, bringing the total value of the resolution to $590.4 million.
Chris’s unprecedented run of recent settlements adds to his impressive legacy of resolving major cases and obtaining billions in compensation for injured plaintiffs. This includes a $4.85 billion landmark global settlement with Merck on behalf of patients who suffered heart attacks and strokes while taking Vioxx, a $21 billion-plus settlement with Volkswagen and Audi over the “clean diesel” scandal—the largest consumer auto industry class action settlement in U.S. history, a $1.5 billion settlement for farmers impacted by Syngenta GMO seed contamination—the largest agricultural settlement in U.S. history, and a $1 billion-plus uncapped settlement for retired NFL players and their families in the historic NFL concussion case.
After starting his career as a corporate defense lawyer representing the interests of big business, Chris was struck by the imbalance of power between corporations and the individuals harmed by them. As a result, he left to become a plaintiff attorney. The son of a union carpenter who worked his way through school, Chris is a former amateur boxer and a current Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. Now, whether working on a class action involving thousands of people against a multinational conglomerate or an individual case protecting one client’s rights, he fights with the same passion and conviction.
Chris has been recognized for his outstanding work and unmatched success in leading complex federal cases. He has received the National Law Journal Elite Trial Lawyers Lifetime Achievement Award, been named a Lawdragon Legend, a Law360 Titan of the Plaintiff Bar, and been inducted into both the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame and the Legal 500 Hall of Fame. He is consistently named to annual award lists, including Chambers USA Tier 1 for Product Liability, Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America, and Best Lawyers in America. Regularly quoted by the press regarding his work on nationally and internationally prominent cases, Chris has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Reuters, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, and ESPN.
Michelle is a nationally recognized litigator focused on electronic discovery law, data privacy, cross border discovery, and AI technology exploration. She counsels clients on the development and execution of defensible eDiscovery processes in connection with contentious, high-stakes commercial litigation, products liability cases, antitrust matters, and internal and government investigations. Michelle regularly advises multinational corporations on data loss and records retention, as well as challenges and solutions generated by emerging technologies.
Michelle frequently writes and speaks about issues and solutions related to electronic discovery. She was recognized by Relativity as a 2023 AI Visionary.
When state attorneys general or other state regulators pursue investigations and enforcement actions involving consumer protection issues, Paul Singer knows exactly what they are doing, why they are doing it, and how to effectively address, parry, and resolve their concerns.
That is a product of his spending over two decades in the Texas Attorney General’s office, spearheading its consumer protection, advertising and marketing, public health, and data protection efforts. Paul leverages the insights he gained, relationships he developed, and trust he earned in that role to help companies in various industries protect their legal, business, and reputational interests when they find themselves under government scrutiny.
Paul’s extensive government-side institutional knowledge forms the foundation of his current practice defending clients in state-level investigations and enforcement actions, providing comprehensive compliance counsel, and advancing their interests through persuasive policy advocacy on consumer protection matters. The credibility Paul has earned over the years among his former colleagues and his reputation as a straight-shooter help establish positive, productive dynamics that lead to favorable resolutions and minimize both burdens and risks for his clients.
Paul spent most of his time at the Texas Attorney General’s office in the Consumer Protection Division, including as Division Chief. Most recently, he served as part of the agency’s executive leadership team as the Associate Deputy Attorney General for Civil Litigation, where he oversaw all plaintiff-oriented civil litigation for the Attorney General, including matters involving consumer protection, environmental protection, antitrust, civil Medicaid fraud, and bankruptcy and collections. Paul played an instrumental leadership role in several major multistate investigations, many involving Fortune 500 companies, where he repeatedly obtained large settlements for the 50 states and territories, including many multimillion-dollar recoveries.
Paul’s extensive knowledge and experience have made him a requested and frequent speaker at national seminars and trainings on a variety of technology, privacy, and general consumer protection topics. He has also been repeatedly recognized by his peers for his professional achievements and leadership, including receiving the Career Staff of the Year Award from the National Association of Attorneys General in 2020 and the Faculty of the Year Award from the National Attorneys General Training and Research Institute for his significant contributions to developing and presenting high-quality legal training programs for his counterparts across the country.
“The State AG consumer protection experience our team brings to the table for clients is unmatched. Our understanding of regulators’ and investigators’ pressures and priorities, based on decades of experience standing in their shoes, is invaluable.”
Nick Wasdin represents clients in important disputes before judges and juries around the country. Nick has tried numerous cases to decision, including, most recently, as trial counsel or lead trial counsel on five different federal jury trials during a single twelve month period ending in 2022. Trial opponents refer to Nick as “an extremely talented and committed advocate,” and Nick’s presentations in the courtroom have been praised by a federal judge as “outstanding” and “as good as any that I’ve seen” in 18 years on the bench.
Prior to co-founding Dwoskin | Wasdin LLP, Nick was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis—a leading international law firm—where he represented clients in a wide variety of cases, including in the areas of products liability, business and commercial disputes, class actions and consumer fraud. Nick has extensive experience litigating large mass torts and trying high-stakes cases in multi-district settings.
Nick received his B.A. from the University of Florida and his J.D. from the University of Michigan, where he served as an editor of the Michigan Law Review. Nick is a member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Bar Association, Chicago Chapter.
James Williams is a nationally recognized trial attorney who has litigated cases in 15 different states, Puerto Rico, and Milan, Italy. Savoy Magazine has named him to their list of the “Top Must Have Lawyers in the Country.” He has been named one of the “Top 100 High Stakes Litigators” by the organization that rates America’s top 100 attorneys. He is one of the “Nation’s Top One Percent” of attorneys according to the National Association of Distinguished Counsel.
Sharon is a courtroom-proven trial lawyer with extensive experience in high-profile cases involving parallel proceedings in state and federal courts. Known for her ability to collaborate across the aisle in mass tort litigation in particular, she is a frequent writer and speaker on trial strategy and case management, and has been named a “Key Lawyer” by The Legal 500 in life science and product liability defense. Sharon also has significant experience working with and examining witnesses, as well as in setting case strategy for joint defense groups in complex matters.
Sharon has represented Fortune 100 companies in class actions, mass torts, and multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the pharmaceutical and consumer product industries. She has been a key member of several trial teams, including representing a major pharmacy chain in the Opioid litigation (described by the Washington Post as “the most complex civil lawsuit in U.S. history”) and more recently securing a defense verdict on behalf of a multinational medical device and health care company in the NEC litigation in state court after the Plaintiff requested over US$6.2B in damages. Sharon previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable Edith Brown Clement of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Daniel is co-chair of O’Melveny’s State Attorneys General Investigations and Litigation Group. He is an experienced litigator and strategic advisor who specializes in high-stakes litigation, government investigations and controversies, and regulatory matters. Daniel regularly handles government contract disputes, including bid protests at the state and local levels. His broad practice encompasses products liability, healthcare, environmental, technology, financial services, and white collar and investigation matters that could appear before government agencies.
Daniel also represents government agencies in appellate litigation, investigations, and regulatory counseling matters.
Daniel previously served as Chief of Policy and Senior Counsel to California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris. In that position, he was a member of the four-person executive team that supervised and operated the 5,000-person California Department of Justice. As Harris’s primary legal policy advisor, Daniel was responsible for developing and executing the Attorney General’s policy initiatives and supervising some of the department’s most complex and high-profile matters, covering healthcare, technology and privacy, criminal justice, civil rights, environmental and consumer law. As a result, he has a deep understanding of the national state attorney general landscape and the best strategies for engagement with AG’s offices.
