MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE

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1 MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION BEST PRACTICES CONFERENCE September 11 12, 2014 PANELIST PROFILES JOHN BEISNER Partner, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom John Beisner is national co chair of Skadden s mass torts and insurance litigation group. He has represented defendants in a wide range of high visibility litigation matters, including mass tort controversies and class actions, at both the trial and appellate court level. Over the past 35 years, he has represented defendants in over 40 federal multidistrict litigation proceedings (including the Vioxx MDL), often in a lead counsel role, and in more than 600 federal and state class actions. Mr. Beisner is in the top tier of Chambers USA: America s Leading Lawyers for Business in the products liability category and is also listed in The Best Lawyers in America and Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America. For his work on the settlement of a state attorneys general investigation of Countrywide Finance/Bank of America lending practices, John was named Litigator of the Week by The American Lawyer. He is an active participant in legal reform initiatives and received the Institute for Legal Reform s 2011 Research and Policy Award for his integral role in crafting the federal Class Action Fairness Act. SHEILA BIRNBAUM Partner, Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart & Sullivan Sheila Birnbaum is co chair of Quinn Emanuel s global product liability and mass torts practice. She has been national counsel or lead defense counsel for numerous Fortune 500 companies in some of the largest and most complicated tort cases in the country. She was chosen as the leading products liability lawyer in the world by The International Who's Who of Product Liability, one of the 10 most admired product liability attorneys in 2010 by Law 360 and one of the 25 most influential women in New York by Crain's New York Business. She was courtappointed mediator in a dispute involving families of 9/11 victims, mediating a $500 million settlement for 92 families of victims of the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. In 2011, Attorney General Eric 1 Holder appointed Ms. Birnbaum to serve as Special Master of the reactivated September 11th Victims Compensation Fund program. She will oversee the administration of the $2.7 billion fund created under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. ELIZABETH CABRASER Founding Partner, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein Elizabeth Cabraser is a founding partner of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein with 36 years experience representing plaintiffs in securities, product, consumer, mass tort, civil rights, and antitrust litigation. She has served in court appointed leadership roles in scores of federal multidistrict and class proceedings and is presently serving in the plaintiffs leadership of the Toyota, GM Ignition, and BP oil spill litigations. She teaches complex litigation at Berkeley and Columbia law schools, is editor in chief of California Class Action Practice and Procedure, executive editor of the ABA s The Law of Class Actions , and writes on class action and complex litigation topics for law reviews and practitioners publications. Ms. Cabraser was named one of National Law Journal s 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America in 1997, 2000, 2006, and 2013, one of its 50 Top Women Litigators, and was named again in 2014 to the California Daily Journal s Top 100 Lawyers. In 2010, she was appointed to serve on the Federal Rules Advisory Committee. MARK CHEFFO Partner, Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart & Sullivan Mark Cheffo is co chair of Quinn Emanuel s global product liability and mass torts practice. He represents defendants in products liability, insurance and mass torts litigation, serving as national coordinating and trial counsel both in large, complex matters and in individual cases. He has represented pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, designers of bioengineered agricultural products, and sellers of consumer and

2 industrial products. He also has handled insurance sales practices cases and numerous toxic and environmental exposure suits. Mr. Cheffo was named a Litigator of the Week by The Am Law Litigation Daily in He is active in local bar associations and is a frequent lecturer on products liability issues. He also is very involved in pro bono efforts. He obtained a judgment of more than $1.7 million for liability and legal fees on behalf of 11 restaurant workers in New York s Chinatown. Mr. Cheffo was nominated for membership in the International Association of Defense Counsel. He has been selected for inclusion in Chambers USA: America s Leading Lawyers for Business and The Best Lawyers in America. HONORABLE MARK DAVIDSON Multidistrict Litigation Judge, State of Texas Mark Davidson served as judge of the 11th District Court for 20 years before his retirement in He is now serving as the multidistrict litigation judge for all asbestos cases in the State of Texas, being named to that position by Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson and the Multidistrict Litigation Panel of the Texas Supreme Court. In that role, Judge Davidson has judicial duties over the 85,000 asbestos cases pending throughout the state. While serving as a district judge, he tried over 450 jury trials and cut the backlog in the 11th District Court by 70 percent. In 1993, he was named "Trial Judge of the Year" by the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists. From 2002 through 2007, he served as administrative judge of Harris County. DANIEL GIRARD Founding Partner, Girard Gibbs Daniel Girard is the founder and managing partner of Girard