Shook Recognized for Product Liability Litigation Defense

The American Lawyer has named Shook, Hardy & Bacon as a finalist in the Product Liability category of its Litigation Department of the Year Awards. The firm was recognized “for the breadth of its work, from wins in traditional one-off cases for clients like Kia Motors America, Inc., to its role in managing the massive Engle tobacco litigation in Florida for Altria Group, Inc.” The legal magazine, which invites the largest U.S. firms to participate in its biannual competition, also cited the firm’s pharmaceutical defense work and its attraction of clients through the use of alternative fee arrangements. See The American Lawyer, January 1, 2010.

Meanwhile, Law360 has recognized Shook, Hardy & Bacon as a Product Liability Defense Firm of the Year. The publication cited medical device and pharmaceutical victories that the firm secured for its clients and quoted firm chair John Murphy, who attributes its success to the “Midwestern work ethic that pervades” the firm. Murphy also noted that Shook’s litigators rely on a pool of experts on staff with advanced degrees in product-related fields such as biology and chemistry to “take [a] complicated issue and boil it down to where the lawyers understand it and where the juries understand.” He referred to collaborations with other law firms as another trend that has led to success in the defense of product liability litigation. “I think we do that very well, and I can’t say that’s true of all firms,” he said. “We tend, as a firm, to play well in the sandbox with others.”