Andre has been honored twice with a California Lawyer Attorney of the Year Award: in 2023 for his involvement and success at trial in Patz v. City of San Diego, and in 2019 for his work in the California Supreme Court in De La Torre v. CashCall. He is on the Board of the Civil Justice Research Initiative of Berkeley Law, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a member of the Lawyers Committee of the National Center for State Courts, a Trustee of the National Civil Justice Institute, past Chair of the American Association for Justice’s LGBT Caucus, past Trustee of the National College of Advocacy, and a member of Williams College’s Latino/a and BiGLATA Alumni Network.
Jim's practice focuses on the defense of pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer product litigation in state and federal courts nationwide, particularly consolidated mass torts and multi-district litigations.
In Chambers, clients describe Jim as having "[a]n incredible ability to synthesize complex scientific issues into very persuasive arguments that can be used both in court and in negotiations with the other side."
He serves as national coordinating counsel and MDL counsel for consolidated litigations across the U.S. involving thousands of plaintiffs as well as in numerous single-plaintiff cases involving pharmaceuticals, consumer products and medical devices. In conjunction with those roles, Jim emphasizes efficient discovery and manages significant mass tort e-discovery undertakings for his clients.
Jim has also coordinated the resolution of some of the largest, mass torts of the last decade.
Jim also counsels clients on product liability due diligence related to potential acquisitions and divestitures.
Regarding pharmaceutical and biologic manufacturers, Jim's experience includes:
Regarding medical device and consumer products manufacturers, Jim's experience includes:
Fouad Kurdi mediates high-stakes, complex disputes that span a wide range of legal specialties, including product liability, contracts, cyber security & privacy, bankruptcy, antitrust, mass tort, and mass action cases. Recently, Fouad successfully mediated numerous disputes involving public nuisance claims asserted by thousands of public entities against multiple companies, culminating in settlements exceeding $15 billion. Fouad has also mediated complex PFAS-related disputes, including claims asserted by public and private entities against chemical suppliers and industrial operators.
Fouad has notable experience mediating complex antitrust disputes, recently facilitating a mid-trial settlement in a closely watched federal antitrust case involving a challenged multi-billion dollar cross-border merger. In the commercial bankruptcy sector, Fouad is currently mediating several high-profile bankruptcy cases, including multiple chapter 11 cases involving divisional mergers (so-called “Texas Two-Step” cases). Fouad was trained by and often mediates with Professor Eric Green, one of the country’s most highly regarded mediators. Fouad holds a certificate from Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation after successfully completing an intensive formal course on mediating disputes.
In addition to his mediation practice, Fouad specializes in the administration of complex mass tort trusts, where he provides operational and strategic guidance. He is highly experienced in establishing and implementing claim evaluation protocols, ensuring complex claims are administered in a cost-efficient and timely manner. Passionate about finding creative solutions to the novel issues that often arise in complex trusts, Fouad collaborates with stakeholders to craft and implement successful strategies. He strives to build meaningful and trusting relationships with all trust stakeholders and claimants.
Currently, Fouad serves as the Executive Director of the Takata Airbag Tort Compensation Trust Fund and the Takata Airbag Individual Restitution Fund, where he oversees all Trust operations, including legal, claims administration, financial reporting, economic forecasting, lien resolution, and investment management. Fouad also served as an advisor to the Insys Victim’s Restitution Trust (VRT), a trust formed in the first major opiate-related chapter 11 bankruptcy case to compensate tort claimants.
Before joining Resolutions, LLC, Fouad served as a litigation and financial restructuring associate at Brown Rudnick LLP, following a clerkship for the Honorable Mary F. Walrath at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Fouad has also published several articles on many bankruptcy law issues, including bankruptcy trusts. See, e.g., Channeling Injunctions In Hindsight: Lessons Learned from the Takata Airbag Trust, 2022 Ann. Surv. of Bankr. Law 7; A Question of Power: Non-Consensual Third-Party Releases in Chapter 11 Plans, 25 Norton J. Bankr. L. & Prac. 4 Art. 6 (Aug. 2016); Is Lung Disease “Individual” Enough? In re Emoral and Why the Answer is No, Am. Bankr. Ins. Unsecured Trade Creditors Newsletter (Feb. 2015). Fouad graduated cum laude from Georgia State University’s College of Law, where he also completed a master’s degree in taxation.
Jayne Conroy is a named partner at Simmons Hanly Conroy and oversees practice areas in the Complex Litigation Department. Under her leadership, the firm has become one of the country’s largest plaintiff law firms dedicated to helping those injured by corporate wrongdoing.
With a legal career spanning more than three decades, Jayne has earned a superb national reputation as an elite trial lawyer, skilled strategist and decisive negotiator. She has consistently helped secure billions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for thousands of individuals, families and communities in numerous courtrooms nationwide.
“We are a threat to defendants because we are everywhere,” Jayne said while talking about the depth of experience in her department. “They know they have to deal with us, and we are prepared to try cases.”
Jayne focuses her practice on helping plaintiffs exclusively in mass torts, class actions, product liability, pharmaceutical and sexual abuse litigation. She serves or has served on dozens of court-appointed leadership committees in complex legal actions of national scope. These complex mass tort cases, called multidistrict litigations or MDLs, involve thousands of cases originating from state courts around the country and consolidated before a single federal judge.
Jayne’s most recent MDL appointment includes the Plaintiff’s Executive Committee in the In re: Camp Lejeune Water Litigation in the North Carolina Southern Division which alleges drinking may have been contaminated with toxic chemicals that can cause multiple types of cancer, birth defects, Parkinson’s disease and more. She has also been appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee Leadership in the In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation, which alleges social media platforms encourage addictive behavior in adolescents and the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee for the multidistrict litigation against McKinsey & Company in the In re McKinsey & Co Inc National Prescription Opiate Consultant Litigation, Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, which alleges McKinsey knowingly engineered marketing tactics that caused an avalanche of opioid addiction.
Chris Chorba is co-chair of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Class Actions Practice Group. He specializes in defending class actions and complex litigation, and he has been recognized in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and in The Best Lawyers in America for Commercial Litigation. Law360 also named Mr. Chorba a “Class Action MVP,” which profiles attorneys who have “distinguished themselves from their peers by securing hard-earned successes in high-stakes litigation, complex global matters and record-breaking deals.” The National Law Journal also recognized him as a “Trailblazer” for his work defending consumer class actions.
Mr. Chorba has had substantial experience litigating a broad range of complex commercial matters at the trial and appellate level in California and throughout the country, and in multi-district litigation (MDLs). His litigation and counseling experience includes work for companies in every industry, including automotive, beauty / cosmetic, consumer products, education, entertainment, financial services, food and beverage, health care, insurance, life sciences, retail, social media, sports and gaming, technology, telecommunications, and utility / energy.
Kate Charonko is a thought leader and pioneer in the field of Electronically Stored Information (ESI) and is Bailey Glasser’s ESI group’s Practice Group Leader. Kate is a Certified e-Discovery Specialist (CEDS).
In her role as ESI Practice Group Leader, Kate designs ESI strategies that provide structured and conceptual analytic functionality for numerous aspects of e-Discovery, including document review strategy, use of technology and technology assisted review (TAR), collection and preservation strategy, ESI protocols, and training and implementation of e-Discovery practices.
In addition to her e-Discovery practice, Kate serves as part of Bailey Glasser’s multidistrict litigation (MDL) teams focusing on product liability actions across the country. Serving in various leadership and liaison positions, Kate focuses her MDL practice on complex discovery and e-Discovery matters.
