Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy

Pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers face relentless and costly waves of product liability claims across U.S. federal and state courts, spanning individual suits, consolidated multidistrict litigation and coordinated proceedings, multi-plaintiff actions, and class actions. As this complex area of litigation continues to expand-often into more treacherous and plaintiff-friendly venues-the stakes for getting strategy right, early and often, have never been higher.

The third edition of Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy equips litigators with clear, practical guidance from pre-litigation investigations through trial. Reflecting significant developments since the prior edition, it distills the current and evolving legal landscape impacting drug and device lawyers, and offers actionable analysis on the issues that are most likely to influence outcomes: pre-litigation investigation and risk assessment, document preservation and fact discovery, coordination in MDLs and state proceedings, class action challenges, developments in preemption and personal jurisdiction case law, admissibility of expert testimony, dispositive and pre-trial motion practice, jury selection, and trial strategy.

This edition highlights strategic inflection points and delivers practice-oriented insights to streamline case management and sharpen advocacy. With its emphasis on strategy and results, it is an indispensable resource for lawyers navigating high-profile drug and device litigation in a continually shifting environment.

Geoffrey M. Drake is a partner in King and Spalding's Product Liability & Mass Torts Practice, where he represents life sciences, automotive and transportation, technology and energy/mining companies in high-profile product liability, toxic tort and mass tort litigation, for which he has extensive experience litigating all phases of individual, MDL and class action cases, as well as serving as coordinating and strategic counsel in connection with large dockets of cases at the federal and state levels. Clients have described Geoffrey to Chambers USA as "extraordinary" and a "common-sense litigator."

Julia Zousmer is a partner in King & Spalding's Product Liability & Mass Torts Practice, where she defends pharmaceutical and consumer product manufacturers in complex product liability litigation. In particular, Julia focuses her practice on the strategic national coordination of mass tort litigation. She has significant experience managing all phases of federal multidistrict litigation MDL and state court coordinated proceedings and has been involved in almost 20 trials in some of the highest profile product liability MDLs of the last decade.

Mark Herrmann is a graduate of Princeton University (A.B. 1979; cum laude) and The University of Michigan Law School (J.D. 1983; magna cum laude), where he served on The University of Michigan Law Review. He clerked for The Honorable Dorothy W. Nelson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Mr. Herrmann was an associate at Steinhart & Falconer, a partner at Jones Day, and Vice President and Global Head of Litigation at Aon. He is the author of The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law and a co-founder of the Drug and Device Law Blog.

David Alden is a graduate of Oberlin College (1980; with honors) and The University of Michigan Law School (1983; magna cum laude). He practiced at the Jones Day law firm as an associate and then partner for over four decades. His practice focused on defending prescription drug and medical device manufacturers, as well as consumer product manufacturers, in product liability matters pending in state and federal trial and appellate courts throughout the United States. He authored law review articles on a range of topics, including issues arising in prescription drug product liability litigation.