Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP > Miami, United States > Firm Profile

Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP > The Legal 500 Rankings

Chicago Elite > Commercial disputes Tier 2

Lynn Murray, co-chair of the antitrust practice at Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP, excels in high-profile, complex litigation. Representing major clients such as Simmons Foods, DeLaval, and Zurich, Murray handles multi-million to billion-dollar cases, including defending against substantial antitrust claims and high-stakes insurance coverage disputes.David Schoenfeld, a key member of the team at Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP, focuses on insurance-related litigation for major clients like Medtronic and Liberty Mutual. Handling disputes involving multi-million-dollar claims, Schoenfeld manages complex insurance issues with notable expertise in high-stakes cases, such as Medtronic’s environmental liability and Zurich’s coverage for Purdue Pharma.Matthew Sitzer at Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP, focuses on insurance-related litigation for major clients like Medtronic and Liberty Mutual. Handling disputes involving multi-million-dollar claims, Schoenfeld manages complex insurance issues with notable expertise in high-stakes cases.

Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: consumer products (including tobacco) Tier 2

Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP’s product liability and class action practice has become an industry leader for corporate clients facing product liability, class actions, and mass tort litigation,. As co-chairs of the firm’s product liability group, Miami based Hildy Sastre and William Geraghty are highly regarded trial lawyers who have tried dozens of high-exposure cases across the country, with experience defending product liability, legal malpractice, and professional liability claims in the pharmaceutical and medical device sector. Sastre and Geraghty frequently secure defense verdicts in federal and state courts including in Florida, Massachusetts, and Minnesota. Michael Mallow is the managing partner of the Los Angeles office and co-chair of the firm’s class action & appellate litigation group, specializing in class actions, economic product defect claims, and consumer protection investigations. Based in San Francisco, Annie Chuang has immense experience handling business disputes, product liability, and trade secret litigation, also often advising clients on international regulatory risks. Also based in Miami, Kenneth Reilly is a nationally recognized lead trial counsel, defending Fortune 500 companies in high-stakes class actions and product liability cases, particularly in the tobacco and pharma industries.

Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: pharmaceuticals and medical devices Tier 2

With longstanding trial experience, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP is a trusted defender of pharma and medical device companies in product liability litigation. The firm handles class actions that target entire industries, serves as lead and coordinating counsel in MDLs, and represents clients in bellwether trials and precedent-setting cases. Beyond its trial expertise, the firm’s lawyers employ strategic discovery, pretrial motions and alternative dispute resolution to secure favorable outcomes, supported by in-house research analysts. Both leading trial lawyers with cross-jurisdictional experience, Miami-based Hildy Sastre and William Geraghty co-chair the practice. The team saw significant expansion in 2024, with Steven Weisburd joining the Houston team from Carlton Fields, Alycia Degen arriving in the Los Angeles office from Sidley Austin LLP, and Boston’s Lisa Oliver White arriving from Murphy & Riley.

Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: toxic tort Tier 2

Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP combines its expertise in environmental and toxic tort law to provide clients with representation across all staged of environmental litigation, both and the federal and state level, and as well in compliance matters across the US. The firm regularly engages clients in the energy industry, alongside chemical, utility, aviation and agribusiness and have litigated for them in issues involving multiple substances and alleged exposures. Team members, including co-chair David Erickson in Kansas City, are skilled in providing environmental compliance counseling under statues including the Clean Water Act and the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act. Also in Kansas City, Tom Grever counsels and litigates across all aspects of environmental law, with his practice including a focus on the Clean Air Act in terms of permitting and in its enforcement, while Brent Dwerlkotte specializes in representing companies in high-stakes litigation and trials for a variety of clients. Jennifer Hackman is noted for her litigation expertise involving emerging substances including PFAS compounds and glyphosate. All partners mentioned are situated in Kansas City.

