Partner
Pendley, Baudin & Coffin, L.L.P.
Chris Coffin is a partner with Pendley, Baudin & Coffin, L.L.P., located in New Orleans, Louisiana. He has years of experience and background in litigating complex cases involving defective pharmaceuticals and medical devices, environmental contamination, product liability, toxic torts and consumer fraud claims. In addition to being a registered nurse for over twenty-four (24) years, as the leader of Pendley, Baudin & Coffin's pharmaceutical and medical device litigation practice, Chris has been actively prosecuting cases against pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers for over seventeen (17) years.
Jeanelle has been a tax practitioner for more than two decades. Since 2015 she has assisted more than 200 businesses and investors to relocate their operations to Puerto Rico. Alemar-Escabí was named 2020 International Tax Author of the Year by Bloomberg Tax and Accounting.
Attorney Alemar-Escabí is a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Global Management Accountant affiliated to the AICPA, Certified Promoter by the Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development and Commerce to promote Puerto Rico incentive programs, Certified Mediator by the Puerto Rico Supreme Court and Notary Public.
Educator and Business Consultant, CPA, CGMA, JD, LL.M.
Jace LLC
Anne Andrews is the founding and managing partner of Andrews & Thornton. She leads a diverse practice, with decades of experience litigating personal injury product liability cases and representing tens of thousands of creditors in mass tort bankruptcies.
Anne represents clients on the creditors’ committees in Insys, Purdue. She is a founding member of the Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice in the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy. Anne served as a principal negotiator in the case, and this week announced a settlement of $2.7 billion dollars for survivors of childhood sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts bankruptcy. Anne was the only female attorney who played an integral role in these negotiations. The $2.7 billion dollar settlement is the largest settlement in the history of sexual assault cases.
Founder & Managing Partner
Andrews and Thornton
Attorney
Neblett, Beard & Arsenault
Dr. Bennett is the principal investigator for the only state-funded independent pharmaceutical safety program in the nation- the Southern Network on Adverse Reactions (SONAR)/the Doris Levkoff Meddin Center for Pharmaceutical Safety. The program has been funded by over $15 million in support from the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, the Department of Veterans Administration, a $5 million endowment from the state of South Carolina and the University of South Carolina, and two philanthropists from South Carolina. The program does not accept any funds from the pharmaceutical industry. SONAR evaluates the safety of pharmaceuticals and medical devices with annual sales of $1 billion or greater.
In the past decade, SONAR has identified 43 potentially fatal and previously unrecognized adverse drug or device reactions. The result has been improved safety information on product labels and savings of tens of thousands of lives; most (but not all) of the identified drugs or devices continued to have robust sales; at the same time, their safety profiles have been improved. An important finding in 2006 identified patients who experienced hypersensitivity and allergic reactions to coronary drug eluting stents. The initial finding was based on autopsies of four persons with sudden death, whose hearts were available for cardiac pathologist review. Finally, SONAR has reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine the first empirical data identifying conflicts of interest in pharmaceutical sponsored basic science research- a finding that mirrors that for clinical research.
Professor
University of South Carolina
Recognized by fellow accident lawyers, he has been a guest lecturer at conferences, legal seminars, and law schools on topics involving injury tort litigation and practice management.Aside from his numerous academic and professional interactions, “Sweet James” Bergener provides weekly commentary as a legal expert on various radios stations and television programs across the nation.
Founder
Sweet James Accident Attorneys
Paul Bland is Executive Director of Public Justice, overseeing its advocacy and litigation of consumer, environmental and civil rights cases, and other operations. He has argued and won more than 40 reported decisions, including at least one case in the U.S. Supreme Court, six of the federal Circuit Courts of Appeal, and ten different state high courts. He has been counsel in cases which have obtained injunctive and/or cash relief of more than $1 billion for consumers. He has received a number of honors, including the “Vern Countryman” Award from the National Consumer Law Center.