Kate frequently speaks on various e-Discovery topics, including ESI, TAR, AI and legal ethics. In 2019, she was invited to share her “lessons learned” about her path to becoming a lawyer in Nora Riva Bergman’s book, “50 Lessons for Women Lawyers From Women Lawyers.”
Chambers USA, USA-Nationwide-Product Liability: Plaintiffs (2024)
2024 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation, Electronically Stored Information
National Trial Lawyers Top 100, West Virginia (2024)
National Trial Lawyers Top 100, "Top 40 Under 40,” West Virginia (2023 and 2024)
Best Lawyers - Ones to Watch, Technology Law (2021)
Best Lawyers, Women in the Law (2021)
Jennifer M. Hoekstra is a partner with Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz, PLLC. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science from Columbia College, Columbia University in the City of New York. She relocated to Louisiana to attend Tulane Law School, where she earned her J.D. while also completing a certificate in Environmental Law.
Jennifer has been involved in complex litigation cases of all forms since 2007. Her passion and expertise lies in Electronically Stored Information and coordinating discovery across multiple defendant litigations. She has earned a solid reputation and plays an integral role in multiple complex litigation cases, practicing in the areas of Pharmaceutical Mass Torts, Defective Device Mass Torts, and other complex litigation.
Ms. Hoekstra is currently on the Plaintiffs Executive Committee for the MDL 3060 Hair Relaxer and MDL 2789 Proton-Pump Inhibitors Products Liability Litigations. Additionally, Jennifer is a passionate litigator and has been central to the successful outcome in dozens of MDL bellwether trials over the course of her career with more than $11 Billion in trial verdicts to her credit. Most recently in 2021 and 2022, she served as trial counsel and/or as an integral member of the trial team in all of the sixteen 3M Earplug trials securing more than $300 Million in compensatory damages for military veterans.
Prior to becoming a trustee, Jenni Peacock served as a Senior Assistant Attorney General with the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General. Over the last 20 years, Ms. Peacock held leadership roles in complex multistate attorneys general investigations and litigation on a variety of consumer protection issues including pharmaceuticals, mortgages, and credit ratings. Ms. Peacock was a national leader overseeing the multistate investigations and settlement efforts to obtain funds from opioid manufacturers and distributors to help states, tribes, and local communities abate the opioid epidemic. Ms. Peacock led the Purdue Pharma multistate investigation and was one of the principal negotiators of the initial $6 billion settlement going into the Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Ms. Peacock also was actively engaged in the negotiation of the original $1.6 billion opioid settlement with Mallinckrodt going into the Chapter 11 bankruptcy. While serving as one of the primary attorneys general representatives on court-approved government ad hoc committees, Ms. Peacock was involved in almost all aspects of the Mallinckrodt and Purdue Pharma bankruptcies. Ms. Peacock was also actively involved in the negotiations of the $21 billion settlement with opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson, and the $5 billion settlement with manufacturer Johnson & Johnson. In 2020, the National Association of Attorneys General bestowed the Attorney General Career Staff of the Year Award on Ms. Peacock in recognition of her leadership in these opioid matters.
Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana
Nominated by William J. Clinton on May 19, 1998, to a seat vacated by Okla Jones. Confirmed by the Senate on September 28, 1998, and received commission on October 1, 1998. Assumed senior status on January 1, 2023.
Education:
Southeastern Louisiana College, B.A., 1966
Loyola University New Orleans School of Law, J.D., 1970
Professional Career:
Law clerk, Hon. William Redman, Louisiana Court of Appeal, Fourth Judicial Circuit, 1969-1970
Law clerk, Hon. Fred Cassibry, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, 1970-1971
Private practice, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1971-1998
With more than two decades of practicing personal injury law, Rosemary Pinto has earned an impressive record of courtroom victories, most of which were in cases that other lawyers had rejected as unwinnable. Even in law school, Ms. Pinto stood out among her peers as one of the preeminent litigators. She won the Villanova Law School Theodore F. Riemel Moot Court Competition, in which law students presented a series of arguments before trial and appellate judges.
As a trial lawyer representing injured victims, she has achieved some of the largest verdicts in Philadelphia against corporations and medical treaters in cases that were against seemingly insurmountable odds. Ms. Pinto has an extensive background litigating mass tort actions. In the past, she represented asbestos manufacturers and insurance companies in complex matters. Currently, she confines her practice to the representation of victims, including victims of defective drugs and products that have been irresponsibly marketed to the public. Ms. Pinto also has the added advantage in the courtroom of having practiced insurance defense law early in her career. With this background, Ms. Pinto is able to predict what the defense will do in nearly every case.
Ms. Pinto has been recognized by Super Lawyers as a “Top Rated Products Liability Attorney in Philadelphia, PA” since 2005, and has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America© since 2006. She is frequently asked to lecture to other lawyers in the areas of medical malpractice, product liability and improvement of trial skills by the Philadelphia Bar Institute, the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association and the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association. Ms. Pinto has taught at the Beasley School of Law in the Trial Advocacy Program. She also participated in the Philadelphia Bar Association’s program, teaching civics to high school students. She has appeared on television and radio in relation to cases litigated, her pro bono work and her work in the legal community.
Ms. Pinto credits her success in the courtroom to her background. Her father was one of the preeminent trial lawyers in the country and thus she developed a love of the law at an early age. In addition, as a former high school history teacher, Ms. Pinto believes that courtroom trials are very similar to teaching, because in both situations you are exposing a captive audience (that might prefer to be somewhere else) to a new set of facts or evidence, and you need to present the information in a way that is interesting so that the audience becomes involved in the process. Ms. Pinto is a firm believer in our justice system and the ability of a jury of one’s peers to weigh the evidence and come up with a fair decision. She says that it is the collective wisdom of a jury that gives it the ability to see through false statements and red herrings to achieve a just result. Ms. Pinto takes an active role in politics by supporting both political candidates and judicial candidates that support the Constitution of the United States and our justice system in the hopes of ensuring access to justice for all, not just the wealthy corporations and insurance companies. Giving back to the community is important to Ms. Pinto as an attorney, so she continually represents indigent clients, donates to and helps raise money for charitable causes and holds receptions for candidates seeking public office who support the rights of all of our citizens. Ms. Pinto has been on the Board of Governors of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association, the Philadelphia Bar Association, and the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers. She has also served on the Board of Delegates to the Pennsylvania Bar Association.
Warren Postman is the Managing Partner of Keller Postman LLC. He combines a deep understanding of the civil litigation system with broad substantive expertise to solve complex litigation challenges for the firm’s clients.
Warren has helped build Keller Postman’s arbitration practice, which devotes unparalleled resources to resolving the claims of consumers and employees who are subject to forced arbitration clauses. The firm’s commitment to arbitration allows it to aggressively pursue individual arbitrations for tens of thousands of clients simultaneously and, as described by the New York Times, has left defendants “scared to death.” Warren has won numerous precedent-setting victories requiring defendants to comply with their obligation to arbitrate under agreements they drafted.
Due in large part to the arbitration practice Warren has built at Keller Postman, the rise of “mass arbitrations” has been one of the most significant recent developments in civil litigation. In the last two years alone, Keller Postman has secured millions in settlements for more than 500,000 individual clients.
Before joining Keller Postman, Warren was Vice President and Chief Counsel for Appellate Litigation at the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center. In that role, he managed appellate strategy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which participates in more than 150 cases each year to shape the law on a wide range of issues affecting businesses. Working closely with senior in-house lawyers at some of the world’s largest companies, Warren gained unique insight into the dynamics and trends that shape business litigation.
