Biglaw

A Look At Biglaw's Tough Trial Tactics

Are aggressive Biglaw attorneys the difference maker?

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The Biglaw firm of Weil Gotshal & Manges lived up to their nickname of We’ll Getcha & Mangle-ya in a recent trial. The firm, led by partners Diane Sullivan and Allison Brown, was defending Johnson & Johnson against allegations their baby powder contained asbestos and contributed to plaintiff’s mesothelioma. J&J’s already lost a similar lawsuit — to the tune of a $117 million verdict (though that case is being appealed), so Sullivan and Brown decided a case of hardball was in order.

According to a report on the case from Law360, Sullivan reveals the key to the case was successfully portraying the theory of the case as a “sham” perpetrated by lawyers for the plaintiff.

Looking at what lawyers for the pharmaceutical giant had done in other cases, Sullivan said she and Brown “took what we thought had worked … and kind of shook up the arguments a little bit … when we thought some things didn’t work,” and “went hard on what we think is the truth, that this is just … a litigation concocted by plaintiffs’ lawyers.”

With the Weil Gotshal attorneys framing the instant action as “a sham created by plaintiffs’ lawyers” in a more overt way than had been done in prior cases, “the jury, it looks like, accepted that wholeheartedly and we were … obviously heartened by the verdict,” Sullivan added.

And it certainly didn’t hurt to have testimony that the USDA and other third parties have extensively tested the baby powder and found no evidence of asbestos.

Brown noted “there is no epidemiological study that shows an increase in [mesothelioma] in the miners and millers of cosmetic talc, and there’s no government authority that says cosmetic talc increases the risk, and I think those two facts really resonated with some smart, perceptive jurors who paid a lot of attention.”

After a four-week trial, the jury came back with a verdict for the defense in less than two hours.

But still, cases alleging baby powder contributed to mesothelioma have been a mixed bag for J&J with them winning and losing at trial. It just might be that aggressive Biglaw attorneys are the difference maker.

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headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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