Executive Director
Public Justice
Managing Director and Co-Head Litigation Finance Group
Stifel Financial Corp.
Dan Bryson is a founding partner of the firm and is one of the nation’s most respected and experienced attorneys in the country in the area of consumer class actions and mass torts. He also has significant experience working with attorneys, funders and other partners on international litigation projects in the Courts in Amsterdam, the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal, among others.
For over 32 years, Mr. Bryson has handled hundreds of insurance related disputes, including first party bad faith insurance cases, and business interruption cases. He has written and taught numerous continuing legal education courses on a variety of insurance related topics. Mr. Bryson and members of his firm are well equipped and dedicated to handling these cases on behalf of all entities who have had improperly denied claims.
He has been named as a member of the Legal Elite and Super Lawyers in North Carolina on numerous occasions. He has been awarded the designation of one of the Top 25 lawyers in Raleigh by Charlotte Magazine for a number of years including 2020.
Dan Bryson is on the Executive Board and President of the Public Justice Foundation Board, a nationwide public interest law firm. He is also an adjunct professor at Campbell Law School in Raleigh, NC where he teaches “Introduction to Class Actions and Multi-district litigation.”
Mr. Bryson is also the current Board Chair of Theatre Raleigh and enjoys running, playing the guitar, and golf in his free time. Each year, Mr. Bryson and members of his firm run a marathon. Last year, they ran in the St. George Marathon in St. George Utah. In 2018, they ran in the New York City Marathon.
Founding Partner
Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman
Jayne Conroy is a named shareholder at Simmons Hanly Conroy and oversees practice areas in the Complex Litigation Department. Under her leadership, the firm has become one of the country’s largest plaintiff law firms dedicated to helping those injured by corporate wrongdoing.
With a legal career spanning more than three decades, Jayne has earned a superb national reputation as an elite trial lawyer, skilled strategist and decisive negotiator. She has consistently helped secure billions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for thousands of individuals, families and communities in numerous courtrooms nationwide.
Shareholder
Simmons Hanly Conroy
Partner
Fibich Leebron Copeland & Briggs
Benjamin Crump represents clients in some of the most important and contentious cases of our time, taking a place in legal history with his pursuit of justice.
His role in the Trayvon Martin, Martin Lee Anderson Boot Camp, Jannie Ligons (State of Oklahoma vs. Daniel Holtzclaw) and Robbie Tolan cases shows a legacy built around the idea that the Constitution applies to everyone, at every level of society. stories about individuals who were wrongfully imprisoned.
He’s received significant recognition for his service in pursuit of civil rights and justice for minorities, being included on prestigious lists like The National Trial Lawyers’ Top 100 Lawyers and Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 Most Influential African Americans. He has also received the National Urban League’s Whitney Young Award, AKA’s Eleanor Roosevelt Award, the NAACP Thurgood Marshall Award, and the SCLC’s Martin Luther King Servant Leader Award
President and Founder
Ben Crump Law, PLLC
Gary J. Douglas is a nationally renowned trial attorney from New York, NY, and member of the Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame, recognized around the nation as a trailblazer in the field of Products Liability and Environmental Toxic Torts. He has served as lead trial counsel in mass tort litigation resulting in settlements and verdicts totaling over $3 Billion. He has scored dozens of million and multi-million dollar verdicts in individual cases as well, including many landmark verdicts such as the first victory in the nation against the automobile industry for a defective airbag that killed a six-year-old boy. He followed that with the first victory in the history of the State of New York against the Tobacco Industry, securing a verdict of $20 Million for the death of a 58-year-old smoker.
Most recently Mr. Douglas served as co-lead trial counsel for the first three PFAS/C8 cases ever tried to verdict winning multi million dollar verdicts in all three, culminating in a $670,000,000 global settlement with DuPont. He is the current co-chair of the AFFF MDL Science Committee and headed up the science day presentation on behalf of the MDL plaintiffs before Judge Gergel in Federal District Court in Charleston, South Carolina.