Warren was previously an attorney in the Issues & Appeals practice at Jones Day, where he helped guide trial and appellate strategy in some of the firm’s most complex and high-stakes cases.
Warren served as a law clerk for Justice David H. Souter at the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge William A. Fletcher at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was Articles Editor on the Harvard Law Review, and graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Brandeis University.
Warren is licensed to practice law in California and the District of Columbia only.
Judge Jane Triche Milazzo was sworn in as a United State District Court Judge on October 12, 2011, after being unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on October 11, 2011.
Judge Milazzo graduated from LSU Law School in 1992 and immediately went into practice with her family at the Law Offices of Risley Triche, LLC, where she engaged in a general civil practice. Judge Milazzo was the first female to practice law in Assumption Parish and ultimately became the first female elected to Louisiana’s 23rd Judicial District Court.
Judge Milazzo regularly speaks to lawyers on issues of professionalism, advocacy, and complex litigation. She currently presides over the multidistrict litigation, In Re: Taxotere (Docetaxel) Products Liability Litigation. She is married to her husband, John. They have six children and five grandchildren.
Norman E. Siegel litigates high-stakes cases for companies and individuals. He has earned a reputation locally and nationally for his ability to strategize, negotiate and deliver results. He was recently named by Best Lawyers as a 2020 “Lawyer of the Year” and by Law360 as a “Titan of the Plaintiff’s Bar” for his work in class action litigation following big wins against some of the largest corporations in America.
Norm has successfully tried to verdict a wide range of cases, obtaining several multimillion- dollar jury verdicts, and has obtained billions in settlements for his clients.
Norm concentrates his practice in three principal areas:
Business Litigation. Norm successfully deploys the firm’s contingency fee business litigation model in bet-the-company and “David vs. Goliath” matters involving intellectual property, breach of contract, fraud, misrepresentation and more. In one such matter, he prosecuted a groundbreaking antitrust case on behalf of Heartland Surgical Specialty Hospital, which claimed the region’s dominant hospital systems conspired to prevent it from obtaining in-network provider contracts. After Norm secured a key admission from a defense witness, Heartland settled with all defendants.
Data Breach and Privacy. Named one of Law360's “MVPs of the Year” for Cybersecurity and Privacy, Norm has served as lead counsel in several of the largest data breach cases litigated to date, including the sprawling multidistrict litigation alleging Equifax compromised the personal information of more than 148 million Americans in a 2017 data breach. More than 250 cases were filed against Equifax, and Norm was selected lead counsel over scores of other applicants. A leader in this burgeoning field of law, Norm has prosecuted data breach claims against Capital One, Quest Diagnostics, Target Corp., The Home Depot Inc., Marriott, the Office of Personnel Management, and the National Board of Examiners in Optometry, and he is the co-founder of the American Association for Justice’s data breach and privacy group.
Class Actions. Norm’s recent work includes multimillion-dollar jury verdicts and settlements on behalf of consumers who were overcharged for life insurance policies. In Vogt v. State Farm Insurance Co., Norm delivered the closing argument to the jury that returned a $34 million verdict for Missouri owners of State Farm life insurance. Norm also served as lead counsel in Larson v. John Hancock Life Insurance Co., a nationwide class action that ultimately settled for $59.75 million just before trial. For his work in the field, Best Lawyers recently named Norm “Lawyer of the Year” for class action litigation.
Norm began his career as an Assistant Attorney General at the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, where he gained a broad range of experience in complex litigation. He was later named partner at the firm now known as Dentons before starting Stueve Siegel Hanson in 2001. Norm was recognized as a 2020 Missouri Lawyers Awards Influential Lawyer by Missouri Lawyers Weekly; has been named among the “500 Leading Plaintiffs’ Lawyers in America” by Lawdragon; and is listed among Best Lawyers in America and Kansas City Business Journal’s “Best of the Bar.” He has been honored several times as a Top 100 Missouri/Kansas “Super Lawyer” and a Benchmark Plaintiffs “Local Litigation Star.”
Norm has served on the boards of the Healthcare Foundation of Greater Kansas City, the Kansas City Bar Foundation and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Outside the office, he enjoys tennis, collecting art, and spending time with his family and his dog, a Whoodle named Lucky.
Eric Gibbs prosecutes consumer protection, antitrust, whistleblower, financial fraud and mass tort matters. He has been appointed to leadership positions in dozens of contested, high profile class actions and coordinated proceedings, and currently serves in leadership positions in In re Equifax, Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, In re: Wells Fargo Auto Insurance Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation, In re Risperdal and Invega Product Liability Cases, In re Banner Health Data Breach Litigation. Eric has recovered nearly a billion dollars for the clients and classes he represents, and has negotiated groundbreaking settlements that resulted in meaningful reforms to business practices, and have favorably impacted plaintiffs’ legal rights.
Reputation and Recognition by the Courts
In over twenty years of practice, Eric has developed a distinguished reputation with his peers and the judiciary for his ability to work efficiently and cooperatively with co-counsel, and professionally with opposing counsel in class action litigation.
[Mr. Gibbs] efficiently managed the requests from well over 20 different law firms and effectively represented the interests of Non-Settling Plaintiffs throughout this litigation. Judge Wu, In re Hyundai & Kia Fuel Economy Litigation (C.D. Cal)
The attorneys who handled the case were particularly skilled by virtue of their ability and experience.
Judge Debevoise, In re: Mercedes-Benz Teleaid Contract Litigation (D.N.J.)
They are experienced and knowledgeable counsel and have significant breadth of experience in terms of consumer class actions.
Judge Sabraw, Mitchell v. American Fair Credit Association (Alameda County Superior Court)
Representation was professional and competent; in the Court’s opinion, counsel obtained an excellent result for the class.
Judge Fogel, Sugarman v. Ducati North America (N.D. Cal)
Achievements and Leadership
Eric has been widely recognized for his professional excellence and achievements, and has been selected by numerous publications as a leading lawyer in the field of Class and Mass Actions.
In 2019, Law360 recognized Eric among its “Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar,” one of only 10 attorneys nationwide to receive the award, honoring “influential plaintiffs lawyers who had significant wins in 2018.” He also received the 2019 California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Award for his work in the Anthem Data Breach Litigation. The Daily Journal named Eric to its prestigious list of “Top Plaintiff Lawyers in California” for 2019 and 2016, and Law360 recognized Eric as a “2016 Consumer Protection MVP,” the only plaintiff-side lawyer in the country selected in that category. In 2018, Law360 named Eric a “Cybersecurity & Privacy MVP,” one of only five attorneys who received the honor nationwide. Consumer Attorneys of California selected Eric and co-counsel as finalists for the Consumer Attorney of the Year award for their work in achieving $100 million settlement in the Chase “Check Loan” Litigation.
His cases have been chronicled in major legal and news publications including NBC News, CNN, the National Law Journal, The New York Times, Auto Week, Market Watch, and Bloomberg News.
Eric holds a variety of leadership positions in professional associations dedicated to consumer advocacy, and he is frequently called upon to present on developing trends in the law at conferences throughout the country. Eric heads our California whistleblower attorney practice group.
Litigation Highlights
In re Anthem, Inc. Data Breach Privacy Litigation
Served as a court-appointed member of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee representing the interests of plaintiffs and putative class members following a massive data breach of approximately 80 million personal records. The lawsuit settled in August 2018 for $115 million, the largest data breach settlement in history.