Gibbs, a law firm with offices in San Francisco and New York. He is recognized as an expert on class actions and complex litigation. He has successfully represented plaintiffs in class actions arising in a variety of legal settings, emphasizing cases involving securities and consumer financial services. His recent case work includes serving on the leadership team in the Lehman securities litigation; representing investors in Provident Royalties, a failed shale gas investment scheme; and leading a successful class action to reform income tax payment procedures for the US Territory of Guam. Mr. Girard also represents public and private institutional investors in securities litigation matters and advises corporate clients on litigation risk management and corporate governance issues. He served on the U.S. Judicial Conference s Advisory Committee on Civil Rules from He is a member of the American Law Institute and serves on the advisory board of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System. SARA GOURLEY Partner, Sidley Austin Sara Gourley is a litigation partner in the Chicago office and a member of the firm s executive committee. She has substantial experience in pharmaceutical, medical device, and blood products liability litigation. Her practice is concentrated in the areas of pharmaceutical and medical device defense, especially multijurisdictional coordination and defense of class actions. She has served in leading defense roles for clients in many of the pharmaceutical industry s most significant litigation. Ms. Gourley is consistently recognized for her products liability work by the industry s leading ranking publications including Chambers USA, LMG Life Sciences, Legal 500, Benchmark Litigation, The International Who s Who of Life Sciences Lawyers, and The Best Lawyers in America among others. She speaks frequently on topics relating to the defense of product liability claims. Recent presentations include: Approaches to Causation in Mass Torts, Transnational Product Liability Problems and The Role of Litigation in Regulating Drug Safety. HONORABLE DAVID HERNDON United States District Judge, Southern District of Illinois David Herndon, Chief Judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, was confirmed by the Senate on October 21, His federal tenure followed seven years as an Associate Judge in the Third Judicial Circuit, Madison County, Illinois. Prior to that, Judge Herndon worked as a trial attorney, specializing in plaintiff s personal injury cases, with an emphasis on FELA litigation for 14 years. He presides over MDL cases, including MDL 2100 involving the birth control pill commonly referred to as YAZ and MDL 2385 involving the blood thinning medication known as Pradaxa. He 2

3 currently serves on the Judicial Conference Committee on Judicial Security where he is the chair of the On Site Security Subcommittee. WILLIAM HOFFMAN Partner, Kaye Scholer William Hoffman is a litigation partner and co head of the life sciences group at Kaye Scholer in Washington, DC. He is an experienced trial and appellate lawyer who has represented a wide range of clients in major product liability and other complex litigation, criminal investigations, actions by state attorneys general, regulatory matters and litigation avoidance counseling. He has tried a number of cases to verdict in both state and federal court, has argued numerous appeals and conducted evidentiary hearings. He is a member of the DC Circuit s Appointed Counsel Panel. From 1992 to 1996, Mr. Hoffman served as an assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he represented the government in a wide range of civil litigation and criminal investigations. He has been individually recognized by a number of industry guides and publications. He is recommended by The Legal 500 United States in the categories of product liability and mass tort defense: pharmaceuticals and medical devices and healthcare: life sciences, and recognized by Who s Who Legal 2013 for his work in life sciences and product liability defense. Mr. Hoffman was previously an adjunct professor at the Fordham Law School and has authored several articles and chapters concerning pharmaceutical criminal and regulatory issues. JEFF KRUSE Senior Counsel, Boston Scientific Corporation Jeff Kruse is senior litigation counsel for Boston Scientific Corporation. He joined Guidant Corporation in November 2005, just before Guidant was purchased by Boston Scientific. He has been responsible for managing civil litigation including corporate disputes, securitiesrelated litigation, product liability litigation, including the Guidant MDL in Minnesota and the pelvic floor mesh litigation MDL in West Virginia. He has also handled several government investigations, many of which resulted in no actions against the company. Mr. Kruse previously practiced at Shook, Hardy and Bacon where he focused his practice on representing pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, including his current employer. CHRISTINE LEVIN Partner, Dechert Christine Levin is a partner at Dechert, where she concentrates her practice on complex criminal and civil litigation, including antitrust class action matters. She has extensive experience including litigation involving the pharmaceutical, chemical, baby food, computer technology, and newspaper industries. She has been involved in class actions raising price fixing (handling the underlying grand juries as well), RICO, false advertising, and a variety of product liability claims. Her work with economic experts yielded two important class certification decisions. Ms. Levin has been recognized for several years by Chambers USA as a leading antitrust lawyer in Pennsylvania. In its 2008 edition, Chambers noted she is a highly skilled defense counselor who is particularly praised for her international cartel work in the USA and the EU. Ms. Levin is also