North America - United States • Dispute resolution
Dechert LLP
With a deep bench of product liability lawyers based out of the firm’s East and West Coast offices, Dechert LLP has strength in depth to handle large-scale MDLs and class actions centered around a range of consumer product defects; pharmaceutical products and medical devices remain the firm’s primary strength. Los Angeles-based litigator Jay Bhimani has significant courtroom experience in the field, and is acting in the bellwether jury trials for 3M regarding the combat arms earplugs product liability MDL. New York-based practitioner Sheila L. Birnbaum is also very effective at handling life sciences and pharmaceuticals cases in particular, and co-heads the overarching product liability team alongside Bhimani. Kimberly Branscome departed to Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in February 2024.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'The team has good technical and business understanding and knowledge of where to draw the boundary between risk and opportunity.'
- 'Benjamin Sadun is a true star - a very rare type of lawyer with huge attention to detail and technical knowledge of various pretty complicated things (e.g. AI, data management, mobile apps industry).'
Key clients
- The 3M Company
- Abbott
- AbbVie
- Aylo (formerly MindGeek)
- Bayer
- BioAtla
- GlaxoSmithKline
- Easy Healthcare Corporation
- Haleon
- Johnson & Johnson
- Moderna
- Pfizer/Viatris
- Prisma Labs
- Purdue Pharma
- W.L. Gore
Work highlights
- Acting as lead counsel to GSK in connection with multidistrict and state court litigation alleging that Zantac causes cancer as a result of the formation of the chemical NDMA.
- Represented Plum, PBC in the first-ever baby food heavy metals personal injury case.
- Representing 3M and its affiliated entities in the Combat Arms Earplugs Products Liability Litigation.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Sheila L. Birnbaum, Jay Bhimani