In re Chase Bank U.S.A., N.A. “Check Loan” Contract Litigation
Multidistrict litigation that alleged Chase Bank wronged consumers by offering long-term fixed-rate loans, only to later more-than-double the required loan payments. Eric led negotiations in the case, which resulted in a $100 million settlement with Chase eight weeks prior to trial.
In re Adobe Systems Inc. Privacy Litigation
As court-appointed lead counsel, Eric and his team reversed a long line of decisions adverse to consumers whose personal information was stolen in data breaches. Judge Koh issued a 41 page decision in plaintiffs’ favor and Eric negotiated a comprehensive reform of Adobe’s data security practices. The court’s landmark decision on Article III standing in this case marked a sea change and has been cited favorably in over twenty cases in the year since it was issued.
After more than a decade of litigation, Eric as lead counsel achieved a nationwide class action settlement on behalf of approximately 5 million consumers of Intel Pentium 4 processors. The lawsuit changed Intel’s benchmarking practices and Intel agreed to a cash settlement for the class, along with $4 million in charitable donations.
Parkinson v. Hyundai Motor America
Eric served as class counsel in this lawsuit alleging that the flywheel and clutch system in certain Hyundai vehicles was defective. After achieving nationwide class certification, Hyundai agreed to a settlement that provided for 50-100% reimbursements to class members for their repairs and full reimbursement for rental vehicle expenses.
De La Cruz v. Masco Retail Cabinet Group
Eric served as lead attorney litigating the collective claims of dozens of misclassified account representatives for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Successfully certified a class of current and former Masco account representatives and personally arbitrated the case to judgment obtaining full recovery for the class.
In re Providian Credit Card Cases
Eric played a prominent role in this nationwide class action suit brought on behalf of Providian credit card holders alleging that Providian engaged in unlawful and fraudulent business practices in connection with the marketing and fee assessments for its credit cards. The Honorable Stuart Pollack approved a $105 million settlement, plus injunctive relief—one of the largest class action recoveries in the United States arising out of consumer credit card litigation.
Kim Bueno serves as lead counsel for jury trials throughout the country. A member of King & Spalding’s Product Liability and Mass Torts practice group based in Austin, she represents clients in high-stakes personal injury actions and complex commercial litigation.
Kim is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has been recognized by Chambers USA for Litigation—Trial Lawyers (2024); Nationwide Product Liability & Mass Torts (2021-2024); and Texas: Austin & Surrounds – Litigation: General Commercial (2023-2024).
The Legal 500 US (2024) named her a Leading Lawyer in Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action—Defense: Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices, highlighting her high-profile victories in federal and state courts throughout the country.
Kim holds a J.D. with high honors from The University of Texas School of Law and a B.A., summa cum laude, from Southern Methodist University. She is licensed to practice in Texas.
Paul Geller, managing partner of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP’s Boca Raton, Florida office, is a founding partner of the Firm, a member of its Executive Committee, and head of the Firm’s Consumer Practice Group. Paul’s 30 years of litigation experience is broad, and he has handled cases in each of the Firm’s practice areas. Notably, before devoting his practice to the representation of consumers and investors, he defended companies in high-stakes class action and multi-district litigation, providing him with an invaluable perspective. Paul has tried bench and jury trials on both the plaintiffs’ and defendants’ sides and has argued before numerous state, federal, and appellate courts throughout the country.
Paul was recently selected to serve in a leadership position on behalf of governmental entities and other plaintiffs in the sprawling litigation concerning the nationwide prescription opioid epidemic. In reporting on the selection of the lawyers to lead the case, The National Law Journal reported that “[t]he team reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ in mass torts.” Paul was also a critical member of the team that negotiated over $50 billion in settlements against certain opioid distributors, manufacturers and dispensers. Prior to the opioid litigation, Paul was a member of the leadership team representing consumers in the massive Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” emissions case. The San Francisco legal newspaper The Recorder labeled the group that was appointed in that case, which settled for more than $17 billion, a “class action dream team.” Paul was recently one of the Lead Counsel in In re EpiPen (Epinephrine Injection, USP) Mktg., Sales Pracs. & Antitrust Litig., a nationwide class action that alleged that pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Mylan N.V. engaged in anti-competitive and unfair business conduct in its sale and marketing of the EpiPen auto-injector device. The case recently settled for $609 million.
Some of Paul’s other recent noteworthy successes include the then largest privacy class action settlement in history – a $650 million all cash recovery in In re Facebook Biometric Info. Privacy Litig., concerning the use of biometric identifiers through Facebook’s “tag” feature. In addition to the monetary recovery, Facebook disabled the tag feature altogether, deleting user facial profiles and discontinuing the use of facial recognition software.
Paul serves on the Trial Lawyers of Mass Torts Advisory Board and was formerly on the Advisory Board of Emory University School of Law and the separate Board of The Institute for Complex Litigation and Mass Claims at Emory. He is a member of the Trial Law Institute and the Diversity Law Institute of the Litigation Counsel of America. Paul is also a member of the Supreme Court Historical Society. Additionally, he served for many years as a member of the Board of Advisors for The Center on Civil Justice at New York University School of Law. In these roles and others, Paul frequently lectures on class action and MDL issues at judicial seminars, bar conferences, and academic programs. Paul is also a recurring member of the faculty of the Mass Torts MDL Certificate Program at the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke University School of Law, as well as the Baylor MDL Judicial Summit.
Paul is rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell (the highest rating available), twice named one of the nation’s top “40 Under 40” by The National Law Journal, and named one of “Florida’s Top Lawyers” by Law & Politics and South Florida Business Journal. He has also been named a Legend, a Leading Lawyer in America, a Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer, and a 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyer by Lawdragon; a Leading Lawyer by Chambers USA; a Plaintiffs’ Lawyer Trailblazer by The National Law Journal; one of Florida’s “Legal Elite” by Florida Trend magazine; and one of “Florida’s Most Effective Lawyers” by American Law Media’s Daily Business Review. Additionally, Best Lawyers® named Paul a Best Lawyer in America and a Florida Best Lawyer in the area of “Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Plaintiffs,” and he was additionally chosen as Lawyer of the Year in that same category. Super Lawyers Magazine has also named Paul a Florida Super Lawyer for 16 consecutive years.
Paul earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Florida, where he was a member of the University Honors Program. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from Emory University School of Law, with Highest Distinction, where he was an editor of the Emory Law Journal, a member of the Order of the Coif Legal Honor Society, and awarded multiple American Jurisprudence Book Awards for earning the highest grade in class.
A Relentless, Principled Advocate
A partner based in our Nashville office, Kenneth S. Byrd is an experienced trial attorney at Lieff Cabraser, obtaining several large jury trial verdicts against Big Tobacco over the past several years. He received the Tennessee Association for Justice’s 2015 Paladin Award for his successful litigation against cigarette manufacturers R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Philip Morris USA Inc., and Lorillard Tobacco Company in Florida federal courts. The Paladin Award is TAJ’s highest honor and is given to the state’s top trial lawyer of the year. Kenny’s successful work on these cases included separate $27 million and $41 million jury verdicts that were upheld on appeal.
Kenny represents clients in mass tort cases, defective product cases, and consumer fraud litigation. He represents consumers in consumer class action cases as well as injured individuals and their loved ones in personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits filed across the country. Kenny’s leadership roles include his appointment to the Plaintiff Steering Committee and Early Vetting Subcommittee in In re: 3M Combat Arms Earplug Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2885 (the largest MDL in history by the number of claimants), and his appointment to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee in In Re: AME Church Employee Retirement Fund Litigation, MDL No. 3035.
