Experience
Alston & Bird’s toxic tort practice is national in scope and broadly diversified in the products involved. In nearly every case, we are on the cutting edge of where science and law intersect with respect to exposure, causation and damage issues. Our representation of clients include claims based on alleged exposures to chlorine dioxide and other chemicals used widely in paper manufacturing; PCBs; benzene, MTBE and other petroleum products; diesel fuel; secondhand smoke; pesticides; asbestos; lead; uranium; manganese; isocyanates; and herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and other agricultural chemicals. It also includes alleged exposures to airborne toxins like mold and anthrax.
Alston & Bird has a sound track recorded in obtaining victories for our clients. Our resounding successes in national toxic tort matters are the product of hard work, superior lawyering, scientific expertise and use of cutting-edge legal and courtroom technology. They are also to some degree the hard-earned product of experience gained in some of the nation’s most contentious and hotly contested toxic tort matters, including the representation of Playtex International in the toxic shock syndrome litigation, E.I DuPont in the Benlate litigation, Verizon Wireless in cell phone products liability litigation and A.H. Robins in the Dalkon Shield IUD litigation.
Team Directory
Accolades
- Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business notes that according to clients, Alston & Bird is “virtually unbeatable in terms of the depth, range and scope of the skills it offers.”
- Seven partners on our team have been recognized among the foremost legal practitioners in the field of environmental law by Chambers USA and Who’s Who Legal.
In addition, one of our partners is a former chair of the American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy & Resources and another is the immediate past director of California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control. Our team includes former senior enforcement officials from the Environmental Enforcement Section and Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as the Office of General Counsel for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Bringing Value to Our Clients
Our toxic tort lawyers have an established reputation for expertise in the use of scientific evidence, extensive trial and appellate experience and first-rate litigation skills to defend our clients. We can and do try cases of any size, magnitude or complexity across the United States and we do so successfully with the economic efficiency born of experience.
Additionally, we are well-regarded crisis managers, and have guided clients through the rigorous scrutiny and collective unease of adverse publicity created by national product recalls, consumer complaints, mass tort filings, whistleblower issues, and regulatory and criminal investigations.
Many of our lawyers also have technical training and litigation expertise in a variety of scientific fields, including biotechnology, engineering, epidemiology, pharmacology and microbiology. If needed, we draw upon the experience of our own intellectual property lawyers in many “hard science” fields and upon our firm’s 10 Ph.D.s. We have solid professional relationships with a host of experts, consultants and administrators at major universities, medical facilities, research centers and regulatory agencies and maintain an extensive database of expert witnesses, scientific literature and Daubert decisions related to the defense of products liability and toxic exposure cases.