Veronica is a partner in Shook’s award-winning Product Liability Litigation and Complex Litigation and Strategic Counseling Practices. She was named as one of ALM’s top 25 lateral hires of 2022 and has been recognized for four consecutive years in the Lawdragon 500: Leading Litigators in America. Veronica began her career as a consumer and product liability lawyer working on mass, class and single plaintiff matters for consumer goods, industrial, and retail clients. She currently serves as counsel for two MDL’s, one involving personal care products and another involving technology with leadership responsibilities for driving discovery strategies.
Veronica’s career includes 17 years with global retailer Walmart, leading cross-functional teams responsible for nationwide litigation portfolios while also partnering with global investigations, risk management, technology, and business stakeholders. Veronica’s work spanned all lines of business addressing litigation and risk management efforts across store/club operations, products (food and general merchandise), pharmacy, trucking, and delivery as a service. Veronica oversaw, created and overhauled tort litigation and litigation support programs, including eDiscovery programs with global reach, by creating legally defensive strategies with the use of business intelligence.
Veronica’s extensive in-house experience gives her a global in-house view that few have, allowing her to be a zealous advocate while navigating the complexities of business considerations with internal stakeholders and external business partners when disputes arise. When advising clients, Veronica is able to strike the balance between managing legal, reputational, and financial risks while aligning with what is important to a company’s business goals for its customers, employees, and other stakeholders.
Representative Matters
Along with Veronica’s many litigation successes as executive counsel at Walmart, she has continued to lead large teams of attorneys in significant wins in complex, bet-the-company litigation. She has produced successful outcomes and/or on-going representation of clients in the following:
Multidistrict litigation and Judicial Council Coordinated Proceedings for a technology-based consumer transportation and logistics company.
Multidistrict litigation and state litigation in a product liability defense matter for a personal care product manufacturer of hair relaxer.
Litigation representation of a global consumer packaged goods company in consumer litigation and supply chain disputes involving product recalls concerning a benzene product liability case.
Mobile forensics product liability litigation defense in multi-fatality litigation with dismissal of wrongful death claims.
An industrial equipment wrongful death lawsuit for product liability for a biotechnology, chemicals and pharmaceutical company with dismissal of wrongful death claims.
Advice and counsel to health tech, CPG, and food and beverage clients on risk mitigation, litigation avoidance, supply chain disputes, policy development, codes of conduct, supply chain audits, and employment issues.
Presentations
Presenter, Unmasking Fraud: Leveraging Legal Tech to Detect and Prevent Class Action Abuse (Clone), March 24, 2025.
Moderator, Best Practices of General Counsel, ACC Chicago Summit, September 18, 2024.
Presenter, Black History Through the Law, Black History Month Webinar, February 29, 2024.
Presenter, Deploying Technology to Meet Compliance and ESG Demands, ALM Legalweek, February 1, 2024.
Presenter, The Proliferation of Mass Arbitration, Government Investigations and Civil Litigation Institute Annual Meeting, November 17, 2023.
Presenter, Power Networking: How to Maximize Your Contacts and Connections, Corporate Counsel Women of Color Career Strategies Conference, September 27, 2023.
Presenter, Ethics CLE | The Attorney Client Privilege: An Ethics Test, Update of the Law CLE webinar, June 8, 2023.
Presenter, ESG: Green Initiatives and Gray Areas, Update of the Law CLE webinar, June 8, 2023.
Presenter, CenterForce Driving Diversity in Law & Leadership Summit: Washington, D.C., May 18, 2023.
Moderator, Supply Chain Disruptions: Business and Legal Implications, Corporate Counsel Women of Color (CCWC) 18th Annual Career Strategies Conference, October 5 - 8.
ESG: Cultural Investigation, Update of the Law CLE webinar, June 2, 2022.
ESG Overview and Supply Chain Issues, E2 – Examining ESG & Litigation Risks, June 1, 2022.
Panelist, Minority Corporate Counsel Association 12th Annual CLE Expo, March 2013.
Panelist, eDiscovery Institute Leadership Summit, 2015.
Panelist/Faculty, DRI Products Liability Conference - Products Liability in the Global Economy, 2008.
Media and Multimedia
ESG Overview and Supply Chain Issues, E2 – Examining ESG & Litigation Risks, June 1, 2022.
Shook Hires Product Liability Partner From Walmart, Law360, March 9, 2022.
Why This Longtime In-House Lawyer Left Walmart for Big Law, Corporate Counsel, March 4, 2022.