Kenny is also a member of Lieff Cabraser’s Whistleblower/False Claims Act practice group, assisting whistleblowers to stop fraud and the misuse of funds in government contracts and programs.
Honors: Cum Laude
Major: Mathematics
Minor: Journalism
A founding partner of Seeger Weiss, Christopher A. Seeger is widely recognized as a highly innovative and accomplished plaintiff attorney. Chiefly known for multidistrict mass torts and class actions involving drug injury, toxic injury, and personal injury, Chris’ versatile practice also includes product liability, property damage, antitrust, and third-party payer litigation, as well as consumer, insurance, and securities fraud. Chris has led some of the most complex, groundbreaking, and high-profile litigations in the U.S. at the state and federal levels. He has received more multidistrict litigation (MDL) appointments than any other lawyer between 2016 and 2019, according to a 2020 ALM study.
Chris served as co-lead counsel in the 3M Combat Arms Earplug Litigation, having been chosen by Judge M. Casey Rodgers from a pool of nearly 200 other applicants to represent more than 250,000 service members and veterans who suffered hearing injuries while using 3M earplugs. After more than four years of litigation, Chris secured a landmark settlement worth over $6 billion in August 2023, successfully resolving the largest mass tort in American history.
Appointed by Judge Joy Flowers Conti to lead the Philips Recalled CPAP, Bi-Level Pap, and Mechanical Ventilator Litigation, Chris represented patients impacted by the company’s recall of more than 10.8 million devices. He was the lead negotiator for an uncapped class action settlement worth a minimum of $479 million that was announced in September 2023, resolving economic loss claims of users and payers impacted by the recall. After receiving final approval for the economic loss settlement, Chris negotiated additional agreements in April 2024 to resolve plaintiffs' personal injury claims for $1.075 billion and medical monitoring claims for $25 million, providing compensation to patients who suffered significant physical injuries caused by the recalled machines.
In the National Prescription Opiate litigation, Chris was appointed to the Executive and Settlement Committees by Judge Dan A. Polster. In 2022, he played an instrumental role in securing settlements worth more than $15 billion with Walgreens, Walmart, CVS, and Kroger. Also, in 2022, a $6.6 billion settlement was reached with pharmaceutical manufacturers Teva and Allergan (AbbVie). Previously, in July 2021, the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the federal opioid litigation formally announced the terms for a $26 billion global settlement agreement with opioid manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and the “Big Three” drug distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson. To date, Chris has been involved in over $50 billion in settlements through the National Prescription Opioid Litigation.
Chris serves as co-lead counsel in the Proton-Pump Inhibitor Litigation on behalf of patients who suffered kidney injuries while using proton-pump inhibitor drugs. On October 3, 2023, he announced a $425 million settlement with AstraZeneca and additional agreements with GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, and Takeda, bringing the total value of the resolution to $590.4 million.
Chris’s unprecedented run of recent settlements adds to his impressive legacy of resolving major cases and obtaining billions in compensation for injured plaintiffs. This includes a $4.85 billion landmark global settlement with Merck on behalf of patients who suffered heart attacks and strokes while taking Vioxx, a $21 billion-plus settlement with Volkswagen and Audi over the “clean diesel” scandal—the largest consumer auto industry class action settlement in U.S. history, a $1.5 billion settlement for farmers impacted by Syngenta GMO seed contamination—the largest agricultural settlement in U.S. history, and a $1 billion-plus uncapped settlement for retired NFL players and their families in the historic NFL concussion case.
After starting his career as a corporate defense lawyer representing the interests of big business, Chris was struck by the imbalance of power between corporations and the individuals harmed by them. As a result, he left to become a plaintiff attorney. The son of a union carpenter who worked his way through school, Chris is a former amateur boxer and a current Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt. Now, whether working on a class action involving thousands of people against a multinational conglomerate or an individual case protecting one client’s rights, he fights with the same passion and conviction.
Chris has been recognized for his outstanding work and unmatched success in leading complex federal cases. He has received the National Law Journal Elite Trial Lawyers Lifetime Achievement Award, been named a Lawdragon Legend, a Law360 Titan of the Plaintiff Bar, and been inducted into both the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame and the Legal 500 Hall of Fame. He is consistently named to annual award lists, including Chambers USA Tier 1 for Product Liability, Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America, and Best Lawyers in America. Regularly quoted by the press regarding his work on nationally and internationally prominent cases, Chris has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Reuters, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, and ESPN.
Judge R. David Proctor was nominated to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama and received his commission on September 22, 2003.
Judge Proctor received his undergraduate degree from Carson-Newman College in 1983. He earned his law degree with honors from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1986. After graduating from law school, Judge Proctor served as a law clerk to United States Circuit Judge H. Emory Widener, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. In 1987, he moved to Birmingham to take a position as an associate with Sirote & Permutt P.C. In 1993, he became a founding shareholder of the labor and employment boutique firm of Lehr, Middlebrooks & Proctor P.C.
Judge Proctor served on the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation from 2014-2020. He currently serves on the Civil Rules Advisory Committee and chairs the MDL Rules Subcommittee. He has taught Complex Civil Litigation at Cumberland School of Law and the University of Alabama School of Law, and Multidistrict Litigation at the University of Georgia School of Law, the University of Tennessee School of Law, and the Miami School of Law. He also regularly teaches and serves as a panelist for various programs. Judge Proctor is a member of the American Law Institute, the Alabama Law Foundation, and the Birmingham Bar Foundation.
With more than a decade of experience in the mass tort industry, Nick D'Aquilla brings a wealth of knowledge and a proven track record of success to the Counsel Financial team.
Nick is a leading figure in administering complex settlements, contributing to the administration of more than $20 billion in mass tort settlements across many high-profile cases. His expertise in solution design and oversight services has contributed to the resolution of more than 40 mass tort and class action litigations, including environmental, pharmaceutical, medical device and sexual assault matters.
Before joining Counsel Financial, Nick was a senior member of a complex settlement fund advisory team for a national bank, where he developed underwriting methodologies that enabled credit extensions to mass tort plaintiffs’ firms. In the last 18 months, he has analyzed and valued more than $1.5 billion in loan collateral derived from mass tort dockets.
Prior to entering the mass tort industry in 2012, Nick served as a civil defense litigator for the Louisiana DOJ, acting as lead counsel for personal injury, contract dispute and subrogation matters. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, earned his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the Southern University Law Center, and Master of Laws in Health Law from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law.
Judge Ada Brown brings both civil and criminal law experience to the federal bench. She began her legal career as a prosecutor with the Dallas County District Attorney's office, where she was promoted to chief prosecutor a court seven months on the job as an assistant DA. She quickly rose through the ranks and was chief prosecutor of four different courts. Judge Brown prosecuted felony crimes such as rape, robbery and murder before specializing in the prosecution of drug crimes and internet crimes against children. She brought hundreds of pedophiles to justice.
During her tenure as an assistant district attorney, Judge Brown tried over 130 jury trials to verdict as lead prosecutor and tried approximately 100 bench trials to verdict as lead prosecutor. She also prosecuted about 500 internet crimes against children, including prosecuting child pornographers, child molesters, and child sex traffickers. In 2005, Judge Brown was one of 2.5% of Texas attorneys under 40 selected by Super Lawyers magazine as a Rising Star in criminal prosecution. In 2005, Judge Brown was appointed to preside as judge over Dallas County's oldest criminal trial court. At the time of her appointment at age 30, she was the youngest sitting trial court judge in Texas. As a trial court judge, Judge Brown tried about 50 jury trials to verdict and about 100 bench trials to verdict.