Attorney
Douglas & London
Randi earned her bachelor’s degree in 1994 and went on to obtain her law degree from Louisiana State University in 1997. Randi also attended the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation. She is licensed to practice law in Louisiana and Texas.
Randi worked in private practice for over 12 years before opening her own firm in 2016. Randi specializes in assisting the parties in resolving complex civil disputes. As an intermediary, Randi brings the parties together and facilitates alternatives to litigation. Randi’s experience and skills combine to bring about mutual agreements between the parties.
Attorney
Randi S. Ellis LLC
Jennifer earned her undergraduate degree in biology, with a double minor in physics and chemistry, from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire. She went on to obtain a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in biomedical science with a focus on molecular oncology. She earned her J.D. from Gonzaga University School of Law and began working in the mass torts section at Beasley Allen. Notably, she has worked on the transvaginal mesh litigation, the talcum powder litigation and most recently cases involving social media.
Principal
Beasley Allen Law Firm
Nicholas R. Farnolo is a Partner in the Product Liability Department, handling all phases of litigation from intake to settlement or trial. Mr. Farnolo has represented a variety of local, national and international clients in Mass Tort, Class Action, Mechanical Product Liability, Aviation, Commercial and Personal Injury matters.
Mr. Farnolo served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Ronald B. Skolski, J.SC. in the New Jersey Superior Court where he assisted during courtroom proceedings and served as a mediator in qualifying landlord-tenant and small claims disputes. Mr. Farnolo also gained valuable experience as a Summer Associate in the Office of the Kings County District Attorney where he researched and wrote appellate briefs to the Appellate Division, Second Department and appeared on behalf of the People of the State of New York during arraignment proceedings.
Partner
Napoli Shkolnik PPLC
Paul Farrell leads the vanguard of the next generation of mass tort lawyers. A West Virginia native, he filed the first transvaginal mesh (TVM) cases in the country resulting in the formation of MDL2807 styled In re Pelvic Repairs System Product Liability Litigation in Charleston, West Virginia. Paul served as Plaintiffs’ Liaison for some 80,000 cases from across the country and trial counsel for the bellwethers. Since 2016, his practice has focused on the opioid litigation after filing some of the first public nuisance cases on behalf of political subdivisions from the Ohio River Valley. Paul was appointed Co-Lead Counsel of MDL 2804 styled In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation which has been described as the most complex mass tort in American jurisprudence. Paul is considered one of the architects of the case against the distributors of prescription opioids and served as lead trial counsel in the first bellwether trial brought on behalf of his hometown in Huntington, Cabell County, West Virginia. Paul is a co-founder of Farrell & Fuller, LLC, formed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and recently designed and filed the first anti-trust cases against Google and Facebook on behalf of newspapers from across the country. Paul is married to his law school sweetheart, Jacqueline Farrell, and they are the proud parents of Connor, Cahley and Casey.
Founder
Farrell & Fuller Law
Mr. Fuller is one of the founding member of Farrell & Fuller. Mr. Fuller spent decades holding the nursing home industry responsible for the abuse and neglect of the elderly. Now he has turned his attention to other corporate giants in the pharmaceutical industry by taking a key leadership role in the nationwide opioid litigation. Mr. Fuller along with Mr. Farrell have most recently began anti-trust litigation against Google and Facebook on behalf of our Country’s Newspaper Industry.
Founder
Farrell & Fuller Law
Cynthia is a third generation California attorney. Her grandfather and father were both trial lawyers practicing in Los Angeles and Orange County, California. Cynthia followed suit receiving her Juris Doctorate degree, cum laude, from Western State University College of Law in 1999. She earned her undergraduate degree in nursing from Loma Linda University in 1985, where she graduated top in her class. Cynthia was employed as a registered nurse for 12 years, during which time she gained vast experience in the areas of critical and emergency care and nursing education.