listed in Benchmark Litigation and The Best Lawyers of America, which named her the Philadelphia Antitrust Lawyer of the Year in its 2011 edition. JOHN MacNAUGHTON Partner, Morris Manning & Martin John MacNaughton is a senior partner in the firm s Commercial Litigation Practice, and he heads the firm s Products Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action Practices. His practice focuses on civil litigation, including extensive class action, product liability and mass tort litigation, in addition to complex business and insurance coverage disputes. Mr. MacNaughton also has broad experience in large multiple party litigation, including acting as lead counsel in Federal Multidistrict Litigation proceedings. He has significant lead counsel trial experience in state and federal courts throughout the United States. He has served as lead national counsel for major public companies in connection with multi state commercial, consumer, mass tort and property damage class action litigation and as lead or national coordinating counsel in commercial and products liability/toxic torts cases pending throughout the country. Mr. MacNaughton also 3

4 serves as regional counsel for pharmaceutical manufacturers in connection with major product liability litigation. He has been honored for Product Liability Litigation by The Best Lawyers in America for the last four years and listed as a leading lawyer for General Commercial Litigation by Chambers USA: America s Leading Lawyers for Business since THEODORE MAYER Partner, Hughes Hubbard & Reed Theodore Mayer is the managing partner of Hughes Hubbard & Reed. He formerly chaired the firm s litigation department. His practice focuses on product liability and on complex litigation generally. Mr. Mayer has defended some of the largest and most complex litigation in the US over the past three decades on behalf of pharmaceutical companies and consumer product companies. Chambers USA has consistently recognized Mr. Mayer as one of the leading product liability defense lawyers in the United States. MALINI MOORTHY Vice President & Associate General Counsel, Bayer Corp. Malini Moorthy is Vice President & Associate General Counsel of Bayer Corporation, where she manages, directs and sets strategy for all litigation of Bayer Corporation and its US operating companies, Bayer HealthCare, Bayer MaterialScience and Bayer CropScience. Prior to joining Bayer, she was the head of the Civil Litigation Group at Pfizer Inc, where she gained recognition for her handling of some of the most challenging mass torts in the biopharmaceutical industry. She was named to Inside Counsel magazine s R3 100 List, which identifies the 100 leading women attorneys likely to be general counsel within the next three years, and was awarded, together with her team, In house Counsel Litigation Team of the Year for 2012 by Benchmark Litigation. Prior to joining Pfizer, Ms. Moorthy spent many years as a litigation associate at law firms in the U.S. and Canada, including the New York office of Salans, now known as Dentons, and Genest Murray DesBrisay Lamek and McCarthy Tétrault, both in Toronto. DIANNE NAST Founding Partner, NastLaw Dianne Nast founded NastLaw in Philadelphia in She has extensive and diverse experience in pharmaceutical and antitrust litigation, and much of her professional career has been dominated by this type of litigation. With over 30 years in this field, she is consistently recognized by her clients and peers as one of the best lawyers in the country. Ms. Nast has been named by Philadelphia Magazine as one of Pennsylvania s top fifty women attorneys, and the National Law Journal has selected her as one of the nation s top 50 women litigators. She has been a member of Superlawyers for over a decade. She has served on various national advisory, rule making, and planning committees, including as lawyer chair of the Judicial Conference of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Ms. Nast has also been active in local, state and national bar activities, and was selected to serve as an adviser for the ALI s Principles of the Law of Aggregate Litigation Project. BRUCE PARKER Partner, Venable Bruce Parker is a partner in the Baltimore office of Venable, LLP. His practice focuses primarily on product liability and toxic tort litigation, in particular, pharmaceutical and medical device product liability litigation. He is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and has served as lead trial counsel in many prominent MDL cases. Mr. Parker has served as president of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) and as director of IADC's renowned Trial Academy in 2004 and the dean of its Corporate Counsel College in He has been active in the Lawyers for Civil Justice and was chosen to serve as the spokesperson for the major civil defense bar association at the May 2010 Duke Conference on rule changes. He has testified before the Civil Rules Advisory Committee on changes to the discovery and evidence rules. 4

5 BRIAN PASTUSZENSKI Partner, Goodwin Procter Brian Pastuszenski, national co chair of Goodwin Procter s Securities Litigation & SEC Enforcement Practice, is recognized as one of the premier lawyers in the country defending securities and shareholder litigation matters and related regulatory investigations. For the past several years, he has been lead defense counsel for the largest mortgage lender in the United States in scores of securities class action and individual investor suits, shareholder derivative actions, and related matters arising out of the credit crisis in trial and appellate courts across the country. Mr. Pastuszenski is ranked as a national leader in securities litigation and corporate governance by Chambers USA: America s Leading Lawyers for Business, The Best Lawyers in America, and Benchmark Litigation Guide to America s Leading Litigation Firms & Attorneys. He