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Companies facing products liability and mass tort litigation require experienced counsel with a sophisticated, multi-disciplinary practice. At the same time, the stakes for corporate defendants have grown to “bet the company” magnitude in many instances. Companies in these situations count on Goodwin to ensure their interests are optimally protected.
Our Products Litigation and Counseling lawyers combine extensive medical, scientific and engineering expertise with sophisticated litigation management and trial strategies. For more than 40 years, we have defended makers of pharmaceuticals and medical devices, building materials, food and dietary supplements, recreational equipment, petroleum, industrial machinery and other products, against national mass tort actions. Our lawyers have also litigated a host of other high-profile products, mass tort and class action cases, including those involving manufacturing processes and alleged chemical and environmental exposures.
Our Products Litigation and Counseling lawyers are well-known for successfully litigating and trying high-stakes cases. Our teams serve as national and lead industry counsel, supervise local counsel, coordinate multidistrict litigation and develop nationwide and multinational defense strategies. We are also well-versed in matters relating to manufacturing processes and alleged chemical and environmental exposures.
We pursue novel approaches – in motion practice, in settlement negotiations, and at trial – to achieve outcomes that favor our clients’ immediate as well as long-term interests. While we’ve resolved complex, multibillion-dollar disputes quickly and efficiently, we’re trial lawyers at heart, not afraid to take aggressive positions and win with a jury when we and our clients believe it’s the best approach.
An integral part of our practice is helping clients avoid costly and uncertain litigation. In addition to our courtroom capabilities, we routinely counsel clients on products liability/mass tort exposure and risk management and prevention. We use the full range of alternative dispute resolution techniques including mediation, arbitration and mini-trials. We also advise on warranties, warnings, labeling, product literature, product recalls, M&A due diligence, liability projections and modeling, and CPSC adverse event reporting. Our lawyers review product claims and warranties and counsel clients on how to minimize risks under state consumer protection statutes.
Due diligence presents another opportunity to protect clients by reducing risk. We know what to look for and help determine when an acquisition target might become a liability instead of a sound investment. We do more than identify significant potential exposure. By working closely with colleagues in our Business, Tax and Bankruptcy practices, our products team creates corporate structures to guard against future product liability claims.
Goodwin's appellate litigators have briefed and argued hundreds of high stakes appeals, securing victories for clients in federal and state appellate courts throughout the United States. Lawyers in our Appellate Litigation practice are experts at working cooperatively as part of a team — alongside trial counsel and subject-matter experts — to preserve and present the best possible case on appeal and maximize our clients’ chances for success.
Our work begins well before a case goes on appeal: preparing dispositive motions in trial court; preserving error for appellate review; handling post-verdict motions practice; and even initiating litigation, to set aside arbitrary decisions by administrative agencies or to enjoin unconstitutional or invalid laws on legal grounds. Members of the practice have argued more than twenty cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and have briefed scores of others.
Companies regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) know that expertise and practical advice are critical to the bottom line. Goodwin’s experienced FDA practice, a key component of the firm’s Technology & Life Sciences team, provides strategic counseling and skillful advocacy to companies subject to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Public Health Service Act, and related federal and state laws.
Succeeding in the life sciences industry is as much about strategy and execution as it is about research and development. And with the breakneck pace of technology disrupting industries on a global scale, Goodwin’s depth of experience not only in the life sciences space, but also in collaboration with our technology, healthcare, real estate and private equity lawyers, makes our team exceptionally suited to address whatever the future brings. We partner with clients to embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a profound and lasting impact.
Goodwin’s fully integrated, globally recognized destination life sciences practice is dedicated to serving the needs of innovators and investors working collaboratively to improve patients' lives. Our team of more than 150 lawyers is devoted to life sciences companies across the entire company lifecycle, and team members are strategically located across the major life sciences hubs in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Over the past 25 years, Proposition 65 litigation has become a real threat to businesses providing goods and services in California. The potential costs faced by corporate defendants are high – massive civil penalties, mandatory warnings on their products and damage to a company’s brand. Many law firms can process Proposition 65 cases; very few can try them and win. Goodwin has quickly become preeminent among those few firms.
Goodwin's appellate litigators have briefed and argued hundreds of high stakes appeals, securing victories for clients in federal and state appellate courts throughout the United States. Lawyers in our Appellate Litigation practice are experts at working cooperatively as part of a team — alongside trial counsel and subject-matter experts — to preserve and present the best possible case on appeal and maximize our clients’ chances for success.
Our work begins well before a case goes on appeal: preparing dispositive motions in trial court; preserving error for appellate review; handling post-verdict motions practice; and even initiating litigation, to set aside arbitrary decisions by administrative agencies or to enjoin unconstitutional or invalid laws on legal grounds. Members of the practice have argued more than twenty cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and have briefed scores of others.
Companies regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) know that expertise and practical advice are critical to the bottom line. Goodwin’s experienced FDA practice, a key component of the firm’s Technology & Life Sciences team, provides strategic counseling and skillful advocacy to companies subject to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Public Health Service Act, and related federal and state laws.
Succeeding in the life sciences industry is as much about strategy and execution as it is about research and development. And with the breakneck pace of technology disrupting industries on a global scale, Goodwin’s depth of experience not only in the life sciences space, but also in collaboration with our technology, healthcare, real estate and private equity lawyers, makes our team exceptionally suited to address whatever the future brings. We partner with clients to embrace the promise and potential of innovation to make a profound and lasting impact.
Goodwin’s fully integrated, globally recognized destination life sciences practice is dedicated to serving the needs of innovators and investors working collaboratively to improve patients' lives. Our team of more than 150 lawyers is devoted to life sciences companies across the entire company lifecycle, and team members are strategically located across the major life sciences hubs in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Over the past 25 years, Proposition 65 litigation has become a real threat to businesses providing goods and services in California. The potential costs faced by corporate defendants are high – massive civil penalties, mandatory warnings on their products and damage to a company’s brand. Many law firms can process Proposition 65 cases; very few can try them and win. Goodwin has quickly become preeminent among those few firms.