Attorney Shareholder
OnderLaw, LLC
Former Governor of PR, Attorney
Alejandro Garcia-Padilla, LLC
Paul Geller, managing partner of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP’s Boca Raton, Florida office, is a founding partner of the Firm, a member of its Executive and Management Committees, and head of the Firm’s Consumer Practice Group. Paul’s 27 years of litigation experience is broad, and he has handled cases in each of the Firm’s practice areas. Notably, before devoting his practice to the representation of consumers and investors, he defended companies in high-stakes class action litigation, providing him an invaluable perspective. Paul has tried bench and jury trials on both the plaintiffs’ and defendants’ sides, and has argued before numerous state, federal, and appellate courts throughout the country.
Paul was recently selected to serve in a leadership position on behalf of governmental entities and other plaintiffs in the sprawling litigation concerning the nationwide prescription opioid epidemic. In reporting on the selection of the lawyers to lead the case, The National Law Journal reported that “[t]he team reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ in mass torts.” Paul was also part of the leadership team representing consumers in the massive Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Emissions case. The San Francisco legal newspaper The Recorder labeled the group that was appointed in that case, which settled for more than $17 billion, a “class action dream team.”
Partner
Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP
Mini Bio Description:
Manuel Gonzalez-Brito, D.O. was born in Miami, Florida and is a graduate of the University of Florida. He obtained his medical degree at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Florida. His General Pediatric residency and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine fellowship were completed at the University of Miami School of Medicine/Jackson Memorial Hospital (UHealth). Dr. Brito was a professor of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital who cared for critically ill children due to trauma, infection, organ failure/transplant, cardiac critical care, burns and all other illness related to pediatric critical care. This included being a part of the pediatric sedation program designed especially for children with complex medical conditions. During his professorship, Dr. Brito had extensive experience in training medical students as well as Pediatric residents and fellows. In addition, Dr. Brito’s professorship at the University of Miami included basic science and clinical research with publications in Traumatic Brain Injury, Spinal Cord Injury and Peripheral Nerve Injury. This included being selected to the Pediatric Scientist Development Program (PSDP). As a physician-scientist, Dr. Brito conducted research that included collaborations with physicians and scientists at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and the UHealth Batchelor Childrens Research Institute.
After his professorship at the University of Miami, Dr. Brito spent an additional 10years as the co-director of the Palm Beach Childrens Hospital Pediatric Critical Care Unit and director of the Palm Beach Childrens Pediatric Concussion Center as part of Kidzmedical Services (KMS is a pediatric physician group based in Miami, FL). During this time Dr. Brito cared for critically ill children due to trauma, cardiac-illness, infection, respiratory illnesses, neurologic/neurosurgical conditions, and complex orthopedic conditions. In addition, Dr. Brito participated in the Palm Beach Childrens Pediatric Sedation service. As part of his tenure with KMS, Dr. Brito also provided Pediatric and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine service to Naples Community Hospital North, Bethesda, and Del Ray Medical Center Hospitals. Dr. Brito is a board-certified physician by the American Board of Pediatrics in General Pediatrics and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine.
Education:
1989-1993 Bachelor of Science, Psychology. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
1993-1997 Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, NSUCOM, Ft Lauderdale-Davie, FL.
1997-1998 1yr Rotating Internship, Palmetto General Hospital, Miami, FL.
1998-2001 Pediatric Residency Program, University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, FL.
2001-2005 Pediatric Critical Care Fellowship, University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, FL.
CMO
MSP Recovery Law Firm
Marc D. Grossman is a Senior Partner at Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, LLC with decades of experience representing large groups of plaintiffs against major corporate defendants, including in the areas of environmental torts, medical claims, class actions and mass torts, both domestically and globally. Mr. Grossman has also produced five Broadway shows, and is co-owner of the Puerto Rican professional basketball team Mets de Guaynabo.