also has been selected as one of the top 500 lawyers in America by Lawdragon 500 Guide to the 500 Leading Lawyers in America (2013 and 2014), the best securities litigator in Boston by Best Lawyers in America (2014), and as a national Securities Litigation MVP by Law360 (2013), one of only six securities litigation lawyers in the country to receive this award. ELLEN RELKIN Of Counsel, Weitz & Luxenberg Ellen Relkin is of counsel to Weitz & Luxenberg in New York City and Cherry Hill, New Jersey. She is co lead counsel in the DePuy ASR MDL litigation. In that capacity she played a key role in negotiating the $2.5 billion settlement for 8,000 victims of the failed hip implant. She is Chair of the Plaintiffs Steering Committee (PSC) in the New Jersey Multi County Stryker Rejuvenate/ABG II Hip Implant Litigation and serves on the PSC of the Biomet M2a Magnum Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation. She was a member of the trial team in the landmark Vioxx case McDarby v. Merck, which obtained a $13.5 million verdict and successfully defended the compensatory verdict in writing and arguing the appeal before the New Jersey Appellate Division. Ms. Relkin is an elected member of the American Law Institute and serves on the Board of Governors of the New Jersey Association for Justice as well as the Roscoe Pound Foundation. She is a former chair of the Toxic, Environmental and Pharmaceutical Torts Section of the American Association of Justice. She has been elected as a Super Lawyer of New Jersey and New York as well as AV rated and selected for the Martindale Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers. JOSEPH RICE Co Founder, Motley Rice Joseph Rice is a co founding member of Motley Rice. He has been recognized for his central role in crafting the Master Settlement Agreement involving the tobacco industry, as well as his involvement structuring some of the most significant resolutions of asbestos liabilities on behalf of those injured by asbestos related products. A skillful negotiator of complex litigation settlements, Mr. Rice continues to litigate toxic and mass torts cases and handles both federal and state court matters and complex legal negotiations involving medical drugs and devices, securities fraud, anti terrorism, human rights, environmental, aviation and catastrophic injury cases. Most recently, he was appointed to the Plaintiffs Steering Committee for the Lipitor multidistrict litigation and the Plaintiffs' Executive Committee for the In re General Motors LLC Ignition Switch Litigation. He continues to serves on the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill MDL. Mr. Rice was one of the lead negotiators of the settlement reached with Halliburton Energy Services, Inc., for its role in the incident, and he was a co lead negotiator of the two settlements reached with BP, one of which is the largest civil class action settlement in U.S. history. HONORABLE CYNTHIA RUFE United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania Cynthia Rufe was appointed to the federal bench in Prior to that appointment, she served as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Judge Rufe has been appointed to lead several product liability/sales and marketing Multidistrict Litigations for the diabetes drug, Avandia; for Zoloft; and most recently, for Effexor. She was a member of the State Federal Multi Jurisdiction Task Force which recently published a manual, Coordinating Multi 5

6 Jurisdiction Litigation, A Survival Guide for Judges also posted on the JPMDL website. Judge Rufe regularly presents legal and ethics courses to litigation sections of the ABA, the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, state and local bar associations, and is a frequent panelist on multidistrict and complex litigation, class actions, civility, product liability, personal injury, patent, trademark and copyright law, electronic discovery, alternative dispute resolution, and employment law. HONORABLE ANTHONY SCIRICA United States Appellate Judge, Third Circuit Court of Appeals Anthony Scirica, one of the nation s leading jurists, is a senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He became a senior fellow at Penn Law in 2013 and teaches courses in civil procedure and complex litigation. Judge Scirica was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 1987 and served as Chief Judge from 2003 to In addition to his service on the bench, he served as a member and then as chair of the Executive Committee of the United States Judicial Conference, the governing body of the federal judiciary. He currently serves as chair of its Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability and as a member of the Committee on International Relations. Judge Scirica has previously served as chair of the U.S. Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, chair of the Judicial Conference Working Group on Mass Torts, as a member of the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules, and as a member of the Multidistrict Panel on Litigation. CHRISTOPHER SEEGER Founding Partner, Seeger Weiss Christopher Seeger is a founding partner of Seeger Weiss and is one of the nation s leading attorneys in the areas of complex and mass tort actions, with a particular expertise in pharmaceutical cases. He has earned leadership appointments from state and federal courts throughout the United States in many of the country s most complex and noteworthy multidistrict litigations. Best known for his groundbreaking work in pharmaceutical mass actions involving Vioxx, Zyprexa, Rezulin, PPA and Gadolinium, among others, which resulted in the recovery of over $8 billion for injured victims nationwide, he has achieved similar milestone successes in class and mass actions encompassing a vast array of corporate misconduct. More recently, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania appointed