James E Tyrrell

Practice Areas

Jim Tyrrell is a partner in the Mass Tort and Catastrophic Loss, Class Action and Antitrust practice areas. He has served as lead counsel in the country’s highest profile cases including Agent Orange, Y2K, Deepwater Horizon and the World Trade Center litigation.

In the tort arena, Jim acted as chief trial counsel in the landmark Agent Orange litigation – one of the largest mass tort cases in American history. After competing against the top 30 mass tort law firms in the country, he was selected to represent the primary defendant, and 150 of its contractors, in the World Trade Center litigation. Appointed by the Court as defense liaison counsel in 13,000 separate cases, Jim became the principal spokesman for more than 500 defendants in the highest profile mass tort litigation of the century.

Jim’s class action expertise has included representation of one of the country’s largest telecommunication companies in the Y2K litigation (favorable settlement of more than 80,000 claims), a maritime enterprise in Deepwater Horizon (court ordered dismissal); and one of two major defendants in the national dialysis litigation (class certification denied).

Jim’s antitrust experience has ranged from price fixing litigation (corrugated containers, fine paper, silver futures) and monopolization (telecommunications and food industries) to mergers/acquisitions (Swedish manufacturer of heavy machinery) and interlocking directorates. He recently defended the generic drug price fixing antitrust litigation.

Jim’s product liability and consumer fraud class action experience has covered chemicals (dioxin, PCBs, phenols), consumer products, drugs, medical devices, food and toys. He is a Harvard trained mediator and has facilitated the settlement of disputes from massive multi-district litigation to trade secret, contract, and intellectual property matters.

Practice areas include:

Class Action Litigation

Mass Tort and Catastrophic Loss

Product Liability

Complex Commercial Litigation

Antitrust and Trade Practices

Environmental

Internal Investigations and Regulatory Compliance

Agribusiness and Food

Energy and Utilities

Fire and Electrical Liability Litigation

Financial Services and Banking

Health Care and Life Sciences

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Career

Prior to joining Armstrong Teasdale, Jim served as the Managing Partner of the New Jersey office of an Am Law 10 firm, and as the Regional Managing Partner of the New Jersey and New York offices of the leading political firm in Washington, D.C., as well as a member of its Executive Committee. He has chaired or co-chaired the Product Liability and Mass Tort Practice Groups of four major law firms. Under Jim’s leadership, the New Jersey office was named by independent organizations as the Best Place to Work of all large businesses in the state.

After graduating from law school, Jim clerked for the Hon. Leonard I. Garth of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He also served as a Lieutenant in the JAG Corps of the U.S. Navy.

Professional Memberships

American Bar Association

New Jersey State Bar Association

New York State Bar Association