Senior Partner
Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, LLC
As a partner at Milberg, Drew Hathaway focuses on representing consumers in complex litigation. His primary focus is on product liability and consumer protection class actions both in the United States and internationally throughout Europe. Drew is experienced in creating foundations and international corporations necessary to pursue collective redress abroad while navigating complex tax issues. Drew has extensive experience working with attorneys, funders and partners on international litigation projects in the Courts of Amsterdam, the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Germany and Portugal.
Partner
Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman
Principal
Porzio, Bromberg & Newman, P.C.
Ryan Jurney is a founding member Jurney & De La Grana, P.A., and practices primarily in the criminal and civil fields. Prior to founding Jurney & De La Grana, P.A., Mr. Jurney spent years protecting the rights of individuals while working as an Assistant Public Defender. While working as an Assistant Public Defender, he gained extensive experience handling criminal cases, and tried jury cases covering domestic violence, misdemeanors, and various felony issues. Mr. Jurney also handled numerous juvenile cases during that same time.
Mr. Jurney graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in economics before earning his Juris Doctor law degree from St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami, FL. While in law school, Mr. Jurney was heavily involved with moot court; competing and coaching national competitions.
He is an active member of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Dade County Bar Association, and of the Cuban American Bar Association. Mr. Jurney is admitted to practice law in all Florida State Courts and in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Mr. Jurney understands the importance of aggressive and relentless representation and is ready to fight for you.
Founding Member
Jurney & De La Grana, P.A.
Internationally-minded, yet with a laser sharp focus on her Caribbean community, the dynamic
Puerto Rico Sotheby’s International Realty Founder and President, Margaret Pena-Juvelier, brings a
great deal of skill, expertise, and knowledge to this region’s ever-changing real estate market. Since
2012, she has led her brilliant team of sales professionals to achieve over $900 million in sales, and
is instrumental in steering the company gracefully in its day-to-day operations, especially during one
of Puerto Rico’s most challenging economic times after Hurricane Maria’s onslaught to the island
back in 2017 and most recently during the challenging global pandemic. Margaret’s leadership
success is primarily due to her hard work and dedication to her craft. The NYC-born native who is
also fluent in Spanish, French, and Portuguese languages, continually strives to reach greater
heights, as seen in her prior 28 years at the acclaimed New York Sotheby’s International Realty
office where she was the acting Senior Vice President and Associate Broker.
Founder and President
Puerto Rico Sotheby's International Realty
Gary Klinger is one of the most well-known and respected data privacy attorneys in the United States, settling more than thirty class actions involving privacy violations as lead or co-lead counsel. In addition, Mr. Klinger is well-versed in both sides of class action litigation. Working with several big firms, serving as defense for Fortune 100 clients, he eventually discovered he wanted to join the plaintiff’s side of the practice.
His privacy practice includes: data breaches, ransomware attacks, unlawful collection and/or disclosure of personal information, and violations of privacy statuses and/or laws, such as the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act, California Consumer Privacy Act, California Medical Information Act, Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and General Data Protection Regulation. Mr. Klinger has won hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients.
Mr. Klinger also represents consumers in class actions and mass arbitration for claims involving false advertising, defective products, consumer fraud, violations of the antitrust laws, and other torts.
Currently, Gary is pursuing his Masters of Laws (LLM) in Data Privacy and Cybersecurity from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.
Outside the office, Gary enjoys cheering on the Chicago White Sox and playing golf. He and his wife, Lina, and their two sons, Liam and Noah, live in Chicago, Illinois.
Partner
Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman
Ari Kresch is a true pioneer in bringing contingent legal services to the masses. He founded 1-800-LAW-FIRM in 1994, the first legal marketing firm to access national advertising platforms on behalf of its constituent law firms. He built and supervised the first legal intake center, designed to avoid the bottleneck caused by limiting new client intakes to lawyers that had competing obligations in court. He was first to build legal intake software that would create efficiencies, unknown to the law firms at the time.
