Drinker Biddle has one of the premier pharmaceutical and medical device litigation practices in the country. The products liability practice group includes over sixty lawyers, with a national presence in the firm’s offices across the country. Drinker Biddle lawyers have successfully tried cases from “bet the company” to individual claims in courts around the country, handled class action and Daubert hearings, and have achieved numerous other victories through dispositive motions and on appeal. Our recent representations have included substantial matters pending, for example, in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arizona and California. As a leader in the national, regional and local management of mass tort and class action litigation, we closely coordinate our work on a team basis with corporate and local counsel.
Mass Tort, State and MDL Coordination. Drinker Biddle lawyers have been at the forefront of innovations in the management of national pharmaceutical litigation. Our present and recent engagements as national coordinating counsel in major pharmaceutical and medical device litigation involve numerous different products for many of the world’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturers. Many of our cases have involved federal multidistrict litigation (MDL), and we have developed effective coordination strategies to deal with simultaneous federal and state court litigation.
Across Drinker Biddle’s offices, our national lawyer teams serve clients as one firm. We have also developed an extensive network of pharmaceutical lawyers throughout the country with whom we have worked successfully in the past. The firm matches and coordinates its strengths with those of its local counsel to help achieve cost-effective representation. As litigation progresses, we often work with these lawyers in ways that go well beyond the traditional role of local counsel. Their efforts can include assistance with company witness preparation, locating and contacting potential expert witnesses, work on document production and participation during trial. We also represent our clients as regional or local counsel, defending individual claims and working as part of teams assembled by clients.
Class Action, Punitive Damages and Daubert Issues. Drinker Biddle’s reputation as one of the top class action defense firms in the country results from its enormous fund of experience in defending against alleged class actions across a broad range of pharmaceutical and other products litigation, as well as antitrust, employment and securities litigation. The wide range of industries served includes pharmaceuticals, retailing and communications.
Defense against punitive damages claims has also come to play a critical role in pharmaceutical and other products litigation. Drinker Biddle lawyers have substantial and successful experience in building the factual and legal foundations on which to counter such claims.
We have similar experience in developing a record and molding the arguments with regard to Daubert motions.
Electronic and Paper Discovery. The conduct and management of discovery can have a significant impact on both the outcome and expense of litigation. Recently, rapid growth in electronic discovery has increased significantly the scope and complexity of this work. Drinker Biddle has extensive experience in meeting these challenges. Drinker Biddle lawyers have, for example, designed and implemented preservation, collection and production programs for paper and electronic discovery in individual pharmaceutical cases and on a massive scale.
The Drinker Biddle Trial Team. In an era when many lawyers seldom go to court, Drinker Biddle clients are afforded the advantage of our extensive trial experience. We count among our lawyers Fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers and/or American Board of Trial Advocates. A number of our lawyers admitted to practice in New Jersey are certified as civil trial attorneys and/or are masters in local inns of court, the preeminent training place for young trial lawyers today.
Our experienced trial lawyers are led by Drinker Biddle partners with national reputations located in various offices across the country. This leadership is complemented by the strength and depth afforded by numerous additional partners with extensive experience with pharmaceutical and other mass tort litigation. Drinker Biddle’s pharmaceutical lawyers also actively participate – as members, officers, authors and lecturers – in the principal organizations that serve the defense community and the products liability bar.