Rachel Passaretti-Wu > Dechert LLP > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile
Dechert LLP Offices
Three Bryant Park, 1095 Avenue of the Americas
NEW YORK, NY 10036-6797
NEW YORK
United States
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Rachel Passaretti-Wu
Work Department
Product Liability and Mass Torts
Position
Partner
Career
Rachel B. Passaretti-Wu is a partner in Dechert’s product liability and mass torts practice and focuses on complex product liability and mass torts litigation. She serves critical roles on numerous national counsel teams and has held leadership positions in MDLs and science teams in some of the most complex tort cases in the United States. Her practice also includes years of experience defending environmental toxic torts and class actions. Ms. Passaretti-Wu also draws on her knowledge and expertise in connection with relevant transactional work, regularly advising clients through various aspects of pre-investment and assisting on corporate deals.
Ms. Passaretti-Wu has taken part in several high-profile pharmaceutical and environmental toxic tort litigations, managing all stages of a dispute from pre-trial proceedings to appeals, as well as complex mass tort and class action settlements. She regularly helps clients navigate appropriate crisis management related responses.
She is integral in the formulation of nationwide strategies and coordinates the defense of complex litigations. Ms. Passaretti-Wu manages the day-to-day defense and strategy of numerous putative class actions, as well as thousands of cases through various stages of litigation. She coordinates these litigations to ensure consistency at a national level, but more importantly to structure global strategic planning to maximize beneficial results for her clients.
Education
- State University of New York at Binghamton, B.A., 1998, summa cum laude
- New York University School of Law, J.D., 2001
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: pharmaceuticals and medical devices
Drawing upon a strong pool of experienced and up-and-coming talent on the East and West coasts, in particular, Dechert LLP is able to handle a wide variety and volume of defense matters for many leading pharma and medical devices clients, particularly in the context of large-scale MDLs/class actions. The firm regularly takes the lead role in such aggregated mandates, formulating core strategy decisions and regularly securing key victories through persuasive motions, as well as in litigation before juries. Mark Cheffo is regularly at the forefront of the highest-profile mandates handled by the firm, a reflection of the esteem with which he is held by clients as a result of his expertise through the litigation process, including at a motions stage – where he has briefed and conducted numerous Daubert/Frye challenges. Lauded as a ‘strong practitioner with excellent strategic smarts’, Los Angeles-based partner Kimberly Branscome is a key exemplar of the firm’s trial expertise, in particular, as well as its visibility throughout California. The vastly experienced Sheila L. Birnbaum has amassed many successes at trial and motions stage throughout her long career and has had involvement in many key medical devices/pharmaceutical product liability matters, including as it relates to opioid medication, breast implants and mesh products. Cheffo, Branscome and Birnbaum co-head the team that also includes Paul LaFata, who has developed niche expertise in relation to the co-ordination of multi-jurisdictional elements of major product liability MDLs and class actions and Rachel Passaretti-Wu, who as well as her versatile core pharma and toxic tort litigation offering, is also adept at assisting clients with appropriate crisis management-related responses. All named practitioners are based out New York, unless otherwise stated.
United States > Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: toxic tort
Primarily centred out of New York but also gaining traction on the West Coast, exemplified by the work of Los Angeles based Kimberly Branscome, Dechert LLP regularly handles high-profile toxic tort-related class actions and MDLs, both in the environmental space, as well as in cases involving harm caused by pharma products. In these matters the team, which includes many accomplished trial lawyers, regularly acts as national counsel, coordinating and presenting the key arguments and motions to the courts. Douglas Fleming has a strong grounding in environmental toxic torts and is a key member of the team alongside Rachel Passaretti-Wu defending Saint-Gobain in high-profile civil litigation and regulatory matters relating to alleged damage caused by exposure to forever chemicals in drinking water. An expert in toxic torts, Sheila L. Birnbaum has deep expertise in the space and co-heads the overarching product liability and mass torts team alongside Branscome and Mark Cheffo . All named practitioners are based in New York, unless otherwise noted.
Lawyer Rankings
- Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: pharmaceuticals and medical devices United States > Dispute resolution
- Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: toxic tort United States > Dispute resolution
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: non-contentious (including prosecution, portfolio management and licensing)
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Investment fund formation and management > Mutual/registered/exchange-traded funds
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: pharmaceuticals and medical devices
- Real estate > Real estate finance
Firm Rankings
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: toxic tort
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Dispute resolution > E-discovery
- Finance > Fintech
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Dispute resolution > International litigation
- Tax > International tax
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense
- Antitrust > Merger control
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: large deals ($500m+)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: consumer products (including tobacco)
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: global offerings
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Environment > Environment: transactional
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Intellectual property > Patents: prosecution (including re-examination and post-grant proceedings)
- International Trade > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Dispute resolution > Financial services litigation