Stephen J. McConnell, noted as "extremely smart and strategic" and a "very effective and experienced trial lawyer" by The Legal 500, defends clients in product liability and mass tort litigation. He has also handled securities litigation, complex commercial litigation, and white-collar criminal litigation.
Stephen served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Central District of California (Los Angeles), where he investigated and prosecuted criminal cases in the Major Frauds Section. Those cases involved savings and loan frauds, violations of the securities laws, wire and mail frauds, and money laundering. He served as counsel to the Christopher Commission, an independent commission that investigated the Los Angeles Police Department in 1991, and as deputy general counsel to the Kolts Commission, an independent commission that investigated the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in 1992.
Stephen has worked extensively in the area of liability for marketing practices and he is a member of the Advisory Board of Villanova University's Center for Marketing and Public Policy Research. He has been selected among the Best Lawyers in America for product liability litigation since 2007.
Stephen has ample first-chair experience in both government and private practice cases and has successfully argued significant matters before federal and state trial and appellate courts. Clients he has represented include Philip Morris and various major device and pharmaceutical companies, including Wyeth (now Pfizer), for whom he served as first-chair trial counsel in the diet drug litigation. Additionally, his practice has focused on potential liability for sales and advertising activity.
Stephen is the co-author of ABA Top 100 blawg, Drug and Device Law Blog.