Founder Chief Visionary Officer
1-800-LAW-FIRM
Managing Director and Co-Head Litigation Finance Group
Stifel Financial Corp.
Michael A. London is one of the founding partners of the law firm Douglas & London, P.C., located in downtown New York City. Mr. London obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, and his Juris Doctor degree from Brooklyn Law School in Brooklyn, New York. Mr. London is admitted and licensed to practice law in the States of New York and New Jersey, as well as in the United States District Courts for the Eastern District, Southern District, and Western District of New York, as well as the District of New Jersey.
Since obtaining his law degree, he has devoted his entire career to representing consumers and injury victims, primarily in mass tort settings. His practice area in the law has always focused on and continues to focus on, products liability and complex litigation with an emphasis on pharmaceutical and medical device litigation.
Founding Partner
Douglas & London, P.C.
Vicki's plan to become a lawyer started in third grade when she decided to confront the class bully. That tenacity for taking on big dogs for underdogs never stopped. It was only natural that her practice led to focusing on plaintiffs' pharma and environmental litigation. One of the original founders of Mass Tort Med School, Vicki is proud to see the program mature and grow into one of the "go to" events of the year, even better teamed with Trial Lawyers of Puerto Rico. Vicki spends her free time triathlon training and watching her son Alex, now a junior in high school, play baseball. Her dream is to one day own a brewery.
Partner Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips and Grossman LLC
Majed Nachawati is a nationally prominent trial lawyer and founder of Dallas-based Fears Nachawati law firm. Under his leadership, the firm has been recognized as the most active firm in the nation in mass tort litigation on behalf of plaintiffs injured by defective and dangerous products, according to Lex Machina.
Mr. Nachawati leads a team that is active in high-profile mass torts and multidistrict litigation on behalf of individuals and public entities, including litigation related to Roundup, talc, paraquat, opioids, PFAS “forever chemicals,” and Bard and Cook IVC filters and other medical devices. In addition, he serves in a leadership capacity on the paraquat herbicide MDL in California state court and is on the committee representing plaintiffs opposing Johnson & Johnson’s attempts to shed its legal liabilities for its cancer-causing talc products through bankruptcy.
Founding Partner
Fears Nachawati Law Firm
Mr. Napoli has a proven track record of consistently obtaining multi-million settlements for clients. He is also well known for his efforts on behalf of 9/11 victims, having been instrumental in lobbying for “Jimmy Nolan’s Law” and the “Zadroga Bill”. Currently he is Co-Lead Counsel in the Aqueous Film-Forming Foam multi-district litigation and the New York Opioid Cost Recovery Litigation.
Founding Member, Partner
Napoli Shkolnik Law
Ms. Napoli continues to be at the forefront of complex litigation nationwide and has been appointed to leadership roles in various state and federal multi-district case. She is a leading media commentator and author on topics ranging from mass torts to workplace discrimination. For her work, she has been industry and peer recognized, notably Ms. Napoli was named to National Trial Lawyers Women’s Rights Top 10.
Founding Member, Partner
Napoli Shkolnik Law
Steve Nober, the founder and CEO of Consumer Attorney Marketing Group (CAMG), has been a major force and innovator in the legal industry for over a decade. His expertise covers the full spectrum of legal marketing, and he speaks at over 40 conferences per year on topics including best marketing practices and ethics in advertising. Utilizing cutting-edge technologies and a comprehensive approach, CAMG is focused on delivering plaintiff firms more quality cases at the best ROI. With seven service divisions and over 400 employees, CAMG is a one-stop-shop for law firms, offering data-driven offline and digital marketing, including TV, out-of-home, SEO, paid social and search, proactive public relations, call center/intake services, contract processing, and medical record retrieval and review. CAMG’s monthly Legal Marketing Index® brings the agency’s proprietary data and marketing trends to law firms to support smart marketing decisions.
