Gwyn Williams > Latham & Watkins LLP > Boston, United States > Lawyer Profile

Appreciated by clients for its ‘highly collaborative, co-ordinated and efficient’ approach, Latham & Watkins LLP has ‘superb expertise in complex product liability cases’, and is regularly involved in big-ticket aggregated cases, including class actions and MDLs. The team’s generalist approach to work in the space ensures that it has expertise across a wide range of consumer products, including within the hi-tech sector, however, it has undoubtedly gained most acclaim for its longstanding representation of Philip Morris in relation to mass tort and RICO suits. A significant amount of this work now relates to work outside of the country, with ‘very sharp’ Washington DC-based partner Christine Rolph being central to the firm’s role defending the tobacco giant against high-profile and high-value healthcare recoupment suits brought against it, including by Brazilian and South Korean governments. Key to Rolph’s success in the area, is her ability to digest and develop highly complex scientific information, an area where she has ‘reams of experience with expert development’. Recognized as a ‘master strategist’, litigation heavyweight Kenneth Parsigian has also been pivotal to the firm’s tobacco-related work both nationally and internationally, work which he combines with an eclectic mass tort offering which is reflective of his overarching role as a trial lawyer par-excellence. With a ‘work ethic that is second to none’, Gwyn Williams  co-heads the practice alongside Parsigan and is able to draw upon vast experience involving a variety of consumer products, which deal with a wide variety of state and federal consumer protection statutes.

Latham & Watkins LLP‘s team combines a strong transactional practice with a focus on complex litigation. John Manthei and Ben Haas co-head the healthcare team from the Washington DC office, while fellow co-head Judith Hasko takes the lead from her base in San Francisco. On the litigation side, Gwyn Williams and David Tolley, both located in Boston, defend major insurers in a series of underpayment claims cases, while Washington DC’s Daniel Meron focuses on False Claims Act matters. Its transactional offering was further strengthened in October 2022 with the arrival of co-chair Jason Caron and Kevin Miller, both formerly at McDermott Will & Emery LLP. Based in Washington DC, Caron leverages clinical and government experience to advise clients on complex healthcare regulatory, reimbursement, and policy matters, while Chicago-based Miller’s practice focuses on advising private equity sponsors and portfolio companies on investment-related transactional healthcare insurance matters.

Latham & Watkins LLP‘s nationwide offering, which draws upon lawyers with expertise across product liability, environmental law and complex commercial disputes, provides advice to clients facing down a variety of toxic tort private class actions, government investigations, and enforcement actions, as well as in the context of environmental clean-up cases. The firm has been at the cutting-edge of environmental issues for many years and regularly helps major industrial and manufacturing clients respond to high-stakes toxic tort matters, not only from a purely litigious perspective but also in a risk management context. In Chicago, the ‘creative and extremely hardworking’ Mary Rose Alexander  is adept at guiding clients, including energy and chemical companies, through all aspects of multi-plaintiff toxic tort and environmental litigation including case management, expert discovery and trial. As well as handling conventional matters relating to alleged exposure to chemicals, metals and solvents, she has also been active defending clients in cases where plaintiffs have initiated tort litigation as a means of advancing ESG goals. Boston-based partners Gwyn Williams  and Kenneth Parsigian co-head the firm’s  overarching product liability, mass tort and consumer class action group which houses the underlying toxic tort offering. Kegan Brown left the firm in January 2024.