Dowd Bennett LLP

Managing Partners: Ed Dowd, Jim Bennett
Number of partners: 17
Number of lawyers: 34
Languages:English, Spanish

Firm Overview:
Dowd Bennett focuses on high-stakes litigation and trials, internal and governmental investigations, and appellate representation. The firm’s members include a former Missouri Governor, a former United States Senator from Missouri, two former United States Attorneys, two former Missouri Attorneys General, two former United States Supreme Court clerks, eight former clerks to United States Courts of Appeals, eleven former clerks to United States District Court judges, two former State Supreme Court clerks, two former Assistant United States Attorneys, and a former state assistant attorney general. Trial practice is an important part of the firm. Attorneys litigate all forms of business disputes such as False Claims Act allegations, employment discrimination, claims of professional negligence and fraud against contractors and auditors, partnership disputes, corporate tax disputes, contract disputes, patent and trademark disputes, and all business torts. In recent years, Dowd Bennett’s lawyers have successfully tried to verdict three cases involving more than $100 million in dispute, and six cases involving more than $25 million in dispute.

Main Areas of Practice:
Appellate
Class Action
Commercial Litigation
Corporate Compliance & Internal Investigations
Investigations Employment & ERISA Litigation
Environmental Litigation
Healthcare Litigation
Product Liability
White Collar Criminal Defense

Commercial Litigation:
■Prevailed on behalf of Anheuser-Busch when a St. Louis City jury rejected Francine Katz’s claims of gender discrimination after a 13-day trial in Katz v. Anheuser-Busch. Ms. Katz was the highest-ranking female at Anheuser-Busch and sought approximately $19M in actual damages based on her allegations of gender discrimination in pay from 2002 through 2008

Corporate Compliance & Internal Investigations:
■Represented a Fortune 500 company in a Department of Defense investigation in the District of Minnesota. No charges brought

Employment & ERISA Litigation:
■Achieved a unanimous defense verdict in favor of Missouri Baptist Medical Center on a plaintiff ’s claim of retaliation in violation of the Missouri Human Rights Act. The jury verdict came after Dowd Bennett had already obtained summary judgment for Missouri Baptist on the plaintiff ’s claim for race discrimination

Environmental Litigation:
■Defend oil company against environmental claims brought by the State of Illinois, including filing contri- bution claims against ten oil companies, including two Global 500 companies in Madison County, Illinois

Product Liability:
■Lead counsel in defense of more than 13,000 product liability cases involving a medical device with cases pending in multiple jurisdictions including federal, multi-district litigation and multiple state coordinated proceedings across the country

Key Clients:
Anheuser-Busch, Arch Coal, BJC, Edward Jones, Emerson, Ernst & Young, Fresenius Medical Care, Graybar, PNC Bank, Renco, State Farm, Valero Energy, Walmart Stores