Founder & CEO
Consumer Attorney Marketing Group
Jonathan was appointed lead counsel of hernia mesh litigation In re Atrium Medical Corp. C-QUR Mesh Products Liability Litigation, MDL #2753. He serves as co-lead and co-liaison counsel in the largest consolidated hernia mesh litigation in the country, In re Davol/C.R. Bard Hernia Mesh Multi-Case Management Coordination. Jonathan previously served as co-liaison counsel in the In re Bard Litigation in New Jersey state court and as state court liaison counsel in Massachusetts. He is a member of the litigation team that successfully tried the Barba case to a $100 million verdict in Delaware (later reduced by appeal to $10 million). Jonathan also led the successful appeal to the Massachusetts Court of Appeals, which allowed key evidence relating to Boston Scientific’s alleged knowledge of the potential harm caused by its products. Jonathan is co-chair of the AAJ Hernia Mesh Litigation Group.
In addition to his leadership in hernia mesh litigation, Jonathan is also a member of the Science & Experts Subcommittee for multidistrict litigation filed for U.S. troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2003 and 2015 and suffered hearing loss or tinnitus after using allegedly defective earplugs manufactured by 3M and its predecessor Aearo Technologies.
Attorney
Motley Rice LCC
Rachel Parisi is a member of the firm's Bankruptcy and Financial Restructuring department. Her practice focuses on all areas of bankruptcy and restructuring, including the representation of commercial debtors, secured and unsecured creditors, creditors’ committees, commercial landlords, and other parties in interest in bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings. Rachel has represented clients in a wide array of complex cases, including in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, retail, entertainment, casino/gaming, and restaurant and food services sectors. Rachel also has experience in bankruptcy litigation, including prosecuting and defending preference and other avoidance actions.
Rachel is active in the community, volunteering as an Ethics Investigator for the District XA Ethics Committee, as well as within the firm, co-chairing Porzio's Women's Initiative Network.
Principal
PBN Law
William pintas leads one of the largest partnering personal injury firms in North America representing tens of thousands of clients in mass torts, nursing home maltreatment, asbestos claims, institutional sex abuse and environmental disasters. The firm is at the forefront of technology, marketing and law firm partnership strategies. Attorney Pintas is also chief legal strategist for famed civil rights attorney Ben Crump.
Founding Member, Partner
Pintas & Mullins Law
Attorney
The Institute for Complex Litigation and Mass Claims
Emory University School of Law
Robert Rothman is a partner in Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP’s Melville office and a member of the Firm’s Management Committee. He has recovered well in excess of $1 billion on behalf of victims of investment fraud, consumer fraud, and antitrust violations.
Recently, Rob served as lead counsel in In re American Realty Capital Properties, Inc. Litigation where he obtained a $1.025 billion cash recovery on behalf of investors. Rob and the litigation team prosecuted nine different claims for violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Securities Act of 1933, involving seven different stock or debt offerings and two mergers. The recovery represents the highest percentage of damages ever obtained in a major PSLRA case before trial and includes the largest personal contributions by individual defendants in history. Additionally, Rob has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors in cases against First Bancorp, Doral Financial, Popular, iStar, Autoliv, CVS Caremark, Fresh Pet, The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P), NBTY, Spiegel, American Superconductor, Iconix Brand Group, Black Box, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Gravity, Caminus, Central European Distribution Corp., OneMain Holdings, The Children’s Place, CNinsure, Covisint, FleetBoston Financial, Interstate Bakeries, Hibernia Foods, Jakks Pacific, Jarden, Portal Software, Ply Gem Holdings, Orion Energy, Tommy Hilfiger, TD Banknorth, Teletech, Unitek, Vicuron, Xerium, W Holding, and dozens of others.
