Editorial: Product Liability in Illinois
01 October 2006
Our research discovered a competitive market for product liability defence work in Chicago. Interviewees drew our attention to the success of boutique firms practising in the area of product liability defence. Two of these emerged from the research with distinction.
Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott is represented by Phil Beck, who was part of an eighteen-lawyer exodus from Kirkland & Ellis in 1993 (led by co-founder Fred Bartlit, who is nominated in our commercial litigation chapter). Beck elicited strong praise from participants in our research, who singled out both the man and the firm as “exemplary”. Recent triumphs include the successful defence in 2006 of pharmaceuticals company Merck in a federal Vioxx trial. In 2005, supported by a typically small, specialist team of attorneys, Beck won a defence verdict for DuPont chemicals company in a law suit brought by Costa Rican company TicoFruit, clearing them of liability related to Benlate fungicide.
Barry Montgomery represents Williams Montgomery & John Ltd, a firm of 42 specialist trial lawyers, on our list. According to one competitor: “He shows all the qualities of an outstanding trial lawyer, and a willingness to accept some of the more challenging cases.” Montgomery has also written extensively in the field.
Specialist Illinois litigation firm Swanson Martin & Bell was recommended as “comparatively small in size, but big on quality and client focus”. Our research recognises Brian Bell for his “absolute dedication to clients”, as one admiring source put it.
Moving on to mid-size firms, Wildman Harrold Allen & Dixon LLP has a formidable reputation and performed well in the research.
As the nation’s leading counsel for firearms manufacturers, the firm has been at the forefront of recent theoretical developments in the field of product liability. Throughout 2005 and 2006, Jim Dorr defended suits brought by government bodies, municipalities, classes and individuals, alleging public nuisance and negligent distribution. Clients have included Beretta USA, Smith & Wesson Corporation and Arcadia Machine & Tool Incorporated. Dorr also represents defendants in matters of complex toxic tort, such as City of Chicago v American Cyanamid Company and State of Rhode Island v Lead Industries Association Incorporated. He is accompanied in this section by partner Peter Tomaras, who was recommended to researchers for defending the manufacturers of silicone breast implants, in which the implants were alleged to have caused neuroblastoma (tumours in the nervous tissue) in infants.
Johnson & Bell Ltd is another firm with two nominees on our list: managing partners William Johnson and John Bell were described to researchers as “real contenders”. Johnson is currently engaged as defence counsel in two high-profile mass tort cases in Chicago, involving the collapse of scaffolding and the collapse of a porch, both of which resulted in multiple fatalities. Both partners are prolific writers in the practice area.
Tressler Soderstrom Maloney & Preiss LLP were led in the research by founding partner, practice chair and “dean of the products liability bar” Jay Tressler. Tressler has taken over 100 cases to jury trial, and is a recognised expert in mass tort and toxic tort claims. Co-founder Patrick Maloney also enjoys “high regard in the local legal community,” and like Tressler, he serves as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association.
This publication also recognises the contribution of large international firms, two of which dominate these pages in terms of concentration of attorneys. Both Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Sidley Austin LLP have a trio of successful nominees, and emerged from the research with additional honours, having performed well in our poll of the city’s most respected product liability practices. Sidley Austin can call on the expertise of practice leader Michael Davis, whose practice focuses on complex multiparty and toxic tort cases relating to consumer products and pharmaceutical products. Davis has taught at the Chicago-Kent School of Law and has published several treatises within the field. Sara Gourley concentrates on complex multi-jurisdictional mass tort cases; she serves as national counsel for blood products in AIDS and hepatitis litigation, and represents pharmaceutical industry leaders such as Pfizer, Santafe Aventis and Santafe Pasteur. Partner Sherry Knutson is described as “a very promising young lawyer”, who also specialises in mass tort litigation for clients in the pharmaceutical industry. She has represented the manufacturers of anti-cholesterol drug Baycol (German Pharmaceutical company Bayer) and arthritic pain-killers Bextra/ Celebrex in high-profile litigations.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP is represented by David Bernick, who has “considerable expertise” in handling class actions, mass tort and toxic tort cases. He is joined by partners John Donley and Andrew McGaan. According to one respondent, “Kirkland really shines in big, complex matters, and in [these three] lawyers they have the talent and resources necessary to take on the big cases.”
In addition to boutique firms and larger full-service law firms, our research identifies seven attorneys, that appear in this section based on the strengths of their individual practices. Daniel Cray is recognised from Iwan Cray Huber Horstman & VanAusdal LLC, a firm known for representing several major US automobile manufacturers.
Michael Pope of McDermott Will & Emery LLP was enthusiastically recommended by peers, who cited his expertise in class action suits and toxic tort cases. A “truly remarkable talent in litigation,” Pope has been recognised by several legal professional bodies: he is a past president of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association, a past president of the International Association of Defence Counsel, and presently a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. As practice chair at the firm has most recently been engaged in the defence of State Farm in class action litigation in Illinois.
Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP appears courtesy of the “excellent” John Dames, who has a nationally recognised practice in toxic tort relating to medical devices, and chemical and pharmaceutical products. He has been active in high-profile cases involving oral contraceptives, polyvinyl chloride meat-wrapping film, and asbestosbased insulation products. He has also been engaged as national counsel for manufacturers of silicone breast implants and latex gloves.
Barney Schultz appears with the added distinction of being the only representative based outside Chicago. He has extensive experience, trying asbestos and other product liability cases in Illinois, and acted as counsel for State Farm in the trial Avery v State Farm.
Finally, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP is represented by Marc Whitehead, who was recommended as “a tenacious attorney and a great litigator.”