Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP

Firm Details:

Chair: Madeleine McDonough

Managing Partners: Colin Kelly (Atlanta), Tom Sullivan (Boston), Amy Cho (Chicago), Paul Williams (Denver), Robert R. Simpson (Hartford), Stephanie McGraw (Houston), Homer Ramsey (Jersey City), Michael Mallow (Los Angeles), Dan Rogers (Miami), Scott Chesin (New York), Jad Davis (Orange County), Erin Leffler (Philadelphia), Chris Johnson (San Francisco), Bart Eppenauer (Seattle), Terri Parker (Tampa), Phil Goldberg (Washington, DC)

Number of attorneys: 564

Firm Overview:

Shook, Hardy & Bacon has long been recognized as one of the premier litigation defense firms in the country. Shook has represented companies in the health, science and technology sectors in their most substantial national and international product liability, mass tort and complex litigation matters for more than 130 years. Shook’s success in these areas has captured the attention of many in the industry. Best Lawyers ranked Shook the “2024 Practice Group of the Year” for Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants. BTI Litigation Outlook 2025 named Shook a ‘Product Liability Powerhouse’ for the sixth consecutive year. For 16 years, Shook has also been named the ‘Product Liability Defense Law Firm of the Year’ by Who’s Who Legal: The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers; and The American Lawyer has twice recognised the firm for its Product Liability Litigation Department of the Year award. The Global Legal Post recognized Shook as 'the most active defendants’ firm for product liability cases between 2015 and 2019, based on a report from Lex Machina. For three consecutive years, Shook has been ranked in the top 30 law firms in the US for client service, based on a client survey by BTI Consulting Group.

Main Areas of Practice:

Shook is known for its abilities and accomplishments in litigation — more than 90 percent of the firm's attorneys are litigators, and many have advanced degrees in health and sciences fields. The firm has represented leading international companies in a variety of industries, including pharmaceutical and medical device, technology, chemical, energy, food and beverage, and automotive. In the past three years alone, Shook lawyers have tried more than 30 cases to verdict in state and federal courts, successfully defending clients against claims involving product liability, environmental and toxic tort, patent infringement, labor and employment and other claims. Shook has represented the industry’s leading pharmaceutical manufacturers for more than 40 years. The firm has also represented US cigarette manufacturers in product liability litigation continuously since 1957, and currently represents the largest US tobacco company as lead trial counsel in its pending litigation. In recent years, the firm has leveraged its complex litigation acumen to build substantial national practices in intellectual property, environmental and toxic tort litigation, data security and privacy, employment litigation, commercial litigation, and public policy. While product liability remains a core strength and a growth area for the firm, practice diversification has allowed Shook to offer a variety of innovative solutions to regulatory and compliance challenges as well.

Innovation + Value Champions:

Some 35 to 40 percent of the firm’s work is covered by alternative fee arrangements. Shook was named a Value Champion by the Association of Corporate Counsel—the only firm to be so recognized by ACC five times—in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2020 and 2021 for working with clients on innovative, collaborative and savings-driven approaches. The firm has achieved this recognition by continually focusing on creating close partnerships and tailoring its service offerings to align with the client’s definition of value for a particular engagement.

Clients:

Shook has represented nearly three-quarters of the Fortune 100. The firm’s clients include global industry leaders who demand proven legal strategies. As a result, the firm has developed long-standing relationships with many of its clients. ‘There is no short list for national counsel of a major pharmaceutical company that doesn’t include Shook’, said the former general counsel of one of the nation’s leading pharmaceutical companies in an article on Shook. Another client added that Shook attorneys litigate like they’re going to trial, but not unnecessarily. ‘If a matter does end up going to trial, they’ll be in the best possible position to defend it’, the Shook client told the ABA Journal.