McDermott Will & Emery LLP

McDermott Will & Emery LLP remains a popular choice among energy, agrichemical and life sciences clients seeking representation in the defense of high-profile toxic tort/environmental claims. Many of these are in the form of large-scale aggregated litigation, with the firm able to amass cohesive multi-office teams working with clients on cases brought in federal and state courts throughout the country, including in traditionally-plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions. In this context, the firm is not only able to drive the overarching litigation strategy, frequently achieving notable victories at the motions stage, but also has the courtroom firepower to succeed in high-profile trial situations. A testament to the firm’s skill in the area is the longevity of its client relationships, with clients including ExxonMobil choosing the firm as national strategic and trial counsel in class action, mass tort, environmental and product liability cases litigated in state and federal courts throughout the country. New York-based litigator James Pardo has been at the forefront of this work, representing not only ExxonMobil but alongside Lisa Gerson, who is also based in New York, the entire petroleum industry in relation to their past use of MTBE in reformulated gasoline. Splitting his time between Washington DC and Miami, team head Anthony Upshaw is also a key member of the team and continues to try cases for Monsanto/Bayer in relation to alleged PCB contamination and on Roundup-related matters.