Shook’s New York office opened in January 2021 with two lawyers. One year later, there were six attorneys, and by the time the New York team relocated to a new space in Rockefeller Center in March 2023, there were 18 litigators—with centuries of combined experience trying cases in New York courts. Shook New York is now one of the firm’s fastest-growing locations, serving clients both in New York and throughout the country.

Our New York litigators—working together with colleagues throughout the firm—represent Fortune 100 companies in some of their most challenging high-stakes matters, with particular focus on:

• Product Liability and Toxic Tort Litigation 
• Class Action and Multi-District Litigation
• Appellate Litigation (including Trial-Level Appellate Preservation)
• Strategic Scientific Defense of Mass Tort Litigation
• General Business Litigation

Practice Areas

Product Liability and Toxic Tort Litigation

Shook’s New York attorneys have extensive experience litigating and serving as trial counsel in complex, high-stakes product liability cases around the globe. They defend the world’s biggest companies in individual and consolidated proceedings involving pharmaceuticals, medical devices, automobiles, and other consumer products, as well as in toxic-tort and environmental-exposure cases.

Contacts:
Scott Chesin
Michael Gallub
John Lyons
Homer Ramsey
Tom Sheehan
Bill Vita

Class Action and Multi-District Litigation

Our attorneys serve as national and local lead counsel to major domestic and foreign companies, including the world’s largest automotive companies, in class actions and multi­district litigation both here in New York and throughout the United States. They have successfully defended clients against numerous nationwide and statewide class actions involving a wide range of claims, including alleged product defects; consumer and commercial fraud; deceptive and unfair business practices; unfair competition; false or misleading advertising; misrepresentations and omissions; breaches of contract and warranties; violations of federal consumer, warranty and regulatory statutes; RICO and Lanham Act claims; and violations of the consumer protection statutes of every state. 

Contacts:
Brian Carr
Michael Gallub
Homer Ramsey
Michael Rayfield

Appellate Litigation

Our New York appellate lawyers have briefed and argued hundreds of cases in appellate courts here in New York and elsewhere, including in the New York Court of Appeals, the Second Circuit, all four appellate divisions, and dozens of other federal and state appellate tribunals throughout the country. They have extensive experience briefing and arguing all kinds of appeals: product liability cases, criminal cases, contract disputes, environmental cases, cases involving questions of statutory interpretation, federal preemption, the rules of evidence, and the constitutionality of punitive damages—to name a few. They also specialize in trial-level appellate preservation and issue development; working with Shook trial lawyers (and often, with trial counsel from other firms), our appellate lawyers have appeared as “legal issues counsel” in over 100 high-stakes jury trials, briefing and arguing dispositive motions, jury instructions, evidentiary issues, and directed-verdict motions. Through this work, they are able to effectively position individual cases and groups of cases for appeal well before judgments are entered.

Contacts:
Scott Chesin
John Lyons
Michael Rayfield

Strategic Scientific Defense of Mass Tort Litigation

Our pharmaceutical and life-sciences clients turn to Shook for their most complex cases, in part because of the firm’s unparalleled experience in developing and implementing strategic scientific defenses for clients facing mass tort litigation. Our New York office is at the forefront of the integration of law and science. Many of our lawyers have advanced scientific degrees, including PhDs and master’s degrees in epidemiology, genomics, biochemistry, and neurobiology. This deep background in hard science allows our New York lawyers to identify and work with experts at the top of their fields to develop broad and deep understandings of the science as it relates to questions of causation and company decisions. Our attorneys take depositions of expert witnesses and develop admissions critical to assessing and challenging the reliability and admissibility of expert testimony. And they coordinate scientific defense in multi-defendant mass tort litigation, ensuring a consistent, cohesive scientific position.

Contacts:
Kimberly Penner
Tom Sheehan

General Business Litigation

Our office tries all manner of complex civil cases here in New York, including business and employment disputes, premises liability disputes, and contract disputes. Our attorneys are familiar with every facet of the New York State Unified Court System and appear frequently in both state and federal courts in New York City and its surrounding counties, as well as upstate venues.  

Contact:
Bill Vita