Best Lawyers in America for Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants
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State
Michael J. (Sam) Sandmire Partner Sam Sandmire's practice is focused on complex business, product liability, personal injury, and employment litigation and counseling. Sam defends and prosecutes claims in a wide range of business disputes and defends insured and self-insured manufacturers in product liability, class action, consumer fraud, construction and mass tort litigation. He has litigated toxic exposure, catastrophic injury, and multi-state consumer fraud claims on behalf of manufacture...
Christina M. Schwing is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation and Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants. Christina M., who practices law in Jacksonville, Florida, has been recognized since 2021. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Christina M. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
William Keeler is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation, Litigation - Construction, Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants and Product Liability Litigation - Defendants. William, who practices law in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has been recognized since 2024. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which William is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice a...
Sharon Stuart devotes her practice to civil trial work and arbitration. She focuses on complex commercial and insurance litigation, and she handles a variety of product liability cases including pharmaceutical and medical device products liability litigation as national, regional or local counsel. Her trial experience includes a wide range of business tort claims, contract disputes, commercial and insurance fraud and bad faith suits, and wrongful death cases. She has defended dozens of class ...
A noted and highly awarded litigator who has successfully argued high-stakes, precedent-setting cases across the country, John Tarantino represents international manufacturers, major chemical companies, railroads, e-commerce businesses, entrepreneurs, sports coaches and managers, and leading real estate developers in sophisticated litigation matters involving complex issues of constitutional law, antitrust, intellectual property, product liability, toxic tort, white-collar crime, and employme...
Richard E. Sarver is a founding member of the law firm of Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver, L.L.C., a New Orleans litigation firm ranked among the top litigation firms in Louisiana. Rick has extensive jury trial experience, including trials in thirteen different states. He has served as lead trial attorney in more than 100 jury trials, including complex multidistrict litigation. Many of his trials have been in bet-the-company litigation, where he repeatedly has succeeded before j...
H. Lanier Brown II is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation, Employment Law - Management, Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants, Product Liability Litigation - Defendants and Professional Malpractice Law - Defendants. H. Lanier, who practices law in Birmingham, Alabama, has been recognized since 2008. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high estee...
V. Woolston, a partner in the Product Liability practice, has extensive experience in litigation and trial practice in state and federal courts throughout the United States. His practice emphasizes aviation, product liability, toxic torts and class actions. He also regularly counsels clients in loss prevention and lawsuit avoidance issues. V. has served on the firm's management and executive committees.
Kelly has worked with major pharmaceutical and medical device clients in in all phases of the litigation process, including discovery, motion practice, expert workup, and trial preparation. Her pharmaceutical and medical device experience is focused on the management of consolidated mass tort actions, particularly in the multidistrict litigation (MDL) context. Kelly has assisted in trying multiple MDL bellwether trials as a member of the trial team. Kelly also has prior experience defending r...
Gavin McCarthy is a trial lawyer whose practice covers a wide variety of complex commercial litigation, with a particular emphasis on class action defense and construction litigation. Gavin's practice spans the country, from defending a leading disability insurer in a class action in Louisiana to representing a major energy provider in an eight-figure construction dispute in Maine to handling a series of building product class actions in South Carolina and Massachusetts. At the same time, Gav...
James E. Lambert III is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants. James E., who practices law in Gulfport, Mississippi, has been recognized since 2026. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which James E. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Mark Marionneaux is a litigation attorney in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana office of Kean Miller . His practice focuses on products liability, toxic tort defense, and complex litigation matters, including Litigation – Environmental and Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants . He represents chemical, fertilizer, and energy companies in a broad range of disputes involving alleged chemical exposure, toxic tort claims, products liability, insurance defense, workers’ comp...
Matthew J. Fischer is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants and Product Liability Litigation - Defendants. Matthew J., who practices law in Chicago, Illinois, has been recognized since 2012. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Matthew J. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Richard A. Oetheimer is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants and Product Liability Litigation - Defendants. Richard A., who practices law in Boston, Massachusetts, has been recognized since 2012. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Richard A. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Mary Clift Abdalla is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants, Product Liability Litigation - Defendants and Workers' Compensation Law - Employers. Mary Clift, who practices law in Jackson, Mississippi, has been recognized since 2019. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Mary Clift is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.