Partner
Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP
President
Physicians Medical Review
Connor began his career at a large national law firm defending product liability and wrongful death cases. In 2010, he co-founded Dunn Sheehan LLP, where he litigates plaintiff-side pharmaceutical and catastrophic personal injury cases. He has led single and multi-plaintiff lawsuits in over 30 states and tried dozens of cases to jury verdict in trials ranging from a few days to nine weeks.
Partner
Dunn Sheehan LLP
Mr. Shkolnik holds numerous leadership appointments in multi-district litigations and currently serves as Co-Liaison Counsel in the Flint Water litigation, where he helped negotiate the landmark $641.2 million settlement. He was also a primary attorney in settling the first federal opioid trial in Ohio for $320 million and is a member of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee for the National Prescription Opiate litigation, and was a lead trial attorney in the monumental win in the New York Opioid Trial. Recently, Mr. Shkolnik was named to the Law360 Product Liability Editorial Board.
Founding Member, Partner
Napoli Shkolnik Law
Samuel B. Silverman is a managing partner of EB5 Affiliate Network (EB5AN), headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico. EB5AN provides EB-5 regional center affiliation or rental services to EB-5 projects across its more than 10 regional center network covering more than 20 states. EB5AN also works closely with EB-5 project developers and sponsors to create the full I-526 template set of EB-5 project documents and to form new EB-5 regional centers.
As a member of the EB5AN executive team, Silverman has been involved in the completion of hundreds of EB-5 project business plans, economic impact reports, new EB-5 regional centers, and complete sets of I-526/I-924 exemplar documents for EB-5 projects across the United States. He has also applied for and received USCIS approval for the more than 10 EB-5 regional centers that EB5AN owns and operates today.
Prior to founding EB5AN, Silverman worked in China for Jack Nicklaus, a professional golfer. He served as the director of corporate strategy and expansion for Nicklaus and lived full-time in Beijing for this position. He has also worked for the Boston Consulting group, a business strategy and management consulting firm. In this role, he worked with Fortune 500 Companies in industries such as media, food service, and real estate spaces in the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.
Founder and Managing Partner
EB5 Affiliate Network
Navan Ward, Jr., is a Principal at Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis and Miles, P.C. Currently, Navan heads up the firm’s new Atlanta office location. He is the firm's lead attorney on the Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI) litigation, which involves thousands of victims who ingested defective prescription and over the counter medicine for acid reflux, which resulted in users suffered kidney damage. Navan is also the firm’s lead attorney on the Metal-on-Metal hip implant litigation, which involves thousands of victims who have defective hip implants causing severe pain, metal poisoning, revision surgery, and in some cases permanent injury. Additionally, Navan serves as the President for the American Association for Justice (AAJ) and a Founding Executive Board Member of “Shades of Mass”.
Attorney
Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.
R. Brent Wisner is Vice President and a Senior Shareholder at Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman P.C. Brent oversees all mass tort litigation, focusing on pharmaceutical product liability, toxic torts, and consumer fraud class actions. Brent is the youngest attorney in U.S. history to win a multi-billion-dollar jury verdict. Brent has achieved multiple verdicts totaling $2.427 billion, and negotiated mass tort settlements in excess of $1 billion. In 2019, Brent was awarded the “Civil Plaintiffs Trial Lawyer of the Year” by the National Trial Lawyers Association and has been named one of “America’s 50 Most Influential Trial Lawyers” by The National Law Journal. Law360 recognized Brent as a “Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar” and, in 2020, awarded Brent “MVP of the Year” in Products Liability. Since 2019, the Daily Journal has recognized Brent as one of the “Top Plaintiffs Lawyers in California” and as one of the “Top 100 Lawyers in California.” In 2021, Brent was awarded “West Trailblazer” by The American Lawyer and the Clarence Darrow award by Mike Papantonio, founder of Mass Torts Made Perfect.
Senior Shareholder, Attorney, Vice President
Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman, PC