“Barbara is so deserving of this honor, one of the most prestigious and selective in the legal profession,” said Douglas Cameron, global chair of the firm’s Litigation Department and a member of the Senior Management Team. “We are thrilled to see Barbara join this esteemed and highly regarded group, which now includes a total of seven Reed Smith attorneys across the United States.”
Barbara, who currently serves as national counsel for a medical device company in the Pelvic Mesh litigation, was the firmwide Practice Group Leader for the Products Liability Group from 2007 to 2009, and vice chair of the Life Sciences Group from 2009 to 2010.
Barbara has been a successful first chair at numerous trials representing many of the top 10 pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, insurers and hospitals. In addition to acting as lead counsel in the Endo Pharmaceuticals vaginal mesh litigation, she was one of three lead attorneys representing Schering-Plough in the NuvaRing litigation; lead trial lawyer in the Wyeth hormone therapy litigation; and lead trial counsel in the Wyeth Pennsylvania diet drug litigation, in which 20,000 cases were filed. Since joining Reed Smith in 1991, Barbara has focused her practice on complex pharmaceutical products liability, mass torts, multi-district litigation, and class action defense.
The ACTL extends Fellowship to experienced trial lawyers from all branches of trial practice “who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality,” according to the ACTL. Although there are more than 5,700 Fellows across the United States and Canada, membership may never be more than 1 percent of the total lawyer population of any state or province. To be considered for Fellowship, lawyers must be actively engaged in trial work as their principal activity for a minimum of 15 years.
Reed Smith’s 100+-strong product liability team operates from 11 offices across the United States, and has teams of dedicated attorneys in Europe and Asia, allowing the group to provide comprehensive support worldwide to clients in this space. Reed Smith’s Product Liability Group represents corporations in automotive, aviation and aerospace, chemicals, construction, consumer product manufacturing, energy, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and technology, to name just a few.
The firm’s product liability team is frequently recognized as among the top practices. Most recently, Reed Smith was selected as the winning firm for product liability in the 2017 Chambers USA Awards, and was named by The American Lawyer as a “Product Liability Litigation Department of the Year” finalist in 2016.
Barbara joins Reed Smith lawyers Frederick Egler, David Fawcett, Grayson Hanes, Rudy Hutz, Martha Hartle Munsch, Jim Sanders, and Carolyn Short as ACTL Fellows.
About Reed Smith
Reed Smith is a global relationship law firm with more than 1,700 lawyers in 27 offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Founded in 1877, the firm represents leading international businesses, from Fortune 100 corporations to mid-market and emerging enterprises. Its lawyers provide litigation and other dispute resolution services in multi-jurisdictional and other high-stakes matters; deliver regulatory counsel; and execute the full range of strategic domestic and cross-border transactions. Reed Smith is a preeminent advisor to industries including financial services, life sciences, health care, advertising, entertainment and media, shipping and transport, energy and natural resources, real estate, manufacturing and technology, and education. For more information, visit reedsmith.com.
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