Courtroom View Network webcasts civil jury trials with a lot on the line, be it a bellwether test case in a new mass tort or a standalone personal injury case potentially worth millions. That means the corporations defending these lawsuits routinely bring in the best trial attorneys from the nation’s top powerhouse defense firms.
CVN recently launched our “BigLaw Spotlight" series to highlight the power players from the white shoe world available in CVN’s one-of-a-kind trial video archive. What does it look like when a top partner at one of the most prestigious defense firms in the country cross-examines an expert witness? How do the high-flying stars of the BigLaw world emotionally connect with jurors during opening statements? How do out-of-town pro hac vice attorneys interact with local judges?
The answer? See for yourself. Even before the pandemic, the only way to actually watch and learn from the pros without driving to court was with a CVN video library subscription for as little as $99/month with no contract.
In our second installment in CVN’s BigLaw Spotlight series we take a closer look Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP, a firm well-represented in CVN’s archive with deep roots in the midwest that regularly delivers trial wins for clients in a state and federal courts throughout the United States….or put another way, a firm that really brings home the bacon.
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CVN’s video archive features dozens of trials involving Shook Hardy & Bacon by way of our ongoing coverage of tobacco litigation, especially the so-called “Engle progeny” cases in Florida. Ever since the Florida Supreme Court decertified a massive class of smokers and individual tobacco cases began working their way through the Sunshine State’s courts more than 10 years ago, CVN has been the media company of record when it comes to gavel-to-gavel video coverage of these complex trials.
CVN screenshot of SHB partner Bill Geraghty delivering his closing statement in a tobacco trial
Founded in 1889, boasting over 500 attorneys in 15 offices worldwide and occupying all 24 floors of the Crown Building in its Kansas City, Missouri headquarters, Shook Hardy & Bacon is best known for their decades of work defending tobacco companies, particularly Philip Morris Inc., now known as Altria Group.
However SHB is hardly a one-trick pony. The firm often defends medical device manufacturers and automotive manufacturers, especially in cases involving extensive technical and/or scientific information. Check out just a small sample of the attorneys and trials in CVN’s trial video archive involving Shook Hardy & Bacon...
- Watch Miami-based partner Kenneth Reilly convince a jury to return a defense verdict in an Engle tobacco case after less than an hour of deliberations.
- Watch Reilly land another Engle tobacco trial win, this time with the jury returning a defense verdict after just 90 minutes of deliberations.
- Watch Miami-based partner William "Bill" Geraghty also land a speedy Engle tobacco verdict, this time convincing a jury to reject a plaintiff's request for $11.3 million in just an hour following a 10-day trial.
- Watch Kansas City-based partners Robert Adams and Michael Kleffner and Miami-based partner Hildy Sastre land a major win in Missouri state court for Boston Scientific Corp. at the first pelvic mesh trial in the country involving two different mesh products from different manufacturers.
- Watch Kansas City-based partners Eric Anielak and Matthew Keenan secure a defense win in Massachusetts state court in just the second case to go to trial involving Boston Scientific’s pelvic mesh implants.
- Watch Orange County, California-based partner Janet Hickson land a defense win in California state court in a lawsuit involving a multi-fatality bus rollover.
- Watch Brian Jackson, a partner based in Kansas City, limit damages in an Engle tobacco trial potentially worth millions to just 4 percent of $131,371, with 90 percent responsibility allocated to the plaintiff.
- Watch California-based partner Frank Kelly help deliver a defense verdict in an Engle case brought by a plaintiff who smoked nearly 3 packs of cigarettes a day for more than 35 years.
- SHB’s tobacco practice isn’t limited to Florida. Watch Frank Kelly deliver a defense win in the first of hundreds of tobacco-related personal injury suits to go to trial in West Virginia state court.
Remember this is a tiny fraction of the trials involving SHB in CVN’s archive, and an even tinier fraction of the overall video library. Subscribe to CVN’s video library today for a front row seat to a virtual courtroom showcasing some of the most elite trial attorneys in the country.
Think your firm belongs in the CVN BigLaw Spotlight? E-mail CVN editor David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com