Mr. Seeger in 2012 to lead the highly visible and contentious multidistrict litigation against the National Football League arising out of concussion related injuries sustained by thousands of former NFL players over the past several decades. In the face of significant legal and scientific obstacles, Mr. Seeger brought all of his experience and diplomacy to bear as chief negotiator in crafting an uncapped global settlement for thousands of former NFL athletes in August of THOMAS SOBOL Partner, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro Thomas Sobol has been the managing partner of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro s Boston office since 2002 and has over 30 years of experience in complex civil litigation. His practice focuses on pharmaceutical and medical device litigation for consumer classes, large and small health plans, individuals, and state governments. He currently leads drug pricing litigation efforts against numerous pharmaceutical and medical device companies in order to remedy overcharges to consumers and health plans that pay for brand name and generic drugs and defective medical devices. In recent years, Mr. Sobol has been a lead negotiator in numerous prescription drug, courtapproved settlements totaling well in excess of $2 billion. In the past, he served as special assistant attorney general for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the states of New Hampshire and Rhode Island, and served as one of the private counsel for Massachusetts and New Hampshire in ground breaking litigation against the tobacco industry. JOHN THOMAS Member, Dykema Gossett John Thomas is a member of Dykema s automotive and products liability practice group. Recognized nationally as a sophisticated class action and appellate practitioner, he has briefed and argued appeals in courts throughout the country including the Supreme Courts of Michigan and Virginia. Mr. Thomas experience in the automotive 6

7 industry is extensive. For 27 years, he worked in Ford Motor Company's Office of the General Counsel where he supervised much of Ford's most significant appellate, class action and other complex litigation. He developed Ford s acclaimed Advanced Motions program, designed to influence the long term development of the common law, particularly product liability law, by integrating legal scholarship and appellate practice with successful trial strategy. The program was instrumental in Corporate Counsel s selection of Ford s legal team as the best corporate law department of Mr. Thomas was one of the founding members of the Product Liability Advisory Council, and served as its second chairperson. In addition, since 1985 he has served as a member of the council s Case Selection Committee. HONORABLE THOMAS THRASH, JR. United States District Court, Northern District of Georgia Thomas Thrash was appointed to the federal bench in Prior to his appointment, he was a professor at Georgia State University and in private practice in Georgia. He served as an assistant district attorney with the Fulton County, Georgia DA's Office from 1977 to Judge Thrash has served as a member of the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Judicial Conference of the United States, as chair of the Judicial Section of the Atlanta Bar Association, and is an elected member of the American Law Institute. HONORABLE JOHN TUNHEIM United States District Court, District of Minnesota John Tunheim was appointed to the federal bench in In 1986, after serving for two years as the state's solicitor general, he was appointed Minnesota Chief Deputy Attorney General and served until his appointment to the federal bench. Judge Tunheim served from as the chair of the United States Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management (CACM). He currently serves the Judicial Conference as one of the leaders of the development of a new electronic filing system for the federal courts. He has frequently presented at district judge training workshops for the Federal Judicial Center on the topics of handling terrorism cases and other complex litigation. Judge Tunheim has served as the transferee judge in multidistrict litigation cases. He has served as president of the American Judicature Society, is a former board member of the Federal Bar Association, and has taken an active leadership role in a myriad of other bar and judges associations. He is currently involved in a project with the United Nations Executive Directorate on Counter Terrorism. HONORABLE KATHRYN VRATIL United States District Court, District of Kansas Kathryn Vratil was appointed to the federal bench in 1992, and was named chief judge in She was previously a partner in the litigation department of a Kansas City law firm, as well as a municipal judge for the city of Prairie Village, Kansas. Judge Vratil is a member of the Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation and a member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Judicial Center. JOSEPH ZONIES Partner, Reilly Pozner Joseph Zonies is a partner with Reilly Pozner and leads the firm s mass tort and personal injury practice groups, and he has litigated cases against and on behalf of large corporations. Currently, he is very active in a number of mass tort litigations, including litigation related to birth defects associated with the use of antidepressants during pregnancy and injuries related to trans vaginal mesh. In addition, Mr. Zonies has been in the leadership of and/or has represented thousands of clients in other pharmaceutical mass tort litigations and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients. He has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America under the specialty of Personal Injury Litigation Plaintiff, has been designated as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Colorado Super Lawyers, and is AV Rated by Martindale Hubbell. 7