After leaving the bench, Judge Brown joined the law firm of McKool Smith, where she focused on high-stakes patent infringement and complex commercial litigation cases. In a representative case, Judge Brown presented Plaintiff's damages testimony in a medical device patent case where the jury returned a verdict of $250 million for her clients. This was the 12th highest civil verdict in the US for 2008. In another case, she presented evidence to a jury who awarded her client $345 million. This award was increased to $391 million on final judgment and was the 10th largest jury verdict in the US for 2011. In 2012 and 2013, Brown was one of 2.5% of attorneys under 40 in Texas selected by Super Lawyers magazine as a Rising Star in commercial litigation.
In 2013, Texas Governor Rick Perry appointed her to serve on the Fifth District Court of Appeals, Texas's busiest appellate court. At the time of her appointment, at age 38, she was the youngest sitting appellate justice in Texas. During her six-year term as a state appellate judge, she authored over 545 majority opinions on the merits. Her appellate reversal rate while on the state appellate court was 0.73%. She was reversed just four times by a higher court during her six-year term as a state appellate judge.
In the last Dallas Bar Association poll in which she was evaluated, she was the highest rated appellate judge on her court in 4 of 5 areas of evaluation, including having proper judicial temperament and demeanor, authoring well-reasoned opinions based on proper application of the law; being open-minding with respect to deciding legal issues, and having the highest approval rating of her overall performance as a judge.
In September of 2018, she was appointed by President Trump to be the first African-American woman district court judge in the Northern District of Texas. She is also one of just six Native American federal judges in the nation and is the first Choctaw woman judge in American history. In her three years on the federal bench, she has resolved 880 civil and criminal cases, and has a 0.6% reversal rate. In the first Dallas Bar Association poll in which she was evaluated as a federal judge, she was the highest rated district court judge in the area of impartiality.
Judge Brown enjoys volunteering by serving on various commissions and committees. Judge Brown was appointed by Texas Governor Rick Perry to serve as a Commissioner for the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Education, the regulatory agency responsible for licensing all police officers in Texas. Governor Perry later appointed Judge Brown to serve as a commissioner for the Texas Department of Public Safety, where she was one of five civilians responsible for overseeing 10,000+ employees and a $2.3 billion biennial budget. The commission oversees all departments of the Texas Department of Public Safety, including the legendary Texas Rangers division, the Texas Highway Patrol division, and the Texas Driver License division. Judge Brown served on the DPS commission for 5 years and was awarded the Yellow Rose of Texas Award for Community Service from Governor Perry after her service on the DPS commission ended.
In 2021, Judge Brown was awarded the Charlye Ola Farris Award from the Dallas Association of Black Women Lawyers. She was Dallas Bar Association Inspiring Woman in 2022 and the keynote speaker at the Dallas Bar Association's Martin Luther King Day Luncheon in 2022. She is a frequent speaker at judicial and legal seminars and CLE events..
For several years, Judge Brown served as an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at Southern Methodist University Law School. She has been a faculty member at trial skills courses for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy programs for over a decade, and recently volunteered to teach a one-week trial advocacy course and gave a lecture on the fundamentals of voir dire at the University of Texas at Dallas College School.
Judge Brown graduated magna cum laude from Spelman College, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree. She was a Presidential Scholar at Emory University School of Law, where she received her Juris Doctor degree and received an academic award of excellence in mediation. She has been accepted into Duke University School of Law's LLM program, where she will graduate with the class of 2024.
Motley Rice co-founder Joe Rice is recognized as a skillful and innovative negotiator of complex litigation settlements, having served as the lead negotiator in some of the largest civil actions our courts have seen in the last 30 years. Corporate Legal Times reported that national defense counsel and legal scholars described Joe as one of the nation's “five most feared and respected plaintiffs’ lawyers in corporate America.” As the article notes, "For all his talents as a shrewd negotiator ... Rice has earned most of his respect from playing fair and remaining humble.” His alma mater, the University of South Carolina School of Law, rebranded in his honor in November 2023, and is now known as the Joseph F. Rice School of Law.
Joe was recognized by some of the nation’s best-regarded defense lawyers as being “the smartest dealmaker they ever sat across the table from,” Thomson Reuters has reported. Professor Samuel Issacharoff of the New York University School of Law has commented that he is “the best strategic thinker on the end stages of litigation that I’ve ever seen.”
Joe serves on the Board of Advisors for Emory University's Institute for Complex Litigation and Mass Claims and has taught negotiation at top law schools. In 2013, he established the Ronald L. Motley Scholarship Fund at the University of South Carolina School of Law.
Robert “Mike” Brock is a nationally recognized trial lawyer with 25 years of experience handling high-stakes, bet-the-business litigation. His practice focuses on representing pharmaceuticals and life sciences companies, particularly in product liability and mass tort cases. He has tried cases in a wide range of areas and has represented clients in antitrust, malpractice, toxic tort and securities class action litigation, as well as in other types of cases. Mike is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Mike has represented companies in some of the most high-stakes litigation in recent history. He currently serves as lead trial lawyer for BP in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill litigation. His trial performance has been highly praised and widely reported in the press. According to the Financial Times, one legal professional said that “in a courtroom full of top-tier legal talent,” Mike was particularly impressive, delivering “one of the most methodical and skillful cross-examinations I have seen” in 25 years.
Mike has also been exceptionally successful in his representations of leading pharmaceutical companies in product liability cases. He secured jury verdicts for Merck in a Fosamax® case in New York City and for AstraZeneca in its first Seroquel® lawsuit in New Brunswick, NJ. He also served as lead trial counsel to Merck in several Vioxx® cases, securing wins in Alabama, California, Florida and New Jersey. Recently, he has served as lead trial counsel for Pfizer in its Chantix® litigation and for Boehringer Ingelheim in litigation concerning Pradaxa®.
Mike is recognized by various legal publications as a first-class trial lawyer in products liability and mass tort litigation. He has been selected as a “leading lawyer” by Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business every year since 2009, and the 2023 edition describes him as “a seasoned trial lawyer who boasts impressive experience representing a range of defendants in high-stakes product liability trials.” Sources for the guide say he is “one of the elite trial lawyers in the U.S.” with a “great courtroom presence” and an ability to “take complex issues and break them down in a way that’s accessible and understandable” and is “a first-rate first-chair trial lawyer” who “is front and center” in major disputes. He was also listed in the 2015–2024 editions of Chambers Global, The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business, most recently ranked in Band 1 for Litigation: Trial Lawyers. The Legal 500 U.S. selected Mike to the “Hall of Fame” in 2021–2024 and as a “leading lawyer” in 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2020 for Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action: Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices, and singled him out as a “renowned trial lawyer.” He is also recognized by Benchmark Litigation as a “National Star.” Prior to joining Kirkland, Mike was a partner at Covington & Burling LLP, where he was the chair of their product liability and mass torts practice.
Co-chair of the Product Liability practice group, Kim Branscome is a nationally renowned trial lawyer and litigation strategist who focuses on complex litigation and trials involving product liability, professional liability, environmental and toxic torts, and securities matters. She has secured several high-profile product liability trial victories on behalf of leading multinational corporations across a broad range of sectors, including the pharmaceutical, consumer products, energy and automotive industries. Kim is widely regarded as one of the most talented and respected lawyers in the product liability and mass tort litigation area, with clients describing her as “one of the leading lawyers in this space” and as “someone clients trust to try their cases.”
