Pharmaceutical, Biotech, Device and Chemical Practice

Our Practice for companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and chemical industries offers an unusual combination of depth in industry knowledge and scientific expertise. The Practice includes lawyers with advanced doctoral and medical degrees, direct experience with designing, implementing and reporting on clinical and laboratory research in areas of medicine, psychiatry and psychology, and advanced training in clinical trials. Members of the Practice are well recognized for their legal work in areas of medicine, psychology, toxicology and epidemiology.

At the same time, our lawyers bring the experience and understanding gained in hundreds of major client representations, successfully presenting legal and factual issues to juries, judges, arbitrators/mediators and other decisionmakers in ways that are both understandable and persuasive. Our lawyers have represented companies in product, toxic tort, mass tort and class action defense, disputes over divestiture and acquisition agreements, distribution and supply agreements, insurance agreements, successor liability, employment, collaboration agreements, laboratory agreements, research agreements, trademark, licensing and advertising, and internal investigations. We work on an everyday basis with the multiple layers of law - state, federal, statutory and regulatory-that bear on pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and chemical matters. We emphasize early assessment, strategic goals, adherence to budgets and a focus on business results.

In product liability and toxic tort litigation, we have represented companies facing claims across dozens of different medications, types of chemical exposure and types of injury. We have been retained in cases involving death, severe birth defects, neurologic and CNS injury, rheumatologic diseases, liver, blood and kidney injury, quadri-and paraplegia, allergies, severe burns, cancers and more. We have developed expert defenses based on a wide range of specialties in medicine, psychiatry, epidemiology, toxicology and chemistry.

We have represented clients in some of the largest mass torts in the US and in other pattern litigation or individual disputes. Roles have also included National Coordinating Counsel; Regional Counsel; Member of Defendants' Steering Committee; and Trial Counsel. We team well with other firms and have been members of several "virtual" defense firms, playing specialty roles in large-scale litigation as Science Counsel; Regional Counsel or Discovery Counsel. Our defenses often involved the use of sophisticated demonstrative aids, mock juries, and the interpretation for lay people of complicated expert scientific testimony.

In employment litigation, our deep knowledge of industry practices and customs has benefitted our clients in discrimination and benefits litigation on motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment and at trial, as well as on appeals. In commercial litigation, our knowledge base has allowed us to quickly grasp complex business transactions, simplify them so that judges and juries can understand them and benefitted our clients with successful results at the summary judgment stage, at trial and on appeal. Our Practice also offers sophisticated approaches to product risk assessment and litigation risk management. Our lawyers have developed state-of-the-art protocols to work with companies to assess scientific, technical, regulatory, marketing and sales activities, and provide concrete recommendations for minimizing risks to the business and managing litigation risks. We are well known for our work in litigation risk assessment and risk management counseling in these areas.

Representative Attorney Matters:

• National Coordinating Counsel for hundreds of individual lawsuits and class actions, in jurisdictions across the U.S., involving serious neurological and rheumatologic illnesses allegedly caused by vaccine use, and successfully resolved through agreement to arbitrate claims.
• National Science Counsel for mass tort defense, charged with developing scientific and medical defenses, and coordinating the courtroom presentation of all scientific evidence in the fields of neurology, infectious diseases and epidemiology.
• Lead Counsel and member of Defendants' Steering Committee in coordinated proceeding of over 500 pharmaceutical actions, involving serious illnesses and/or death, and expert evidence in fields of medicine, cardiology, pulmonology, psychiatry and epidemiology.
• Lead counsel in toxic tort actions alleging that chemical emissions caused cancer, wrongful death and other serious personal injuries to children in the community. Extensive work on epidemiology and toxicology defenses, leading to successful pre-trial settlement.
• Lead Counsel and member of Defendants' Steering Committee in coordinated proceedings of over 100 medical device actions, with scientific and medical defenses based in medicine, immunology, infectious diseases and epidemiology.
• Lead Counsel in corporate contract dispute over successor liability for thousands of underlying personal injury tort claims in jurisdictions across the U.S., arising out of product made by a predecessor company, obtaining summary judgment of no liability for our client.
• Risk assessment and risk management counseling for products in development and marketed products, to determine risks of litigation by consumers, patients, commercial partners and other parties, and to counsel on methods of minimizing or disposing of litigation risks.
• Lead Counsel in multi-forum corporate dispute over supply of contaminated chemical and international sales of bulk pharmaceuticals to customers in U.S., Great Britain, Japan and other countries, with successful recovery of damages, partial attorneys' fees and preserving customer relationships for the client.
• Counsel for multinational chemical company defending breast implant litigation (personal injury class action and individual cases), with development of generic, case-specific and expert defenses.
• Lead Counsel in a range of complex commercial disputes, including litigation arising from pharmaceutical/device company mergers and acquisitions, vendor disputes and commercial real estate.
• Lead counsel in substantial insurance disputes for defense and indemnity costs, including litigation over thousands of underlying personal injuries arising from use of a prescription product in pregnancy, over hurricane damage to company facilities, and over a personal injury verdict of $124 million in punitive damage, each resulting in coverage for our clients after pre-trial or trial rulings.
• Represented major oil company in a nearly four month bench trial in a threatened environmental contamination case. The trial court rejected the plaintiff's proffered expert opinions as unreliable, unsupported by the evidence and speculative, and the firm obtained a judgment for its client.
• Multiple cases arising out of the manufacture, storage and distribution of industrial gases including oxygen, nitrogen, acetylene and hydrogen. Many cases involving serious burn injuries and/or lung damage. Some dismissals on summary judgment; some defense verdicts; some settlements.
• Counsel for manufacturer in multi-million dollar "toxic mold" case brought by a Texas school district. Suit was settled for less than 10% of the amount claimed million one day after Robinson/Daubert argument.