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Marilyn practices complex financial and products liability litigation and has handled matters in state and federal courts around the country, including multidistrict federal court proceedings and coordinated state court litigation.

Marilyn’s commercial litigation experience includes both prosecution and defense of claims arising from a variety of commercial transactions and contracts.  In particular, Marilyn has represented lenders and lessors in commercial litigation and related adversary proceedings, has represented hedge funds in a variety of matters, and has represented health care companies in commercial contract matters.

Marilyn's product liability litigation experience covers a broad variety of consumer, industrial and medical products including aircraft, automobiles, asbestos, latex gloves, vaccines, factor concentrates, breast implants and hip implants. Marilyn specializes in defending cases with sophisticated medical and scientific issues and has worked with expert witnesses in many disciplines.

Marilyn is also very active in the American Bar Association and is a member of the Products Liability Committee. She has organized, spoken at and co-chaired a number of ABA conferences on issues related to her practice and currently serves on the ABA Class Action Institute committee.

Representative Matters

• Represented manufacturers of welding consumables in state and federal courts, including the California coordinated welding fume proceeding involving over 70 plaintiffs.  Briefed and argued a successful Daubert challenge in the MDL proceeding regarding plaintiffs' core expert witness on the issue of warnings and human factors.

• Defense liaison counsel for pharmaceutical manufacturer in California Coordinated vaccine litigation involving over 400 plaintiffs pending in the complex case department of the Los Angeles Superior Court.  Obtained dismissal of Prop 65 and unfair competition claims.

• Trial counsel for a manufacturer of orthopedic devices in hundreds of cases in California coordinated litigation. Obtained a defense verdict on all counts including punitive damages after a three week jury trial in Los Angeles Superior Court.

• Represented a large insurance brokerage in claims arising out of complex real estate sale transaction. Obtained a dismissal of negligence claims.

• Trial counsel for a manufacturer of factor concentrates in California State and Federal courts. Co-chaired on twelve week jury trial in Los Angeles Superior Court.

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Publications

• Co-author, “California High Court Adopts 'Sophisticated User' Liability Defense,” Legal Opinion Letter: State Focus, Washington Legal Foundation, Vol. 18, No. 6 (April 18, 2008)
• Co-author, "Marshalling An Effective Defense Amid Wave of Food Contamination Litigation," Food and Drug Law, Regulation and Education Update, Food and Drug Law Institute (July/August 2007)
• Co-author, "Defending A Food Contamination Case", International Association of Defense Counsel, Defense Counsel Journal, Vol. 74, No. 3 (July 2007)
• Contributing Author (Updates), Product Liability: Winning Strategies and Techniques, Heafey and Kennedy (2005)
• Co-author, “Manage Your Documents – Manage Your Risk,” The Corporate Counselor (Summer 2002)
• Contributor, “50 State Survey of Challenging Expert Witnesses in Pharmaceutical And Medical Device Cases In State Court,” American Bar Association Litigation Section (2002)
• "Protecting The Evidence," House Counsel (Spring 1999)
• "Drug Makers Home Pages Raise New Legal Issues," Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal (January 1998)
• "Surfing the Net in Shallow Waters: Product Liability Concerns and Advertising on the Internet," Food and Drug Law Journal, Vol. 53, No. 2 (1998)

Speeches / Presentations

• Co-chair of the Environmental, Mass Torts and Products Liability Litigation Committees Joint CLE Seminar,Vail, CO., January 2009
• Co-chair, The Chemical Products Liability Trial: Winning at Every Stage, ABA, Wilmington, DE, September 2007
• "The Effect of Preemption on Pharmaceutical Advertising," Fifth Annual In-House Counsel & Regulations Forum on Advertising Law for the Pharmaceutical Industry, American Conference Institute, New York, NY, January 2007
• Co-chair, Contamination Examination: A Workshop on the Changing Face of Chemical Product Liability Claims, ABA, Wilmington, DE, September 2006.
• Co-chair, 2005 Current Issues In Pharmaceutical Litigation and Policy Conference, ABA, New York, NY, November 2005.
• "Trial Errors Through the Eyes of the Appellate Bench," ABA Women in Products Liability Regional Meeting, New York, NY, November 2004.
• "The Devil is in the Details: Common Discovery Issues in Medical Device Cases and How to Handle Them Successfully," Current Issues In Medical Device Litigation Conference, ABA, Chicago, IL, September 2004.
• “No Client, No Harm…No Problem: Consumer Protection Statutes,” Current Issues In Pharmaceutical Litigation and Policy Conference, ABA, Philadelphia, PA, November 2003.
• “Emerging Jury Research – Jurors’ Perceptions of Women As Expert Witnesses,” ABA Women in Products Liability Regional Meeting, Atlanta, GA, November 2003.
• “Expert Witness Program and Training,” American Health Care Association, National Center for Assisted Living, and California Association of Health Facilities, 54th Annual Convention and Exposition, San Diego, CA, October 2003.
• "Securing, Preparing and Effectively Utilizing Expert Witnesses," CAPA’s 14th Annual Educational Conference, Los Angeles, CA, June 21, 2003.

Experience

Legal Education

Undergraduate Education

Professional Admissions / Qualifications

• California

Professional Affiliations

• American Bar Association Products Liability Committee