Dispute resolution > E-discovery Tier 1

Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP remains a top firm for advising global companies on discovery strategies and information management, providing strategic discovery guidance in mass tort, multidistrict litigation and class action lawsuits. Patrick Oot leads the team from Washington, as a reputable attorney handling high-stakes multidistrict litigation involving consumer products and product liability issues. Jennifer Stevenson jointly heads up the team, dedicating her practice to defending companies in class action litigation in state and federal courts. Jeremiah Wikler serves as counsel for several bet-the-company casesand is a go-to attorney for negotiating complex discovery disputes. Los Angeles’ Michael Shortnacy adds to the firm’s bench of expertise, regularly defending clients in consumer fraud-based class actions, mass tort actions and regulatory proceedings. Jason Ward and Gabe Egli are also valued individuals. Ward focuses his practice on innovative document management and information governance procedures while Egli handles personal injury mass torts. All lawyers are based in Kansas City unless otherwise specified.

Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: automotive/transport Tier 1

Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP is well known in the market for its expertise defending automotive companies, combining deep industry knowledge with extensive litigation and regulatory experience. The firm serves as national, regional, and convergence counsel for leading automotive companies, having defended thousands of cases nationwide. As co-chair of the firm’s class action & appellate litigation practice group, Amir Nassihi works from the firm's San Francisco office. Nassihi is a premier class action and appellate litigator, with experience defending over 150 class actions across industries, including automotive. He has helped shape favorable law on personal jurisdiction, arbitration clauses, and fraud theories, securing key victories in federal and state appellate courts. Practice co-head Janet Hickson focuses on defending automotive and consumer product manufacturers from Orange County, bringing extensive trial experience and frequently managing national and regional defense programs addressing design, manufacturing, and warning defect claims. Los Angeles based Michael Mallow is a veteran trial lawyer with deep experience representing automotive clients in class actions, commercial litigation, and consumer protection cases. He has served as lead counsel in high-stakes industry-impacting litigation. Also based in Los Angeles, Colm Moran is a highly experienced trial lawyer focusing on motor vehicle franchise law and class action defense. He has represented manufacturers in over 25 jurisdictions, including international arbitration, and has extensive experience in RICO litigation, class actions, and appellate advocacy.

Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection) Tier 3

Regularly representing clients in class actions and arbitrations, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP has expertise in cases relating to data breaches, biometric privacy and adtech, including website tracking. The firm is additionally skilled in incident response support and incident preparedness, advising on both state and federal law compliance. The team is overseen by the Miami-based Al Saikali, who is experienced in cybersecurity incident response and ransomware attacks. Colman McCarthy, located in Kansas City, supports clients in  the retail, entertainment, financial, healthcare, education and government sectors. In Denver, Camila Tobón is expert in privacy and security compliance as well as AI governance. Also in Denver, Josh Hansen focuses on privacy policies and their compliance with domestic and international privacy laws. Jad Sheikali joined in October 2024 from Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP.

Insurance > Advice to insurers Tier 4

Based mainly between the firm’s Chicago and Kansas City offices, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP ‘s insurer-side team is co-led by four seasoned insurance specialists, including three in Missouri: first-chair trial lawyer Rob Adams, Doug Beck, general liability and appellate-focused Sarah Lynn Baltzell, and two in Chicago: environmental liability specialist Matthew Sitzer and versatile litigator David Schoenfeld. The group is routinely engaged by major carriers to navigate coverage issues related to toxic torts, fiduciary liability, fraud, advertising injury, personal injury, and more, and garnered significant experience handling COVID-19 business interruption cases and various other high-exposure matters. Another key area of work is bad faith disputes and extra-contractual litigation, an area where Beck specializes, and Chicago-based Matthew Wolfe‘s practice encompasses coverage disputes sparked by data, IP, and privacy matters, mass torts, construction defects, and product liabilities. In Kansas City, W. Clark Richardson acts for clients in a wide array of coverage and bad faith actions, and Taylor Markway is adept in state and federal appeals.

Intellectual property > Patents: prosecution (including re-examination and post-grant proceedings) Tier 4

Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP‘s practice is well-equipped to assist well-known, sector-spanning clients on the array of patent portfolio management, analysis, strategy, procurement and prosecution matters. The team is co-led by Michael Gross, Trent Webb, and Cory Fisher, all of whom co-lead the team from the firm’s Kansas City hub. Elena McFarland is experienced assisting with patent prosecution cases in relation to the pharma, life sciences, and tech industries. Keith Bae is also highly regarded.

Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense