Butler Snow LLP

Pharmaceutical, Medical Device & Healthcare Litigation

Chris served in leadership roles over written discovery teams in two of the largest mass torts in U.S. history. In that role, he was responsible for all defensive written discovery on behalf of manufacturers, as well as all affirmative discovery directed at plaintiffs. He exercised tactful leadership meeting and conferring with plaintiff’s counsel to navigate discovery disputes and handling reporting to the Court/Special Master.

He also served as the coordinating attorney for international mass tort litigations including actions pending in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Israel, Italy, and the Netherlands. As the coordinating attorney, he liaised with local counsel to facilitate the vigorous defense of lawsuits. He has also served as local counsel in consumer protections lawsuits brought by the Mississippi Attorney General involving the sale, marketing and promotion of medical devices and pharmaceutical products. As local counsel, Chris coordinated with national counsel on strategy and case management, and he has prepared and defended multiple depositions of company witnesses.

Chris has first and second chair jury trial experience in federal and state courts, and he has served on trial preparation and trial support teams in mass tort trials. In that role, he has supported trials in courts throughout the country including the trial of the California Attorney General’s consumer protection lawsuit involving nine medical devices. He also supported the trial team in Cavness v. Kowalczyk et al., Case No. DC-14-04220, District Court for the 95th Judicial District, Dallas County Texas, a pelvic mesh product liability action that resulted in a defense verdict and was one of Law360’s 2015 Product Liability Trials to Watch. The verdict was named as one of CVN’s Top 10 Defense Verdicts of 2015.

In addition to being recognized by The Legal 500 US, Chris is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell® and has been recognized as a "Mid-South Rising Star" by Super Lawyers. He is active in a number of professional organizations, including Defense Research Institute (2021 Programming Chair and 2020 Publications Chair for the Complex Medicine/Experts Specialized Litigation Group (SLG) of the DRI Drug and Medical Device Committee), International Association of Defense Counsel (2021-present Vice-Chair of Communications, Drug, Device, & Biotechnology Committee), among others. He frequently speaks and writes on product liability litigation topics. As an example, he spoke on privilege and liability associated with E-Discovery at the 2021 American Bar Association Current Issues in Pharmaceutical Medical Device, and Biotech Litigation Virtual Regional CLE. He also co-authored a chapter on Louisiana local class action requirements for the second and third editions of the American Bar Association’s A Practitioner’s Guide to Class Actions.

Chris obtained his J.D. from the University of Mississippi and is admitted to the Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana State Bars, the U.S. District Courts for both Districts of Mississippi and the Western District of Tennessee, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.