The Legal 500

Within Patent prosecution: utility and design patents , tier 6

Based in Kansas City, full-service firm Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP’s prosecution practice boasts a number of high-profile clients and a history to rival most firms. The team is formed of a total of 30 attorneys who can also draw on the support of more than 125 in-house research analysts. The group has a close relationship with Microsoft, assisting with prosecution, counseling and litigation, while other major clients include Nike, Black & Decker, Hallmark Cards, ExxonMobil and DuPont. The practice is co-chaired by Michael Gross in Kansas City, and Trent Webb, who focuses solely on litigation.

Within Product liability and mass tort defense: automotive/transport , Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP is a second tier firm,

Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP is best known for its product liability work in the life sciences and tobacco sectors, but has been steadily increasing its foothold in the automotive field. With major clients such as Toyota, General Motors and Ford instructing the firm, it appears to have consolidated its position as one of the leaders for ‘high-exposure lawsuits throughout the US, particularly those filed in the Midwest’. The group serves as national trial counsel on Tyco’s automotive and general liability litigation. It has also been retained to represent a sizeable commercial and school bus dealership in California litigation arising from a January 2009 accident in which a bus overturned in Arizona, killing seven tourists. In 2009, the firm tried and won a significant case for Kia arising from the first rollover crash case involving the client’s flagship SUV in Oklahoma City. In San Francisco, Frank Kelly is ‘a superb trial lawyer’, while H Grant Law is also an excellent trial attorney. Robert Adams in Kansas City is ‘excellent on technical issues’, as is Douglas Robinson in Orange County (Irvine).

Within Product liability and mass tort defense: consumer products (including tobacco), Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP is a second tier firm,

Product liability is one of Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP’s flagship practices and thus it has an extensive number of experts dedicated to this area. The firm is ‘home to some excellent trial attorneys’ and is perhaps best known within the tobacco litigation space, where it has long represented industry giants such as Philip Morris USA and Philip Morris International, as well as Lorillard. It has recently been representing Philip Morris USA and Lorillard in the Engle progeny litigation in Florida, California, Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri. The companies are defendants in more than 7,500 individual cases filed after the Florida Supreme Court decertified a statewide class action that had earlier been awarded a punitive damages verdict. The team is also coordinating and managing litigation brought against Lorillard in which plaintiffs are seeking damages relating to a filter that was used for a limited time during the 1950s in one brand of the company’s cigarettes. Cases have been filed across 24 states, but the firm has won verdicts for the client in 15 of the 19 cases that have been tried. Practice chair Gary Long is ‘a very good trial lawyer’ and Walter Cofer is hailed as a ‘fabulous attorney’; both are based in Kansas City. Clients also recommend Frank Kelly in San Francisco and Kenneth Reilly in Miami.

Within Product liability and mass tort defense: pharmaceuticals and medical devices, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP is a first tier firm,

A formidable defense trial firm, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP’s ‘first-rate’ practice has a longstanding history of success in the product liability field where its deep bench of first-chair trial lawyers is highly renowned, having represented leading pharmaceutical companies in high-profile litigation. Recent highlights include acting for Bausch & Lomb, for which the firm serves as national counsel in litigation relating to the 2006 recall of ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens solution, the subject of some 2,000 cases. It is defending Mylan in the 1,300-case litigation arising from its recall of Digitek (digoxin), including some 1,000 plaintiffs in 500 cases pending in MDL in federal court in West Virginia and in consolidated state court proceedings in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Texas. The firm also serves as national counsel for Sanofi-Aventis regarding Ambien, in which it obtained dismissal of a putative national class action by Ambien users. As national counsel for Covidien, the firm is defending it in the gadolinium contrast dye litigation, which has several hundred cases pending in an MDL in Ohio and in consolidated state court proceedings in California and New Jersey. Other noteworthy recent achievements include Schilf v Eli Lilly, in which the practice won summary judgment for Eli Lilly in a case brought by relatives of a teenager who allegedly committed suicide as a result of using Cymbalta. In Jodi McGookin v Guidant Corporation, the firm won a defense verdict for Guidant in a wrongful death case brought by the parents and grandparents of a baby who had been implanted with a pacemaker made by the company. Practice chair Harvey Kaplan is a prominent ‘veteran’ who is praised highly for his ‘outstanding trial and litigation skills’. In the Kansas City office alongside him, Marie Woodbury and Scott Sayler are also recommended. Houston-based Gene Williams, whose ‘scientific background is quite helpful’, is also appreciated.

Within Product liability and mass tort defense: toxic tort, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP is a second tier firm,

Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP has a prominent environment practice and regularly acts for clients in toxic torts. In particular, it advises on climate change regulation and litigation and is often active in cases concerning alleged environmental impacts of greenhouse gas emissions released by a wide range of industries. The practice is Coca-Cola’s lead outside trial counsel in a mass tort action in Michigan involving allegations that historic wastewater handling practices at the company’s bottling facility caused the elevation of certain metals and compounds in groundwater, allegedly leading to personal injury, property damage and other problems. It was also engaged by Bayer CropScience to defend several toxic tort actions in Johnson County, Kansas, where plaintiffs were alleged to have developed cancer as a result of exposure to certain carcinogens at its facility. Other clients include Del Monte, Ford, Kraft, United Airlines, Siemens and Shell. Practice chair David Erickson in Kansas City is recommended. The practice also has teams in San Francisco and Miami.