Kim has deep experience litigating in federal and state courtrooms across the country, with a particular emphasis on the most high-profile mass torts and product liability matters, as well as high-stakes securities class actions and other complex civil litigation. Kim’s representations include:
Kim is widely recognized by leading publications and legal directories for her trial accomplishments and expertise. The American Lawyer named Kim to its 2022 list of “West Trailblazers,” which recognizes lawyers in the western states who have moved the needle in the legal industry. Chambers USA has recognized Kim in the Product Liability & Mass Torts (USA) category for the past four years, describing her as a “well-regarded trial lawyer who has amassed a broad range of experience in mass torts and class actions.” The Legal 500 US also recognizes Kim in its Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action-Defense categories across consumer products, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices and toxic torts, describing her as a “strong practitioner with excellent strategic smarts.” The Daily Journal recognized her as one of the “Top 100 Lawyers” in California in 2019 and one of the “Top Women Lawyers” in California in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Forbes recognized Kim on its inaugural 2024 “America’s Top 200 Lawyers” list. The Los Angeles Business Journal named Kim to its “Top Litigators & Trial Lawyers” and “Most Influential Women Lawyers” lists in 2019 and Law360 named her a “Rising Star” in 2017.
Partner Virginia E. Anello was born and raised in Covington, Louisiana, and currently heads up the firm’s New Orleans office. She attended Louisiana State University on an honors scholarship. Ms. Anello graduated from LSU magna cum laude and received a Bachelor of Science in Economics with a minor in Italian. She went on to attend the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU where she received her Juris Doctor Degree and her Bachelor of Civil Law Degree, graduating in the top 30% of her class. Ms. Anello is admitted to practice law in the States of New York, Massachusetts, and Louisiana. She is also admitted to practice law in the Eastern, Southern and Northern Districts of New York, the Eastern and Western Districts of Louisiana, the District of Massachusetts, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Since obtaining her law degree, Ms. Anello has devoted her entire career to always representing injury victims and consumers, primarily in mass tort and class actions. Her practice areas in the law have always focused on, and continue to focus on, products liability litigation and complex litigation, with an emphasis on consumer fraud and mass tort litigation. Consistent with the firm’s philosophy, she is dedicated to ensuring that an underdog can be heard.
Ms. Anello joined Douglas & London in 2007 and she focuses her work primarily on representing individuals nationwide who have been injured as a result of defective pharmaceutical drugs, medical devices and vaccines. Currently, Ms. Anello is actively involved in representing individuals who have been injured as a result of the prescription drugs Elmiron and Belviq. Regarding Elmiron, Ms. Anello was appointed in January 2021 by U.S. District Court Judge Brian Martinotti as co-lead counsel in the action styled as In Re: Elmiron (Pentosan Polysulfate Sodium Products Liability Litigation (MDL 2973), pending in the District Court of New Jersey. This consolidated action involves hundreds of individual plaintiffs claiming severe eye injuries as a result of ingesting Elmiron to treat interstitial cystitis. In her role as co-lead counsel, Ms. Anello is involved in all aspects of pre-trial discovery and management, retention of experts and motion practice, as well as oversight of a Plaintiff Steering Committee of 24 other lawyers.
With respect to Belviq, a weight loss drug, Ms. Anello is actively pursuing individual lawsuits across the country on behalf of individuals who have suffered cancer as a result of their ingestion of the drug.
Before commencing her work with Elmiron and Belviq, Ms. Anello was actively involved in multidistrict litigation involving the diabetic drug Invokana pending in the District Court of New Jersey, where she served on the science, law and briefing and discovery committees. In July 2017, Ms. Anello was just one of two lawyers asked to present at Science Day before Judge Martinotti, defense counsel, and other plaintiffs’ counsel from across the country about the then-current state of medical and scientific knowledge regarding Invokana, including how it works and how it causes the injuries alleged (diabetic ketoacidosis, acute kidney injury and amputations). This litigation ultimately resolved through individual confidential settlements.
In addition to her work identified above, Ms. Anello is actively involved in the firm’s vaccine litigation department, which she currently manages. Since 2007, she has represented children and adults who have been injured by vaccinations and has handled numerous cases in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Many of these cases have settled or been successfully adjudicated on the merits within the Vaccine Program.
In 2018, Ms. Anello began litigating cases specific to a Shingles vaccine, Zostavax, which is not covered by the Vaccine Program. Because of the multitude of cases that have been filed relating to this particular vaccine, a multidistrict litigation was created in the District Court of Pennsylvania before the Honorable Judge Harvey Bartle, and, in September 2018, Ms. Anello was formally appointed by Judge Bartle as a member of the Plaintiff Executive Committee charged with the responsibility of overseeing and assisting with the national ligation. Ms. Anello represents hundreds of injured individuals in this endeavor.
Other nationwide pharmaceutical and medical device litigations in which Ms. Anello has been involved and worked on through settlement include those relating to hip replacement systems (DePuy ASR, DePuy Pinnacle, Biomet M2A, Wright Conserve, and Stryker Rejuvenate), proton pump inhibitors (Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid, Protonix,) the acid concentrate Granuflo, the prescription pain drug Vioxx, the Medtronic Sprint Fidelis Lead Wire, and the Contaminated Heparin litigation.
In addition, Ms. Anello works alongside firm partner, Michael A. London, in representing women who have been diagnosed with cancer as a result of their in utero exposure to the drug Diethylstilbestrol (‘DES’).
While proud to represent individuals from across the country in the products liability arena, Ms. Anello is equally as proud of her legal efforts focused on issues of importance to New York City and the surrounding areas, where she spend her early career. She is actively involved in representing individuals who have been injured as a result of their exposure to toxins at the World Trade Center site following September 11, 2001. She originally represented these victims in the World Trade Center Disaster Site Litigation pending before the Honorable Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and she oversaw the firm’s settlement of that matter. Since Congress reopened the September 11, 2001 Victims’ Compensation Fund in 2010 and continued it in 2015, Ms. Anello has been directing her efforts at ensuring that these injured individuals, as well as those injured as a result of their working, living and going to school in the Lower Manhattan area, are compensated under the Act.
Additionally, in her role in the Firm’s class action litigation department, Ms. Anello represents New York residents who lost power due to the grossly negligent conduct of the Long Island Power Authority and its managing contractor, National Grid, prior to and following Superstorm Sandy. A proposed class action is currently pending in Nassau County Supreme Court.
As a class action attorney, Ms. Anello represents consumers and union health funds and other insurers who have been deceived and misled by product manufacturers. She is particularly involved in all of the firm’s class action work, including the firm’s class action against Bayer in which it was alleged that Bayer falsely represented to consumers that its over-the-counter combination aspirin drugs, Bayer Women’s Low Dose Aspirin + Calcium and Bayer with Heart Advantage delivered certain health benefits, which they, in fact, did not. Thanks to her hard work and dedication, as well as that of the firm, the Bayer combination aspirin class action settled for $15 million. Ms. Anello and Douglas & London are always investigating new class actions.
Ms. Anello is an active member of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association (NYSTLA) and American Association of Justice (AAJ). Since 2014, Super Lawyers has selected Ms. Anello as a Rising Star in New York, and, in 2018, she was selected by Peer Recognition as one of Best Lawyers in New York City as published in the Wall Street Journal, and this status continues today. Most recently, in 2021, Ms. Anello was selected as one of the Top Women Attorneys in New York.
Ms. Anello attributes her success to her parents, who raised her with a strong work ethic, did whatever they could to promote her thirst for knowledge, and instilled in her a sense of integrity to stand up for and protect those who cannot protect themselves.